- Question
Should sex work be decriminalised?
Should sex work be removed from the criminal law? This entry maps the positions on the question — that sex work should be fully decriminalised, that it should be partially decriminalised, and that it should not be decriminalised at all.
Sex work should be fully decriminalised
This position holds that sex work should be fully decriminalised, including paying for sex. It argues that this keeps sex workers safer — letting them work together, screen clients and access healthcare without fear of arrest — and that criminalising consensual sex violates bodily autonomy.
- Sex workers can access healthcare without fear of arrest
- Removing penalties for soliciting and kerb crawling gives workers more time to screen out potentially violent clients
- Legalising brothels provides sex workers with safety in numbers
- Criminalising consensual sex in any form impedes on the human right to bodily autonomy
- Reduces the number of 'sex tourists' travelling abroad to use brothels/services that disproportionately exploit children and force them into sex work
- Sex workers won't have to work in dark isolated areas where they are more at risk of becoming victims of a crime
- Allows the continuation of clients with disabilities who rely on sex workers to fulfil their sexual health
Sex work should be partially decriminalised
This position holds that sex work should be partially decriminalised—for example, decriminalising sex workers while still criminalising those who seek to buy sex. It argues this approach protects workers, eases access to healthcare, and reduces the pool of potentially violent clients.
- Legalising the profession allows sex workers to access healthcare and support without fear of arrest
- Can provide further support for sex workers while tackling the reasons they entered sex work
- Criminalising the act of using/seeking out a sex worker greatly reduces the pool of potentially violent patrons
- Removes the likelihood of increased sex tourism with the UK
- Can be used to combat reasons why patrons use sex workers
Sex work should not be decriminalised
This position holds that sex work should not be decriminalised. Its arguments contend that keeping brothels and solicitation illegal limits exploitation by pimps and traffickers, that decriminalisation could invite more violent clients, and that it treats women's bodies as a commodity to be bought.
- Decriminalisation opens the door for sex tourists travelling to the UK and increasing child sexual exploitation
- Decriminalisation means sex worker specific support services will have their budgets cut and many will be closed
- Full decriminalisation risks more violent and abusive clients approaching sex workers
- Decriminalisation opens the door to increased use of sex workers, leading to a culture that enables and encourages sex addiction
- Should not be decriminalised
- The majority of sex workers opt for this work in case of a financial crisis
- Legalising sex work opens the door for loopholes relating to sex trafficking and exploitation
- Normalising the act of purchasing sex reinforces the cultural narrative that women's bodies are a commodity that can be bought and sold
- Keeping brothels illegal reduces the number of sex workers abused and/or exploited by pimps