NCJ Number
224406
Date Published
2008
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This chapter addresses the indoor sex markets in the United Kingdom, the current legal framework in which sex work operates, and implications for the Home Office’s Coordinated Prostitution Strategy for those working in and managing indoor sex-work venues.
Abstract
The chapter concludes that in the absence of any acknowledgment of the labor rights of women who voluntarily sell sex and the failure of the legal environment to legitimize sexual services as work, policies that govern sex work in the United Kingdom cannot protect women doing sex work or provide long-term solutions to managing the sex industry. Further, the actions and philosophy promoted in the Coordinated Prostitution Strategy will allow serious exploitation of sex workers to thrive, increase violence in indoor sex markets, and allow abusive working conditions and irresponsible management. This chapter focuses on the differences between perceptions of risk of harm for workers involved in indoor sex work and the actual risk they experience. In addition, the chapter explores the complexities surrounding sex work, the safety of the workers, and a policy environment that criminalizes rather than regulates this work. The chapter further identifies the need for a balance between providing a safe working environment for indoor sex workers; promoting a policing policy that focuses on the exploitation, abusive environment, and coercive recruiting of indoor sex workers; and ensuring a safe environment for both sex workers and those who buy their services to make decisions about private, consensual sexual interactions. 35 references