Debates between advocates of sex workers’ rights and their neo-abolitionist counterparts have long dominated conversations regarding commercial sex. However, there are other voices and organisations within civil society who have various incentives to avoid taking a clear position within this now familiar debate.
In Portugal, many anti-trafficking organisations favour a fluid and ambiguous position that allows them to be either advocates or ‘fence-sitters’ depending on context. However, the impulse to claim neutrality greatly increases when an organisation becomes incorporated into the anti-trafficking apparatus of the Portuguese state. It appears that advocates of both sex workers’ rights and neo-abolitionism have determined that staying out of this particular battle is a price worth paying in order to access the various benefits associated with state partnership, including funding opportunities and a growth in public recognition.
Many organisations have, by this point, chosen this route. This result is an environment where service provision is the main priority, and where anti-trafficking organisations finding it increasingly difficult to speak up regarding ‘controversial’ topics such as commercial sex or the harm of securitisation.
