Written submission from Lizzy Richmond (PTN0048)
As a sex worker in the UK I am happy to have the opportunity to submit this to the Women and Equalities Committee’s inquiry into prostitution in the UK. I am a prostitute based in Southampton. I currently work independently, and have done brothel and agency work in the past.
The harms associated with buying and selling sex are associated with criminalisation rather than the act of having sex for money. The law currently leaves sex workers in a vulnerable position, forced to break the law by working together or risk being a victim of robbery or potential assault when working alone. Sex workers are targeted by criminals not because of the sexual nature of our work but because of the vulnerable positions we are currently forced into. Workers who are working together from the same premises (or in a brothel, if you prefer) are less likely to report a crime committed against them to the police because they are in an illegal situation. When we choose to comply with the current law and work alone we are at risk of being targeted by a criminal who knows we are alone on the premises. It is acknowledged that lone working is more dangerous in all industries and yet the law in the UK forces us into it. I currently work alone, even though I would prefer to work from the same premises as another worker.
In my opinion, respecting bodily autonomy can only be a good thing for wider society. Societies which restrict a woman’s bodily autonomy and enforce the covering of their bodies by law do not tend to have a good record of gender equality, and this is because telling women what they are able to do with their own bodies is inherently misogynistic. Respecting a woman’s right to choose what to do with her own body can only lead to a more progressive and equal society. This is not to say, of course, that all women want to do the same thing with their bodies; what is empowering for one woman may be repressive to the next, but this is no reason to restrict our rights. If we choose to cover our bodies and faces completely this should be respected, and equally if we choose to sell sexual services this should be respected.
A society which respects a woman’s right to sell sexual services and give and withdraw consent when she chooses, rather than when certain people find it acceptable, is a society which respects women and their bodies. A society which views the act of consensually selling sexual services as degrading to women is a society which only respects a woman’s bodily autonomy when it chooses to.
Stigmatisation of sex workers is a wide ranging problem. I have recently heard of sex workers in Scotland seeing anti-sex work artwork in sexual health clinics and feeling uncomfortable about returning. This artwork, which blamed sex work for ill treatment of all women, was placed by a government funded initiative which claims to support sex workers. This is why sex worker led organisations are absolutely essential and should receive government funding. Unfortunately people with no real experience can do more harm than good, however well meaning they may be.
I have personally faced judgement from a GP when I made the mistake of mentioning I was a sex worker. I am lucky to have a sexual health clinic nearby, but I have been put off visiting my GP practice for general, non-sex work related issues because of the assumptions made about me. I use this example as it shows how susceptible people can be to assumptions based on stereotypes. Fortunately this is not true of all HCP’s, and I am heartened that the RCN have recently voted to lobby for full decriminalisation as a harm reduction approach. De-stigmatisation of sex work is absolutely essential if sex workers are to access essential services. ‘Exit’ services should only be available to workers who choose to use them. Forcing sex workers to stop working ‘for their own good’ is judgemental and unnecessary.
The law in England and Wales currently criminalises sex workers and our work places. We should have the right to work without being criminalised if we choose to work together or outside. Full decriminalisation of sex workers and third parties is necessary to protect us from crime, and ensure all sex workers have access to health and justice services. When sex work is fully decriminalised exploitation, sex trafficking, coercion, abuse, assaults and all other crime against us remain illegal and may actually begin to receive the attention they deserve from the police. The only way to address harm in the sex industry is to give all workers access to the employment rights that most other people enjoy, so we are able to report abuse if and when we see it. You cannot expect sex workers to work with the police when we are so often criminalised for consensual work.
Full decriminalisation (as seen in New Zealand) has been proven to be a good start towards destigmatisation of sex workers. Workers have more employment rights and are better able to negotiate better working conditions. Workers have a better relationship with police because they are able to report crime when they are not themselves criminalised.
Legalisation (as seen in Germany, Netherlands for example) is a two tier system which only makes sex work legal for certain workers. This leaves illegal workers open to all the harms faced in a criminalised environment. It is acknowledged as a failed system and therefore as a sex worker I do not want to see a legal framework like this applied in the UK.
Full criminalisation (as seen in the US) is a total failure. Violence, exploitation and abuse are rife because workers have no access to justice.
Partial criminalisation (as seen in Sweden, Norway, Ireland and in the UK in Northern Ireland for example) has failed as a model to protect sex workers, and has failed in it’s aim to ‘end demand’. When buyers are criminalised stigma against sex workers increases, in fact more people in Sweden than ever believe that selling sex should also be criminalised. Despite constant claims that a buyers law will decriminalise sex workers no criminalisation, laws or penalties are removed, and sex workers are still criminalised for working together or outside. Norway’s ‘Operation Homeless’ is an excellent example of the type of repressive policing that criminalising buyers leads to; sex workers are targeted in order to catch buyers. It also creates a ‘buyers market’ which leads to sex workers being less able to negotiate conditions and boundaries.
The recent research commissioned by the DOJ in Northern Ireland has shown this system does not work in the UK. Because of the baseline research carried out before the law change we can see that it has not reduced demand, trafficking or violence against sex workers (in fact the opposite has happened). A buyers law is often described as a way to show that buying sex is not ‘acceptable’ behaviour which is, of course, not what the law is for. The law exists to protect us, not to inadvertently harm us because it would like to make a point.
As a sex worker currently working in England I would like sex work to be fully decriminalised. I have come to this conclusion from looking at independent research which clearly shows that full decriminalisation is essential for the safety, health, and human rights of all sex workers.