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Who benefits from
criminalising
sex workers & clients?
Stop new laws vs
consenting sex!
PUBLIC MEETING
Hosted by
John McDonnell MP
Tuesday 25 November 2008 6-8pm
Committee Room 16, House of Commons
Westminster,
London SW1
Fully
wheelchair accessible All welcome
Allow
15 minutes to get in
Speakers to be announced
The government is
expected to announce more laws to criminalise sex workers
and clients in the Queen’s Speech on 3 December. Yet public
opinion is increasingly hostile to repressive policies that
force prostitution underground, and make it less safe for
sex workers.
Help us
stop religious and feminist fundamentalists who divide
prostitute women from other women and other workers. Listen
to the workers, not the preachers. Sex workers want rights,
not charity. We want safety, not prison. We want unity, not
segregation.
English Collective of Prostitutes, Crossroads Women’s Centre
PO Box 287 London NW6 5QU, Tel: 020 7482 2496
ecp@allwomencount.net
www.prostitutescollective.net
The ECP
co-ordinates the Safety First Coalition
o
In February, the
Safety First Coalition with MPs and Peers defeated
government attempts to “rehabilitate” sex workers and
increase arrests.
o
On 14 November,
the IQ2 debate at the Royal Geographical Society defeated
“It is Wrong to Pay for Sex “by
449 to 203.
o
The
Communications Workers Union has voted for
decriminalisation.
o
Long established
women’s organisations are canvassing their members.
o
Lapdancers
handed into Downing Street a 3,000-strong petition against
tightening licensing laws.
o
Internationally, New
Zealand’s five-year review showed decriminalisation is a
success. In the US, the historical election that
voted Barrack Obama as president by a landslide, was also
memorable in San Francisco for Proposition K to
decriminalise prostitution in the city. Prop K got 43% of
the votes – astonishing given that its sex-worker-led
campaign had no funding, and that the police, District
Attorney and Mayor used their position to misinform and
scare voters.
Workers don’t benefit from criminalisation.
The ECP has been inundated by women who have been raided,
arrested and charged, and face imprisonment for running
safe, discrete premises where no coercion is taking
place. Anti-trafficking legislation is being used to justify
these raids. Who will support families hit by recession when
mothers and daughters who sell sex are imprisoned? How can
women who want to get out of prostitution find another job
if they have a criminal record?
Pimps, violent men and “rehabilitation” projects benefit.
Pimps are attracted by any illegal economy. Violent men know
that illegal workers can’t report violence or exploitation.
And more anti-prostitution projects will be funded to “save”
the rest of us.
Why are resources wasted on policing consenting sex when
most rapists are getting away with it? Why are
anti-trafficking laws used to deport women? |