Open Democracy Produces ‘Blueprint’ for Decriminalizing Sex Work

LOS ANGELES—With the coronavirus pandemic and the accompanying widespread shutdowns of business and everyday life continuing to wreak havoc in countries around the world, sex workers — who were already marginalized and in many societies, criminalized — have found themselves in especially dire straits.  Not only have brothels shut down, and customers largely vanished due to fears of contracting the virus, but in many countries, sex workers have not been able to replace lost income with government relief, because those governments have often specifically excluded them from receiving benefits. By early April, the situation was so desperate that a United Nations agency publicly called for government aid packages not to overlook struggling sex workers.  Now, the British, independent media organization Open Democracy has taken its own step to remedy the marginalization of sex workers, publishing a new, online e-book, The Fight To Decriminalize Sex Work.  “The COVID-19 pandemic brutally demonstrates what happens to marginalized and excluded people when things start to go wrong,” the group wrote, in announcing the book’s release. “They die.” The book, which may be downloaded for free in PDF form at this link, includes 13 essays on such topics as “Getting anti-trafficking advocates on board with decriminalized sex work,” “Selling decriminalization to the public,” and “The false feminism of criminalizing clients.” Calling the book a “blueprint” for policy makers, Open Democracy says that as a result of the coronavirus crisis, “sex workers’ organizations around the world have not only set up mutual help and solidarity systems but renewed their calls for decriminalization with an unprecedented sense of urgency.” According to the group, law enforcement agencies have used quanratine requirements as a pretext to further crack down on sex workers, particularly migrants.  “For many sex workers the situation is now desperate, and many are choosing to return to work despite the risk to their personal health,” the group writes, in an introduction to the book. In the United States, 2020 opened as what could have been a good year for the decriminalization movement, with lawmakers in New York and Vermont both pushing legislation for decriminalization in their respective states. But the coronavirus pandemic appears to have put those discussions on the back burner, indefinitely.  But according to the new Open Democracy book, now is precisely the time to move sex work decriminalization efforts forward. “Sex workers are fighting for their lives,” the book’s introduction says.  “Decriminalization is absolutely mandatory to increase safety.” Photo By Carys Boughton / Open Democracy