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Sex Work Criminalization Is Barking Up the Wrong Tree
1Rutgers, Expert Centre on Sexuality, PO Box 9022, 3506 GA, Utrecht, The Netherlands. i.vanwesenbeeck@rutgers.nl.
Archives of Sexual Behavior
|June 7, 2017
Summary
Punitive sex work policies, including criminalization, worsen conditions for sex workers and fail to address underlying issues like poverty and inequality. These repressive measures are ineffective and harmful, contradicting human rights and public health principles.
Area of Science:
- Social Policy
- Criminology
- Human Rights Law
Background:
- A global trend towards increased repression and criminalization of sex work is evident.
- Neo-abolitionist approaches conflate sex work with trafficking, leading to heightened policing and persecution.
- Punitive "demand reduction" strategies are gaining traction in sex work policy.
Purpose of the Study:
- To critically review the effects of punishing and repressive sex work policies.
- To analyze how criminalization and repression impact sex worker safety and autonomy.
- To examine the alignment of sex work criminalization with human rights and public health.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing evidence on the impacts of sex work criminalization and repression.
- Analysis of "waterbed politics" in sex work regulation.
- Consideration of structural factors contributing to sex work and its negative aspects.
Main Results:
- Repressive and criminalizing sex work policies function as "waterbed politics," exacerbating problems for sex workers.
- Criminalization and repression decrease the likelihood of sex work being worker-controlled, non-abusive, and non-exploitative.
- These policies are fundamentally at odds with human rights and public health principles.
Conclusions:
- Sex work criminalization is an ineffective strategy that targets consensual sex rather than crime, failing to address root causes.
- Repressive sex work policies offer no viable solutions for improving the future of sex work or addressing poverty and gender inequality.
- The criminal justice system is inappropriate for tackling the complexities of sex work, its stigma, and its structural determinants.
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