prostitution

Cry for the Merseyside Model: Crimes Against People in Prostitution/Sex Workers Must Be Treated As Hate Crimes UK Wide

Crimes against people in prostitution are not only hate crimes when they occur in Merseyside, they are hate crimes wherever they occur. The Merseyside model must be made UK wide.

Ruth Jacobs's avatarRuth Jacobs

These very real women photographed above are dead. They were murdered, and most of their cases remain unsolved. Women in prostitution suffer higher rates of murder [the mortality rate for women in prostitution in London is twelve times the national average – Home Office 2004a], higher rates of rape [more than half have been raped and/or seriously sexually assaulted in the UK – Home Office 2004b], and higher rates of physical violence [at least three quarters have been physically assaulted – Home Office 2004b]. And when they are made to disappear, most of society does not care.

In 2006, Merseyside police declared crimes against sex workers* hate crimes. The results are so astounding I cried reading them. In Liverpool, in 2009, police convicted 90% of those who raped sex workers. In 2010, the overall conviction rate in Merseyside for crimes against sex workers was 84%, with a 67% conviction rate for rape. 6.5% is the national…

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In the Booth with Ruth – Nicole Rowe, Feminist, Anti Sex-Trade Activist and Co-Founder of Nordic Model Advocates (NorMAs)

“A woman that is under psychological pressure from a pimp, boyfriend or other coercer to continue selling sex needs to hear that there is another way and have someone believe in her that she can make it happen,” says Nicole Rowe, a UK feminist and co-founder of Nordic Model Advocates (NorMAs), an organisation that tackles “the foundation that holds trafficking up – prostitution.”

Ruth Jacobs's avatarRuth Jacobs

Nicole Rowe

How did you become involved in supporting the abolition of prostitution?

As a feminist activist, you have to be wilfully blind to ignore the sex trade. I was planning a one-off activist stunt around sex trafficking at a UK activist training event, and was fortunate that those I met were passionate and dedicated enough to want to form an organisation with me to tackle the foundation that holds trafficking up – prostitution. If we lived in a world where women’s bodies were not for sale, then sex traffickers would not be able to operate. So, the best place to start alleviating the problem of trafficking is with prostitution.

What draws you to support and advocate for people in prostitution?

Largely, the lack of people doing so, and my outrage at that. Put simply, we live under a capitalist, patriarchal system, which means profit comes before people. For those at the receiving end…

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In the Booth with Ruth – Winnie Small, Radical Feminist/Abolitionist and Ally to Victims of Sex Trafficking & Sexual Exploitation

Winnie Small, a radical feminist, abolitionist, and ally to victims of sex trafficking and sexual exploitation gives an in depth interview for Human Trafficking Awareness Month. In it, she explains how pornography plays into other forms of prostitution, the affect the internet has had on this, how, within a capitalist patriarchy, ‘choice’ and ‘freedom’ don’t always mean choice and freedom for women, particularly indigenous women and women of colour, and she discusses the Nordic model, and the current law, which she describes as offering no reasonable assurance of protection “where money and men’s boners collide.”

Ruth Jacobs's avatarRuth Jacobs

Winnie SmallHow did you become involved in supporting the abolition of prostitution?

I must admit my opposition to pornstitution was largely academic at first, not felt in my gut to be wrong until I read anti-pornography/anti-prostitution feminist books, especially radical feminist books, like Gloria Steinem’s Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions, Kate Millett’s Sexual Politics, Joan Smith’s Misogynies – I read all these at twelve years old. Another book I read at the same age, Patrick Roscoe’s Birthmarks, is a collection of semi-autobiographical stories about prostitution, child sexual abuse, homelessness, trauma re-enactment, and so on – that is what really hit me in the gut/tear ducts. Before that, I was pro-porn, from about eight to twelve, consuming romance novels (from garage sales and the library) and porn – first sneaking looks at my dad’s friends’ porn, then seeking out mostly televised pornography on pay per view channels (we had a descrambler). I…

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