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Last updated: 16/12/08

3 December 2008

Organisation or eradication?: Sex workers, rights and social policy

Catherine Stephens

Time: Starting 12.45pm ending 2pm

London Metropolitan University
The Boardroom (JS1-41)
31 Jewry Street
London EC3N 2EY

Organisation or eradication?: Sex workers, Rights and Social policy

To download Catherine Stephens' introduction click on the link below:

Catherine Stephens December 2008

Key Points:

- How sex workers are being organised in the UK.
- The effect of current legislation on the operation of the sex industry and for organising within it
- The potential consequences of proposed legislation for organising sex workers and for sex workers' participation in society more generally

Sex work is a hot topic. From politicians to journalists, policy makers to academics, everyone has a point of view on it. Yet in these debates, the voices of those who themselves work in the sex industry are little heard. Some even argue for our deliberate exclusion from these discussions, claiming that any change to make our lives safer effectively encourages us to remain in a situation which is inherently violent, that is a manifestation of male power over women's bodies. Despite this, a network of sex workers organising for themselves spans the globe. In the UK, the IUSW is part of this network, and the GMB offers union membership to all who work in the sex industry, our allies and supporters. Come and hear from a long term sex industry activist about the reality of working in the sex industry, the social and political context in which sex worker organising takes place, and how the IUSW is campaigning for human rights, social inclusion, and the full protection of the law, in the face of current ministerial proposals to increase criminalisation make it more dangerous to work in the sex industry.

Catherine Stephens

After a string of jobs in the private sector, including estate agency, television and administration for an architectural practice, Catherine spent ten years with an environmental campaigning organisation and a further five working with community development organisations. For the past eight years she has worked in the sex industry, and has been involved in sex worker organising for most of that time. She is an activist with the International Union of Sex Workers (IUSW) and a member of the GMB trades union's branch for people who work in the sex industry.



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