At last someone is beginning to get the message about the decriminalisation of sex work.
Lord (Norman) Fowler, who was Health Secretary in Margaret Thatcher’s administration is calling for sex work to be decriminalised in order to constrain the spread of HIV.
The following are extracts from an article in the Independent on 27 July.
Sex work should be decriminalised in the UK to slow the spread of HIV and combat prejudice, the former health secretary … has said.
Speaking at the International Aids Conference in Melbourne, Lord Fowler said:
“One of the reasons for [low HIV diagnosis rates] is obviously the prejudice and ostracism that comes with either being gay, or having HIV, or being a sex worker … If you’re going to be prosecuted, it’s most unlikely you’d want to come forward to say: ‘please test me I think I may have HIV’.”
“The British system needs another look at. It’s all over the place … Australians have a system where prostitution is totally decriminalised; as long as you meet normal business requirements on health and safety you can act perfectly legally as a sex worker or run a brothel. [But] the whole input of British law has been to take them off the streets and keep them out of sight.”
“Are we prepared to recognise sex work and cooperate with sex workers, bringing them in to the policy dialogue, or do we call them prostitutes and assume they have no input? It is slightly a matter of attitude and requires a revolution in attitude.”
The Independent report continues …
Few countries have totally decriminalised sex work, but where it has been attempted, it has led to reductions in HIV infections, and greater confidence among sex workers that they can contact the police to protect them from violence, with no significant increase in the number of street-based sex workers.
Ruth Morgan-Thomas, a sex worker and coordinator of the Global Network of Sex Work Projects, said sex workers had long recognised that decriminalisation would have an impact on the HIV epidemic, and that working under criminalised circumstances was making sex workers more vulnerable.
“We need to stop thinking about people who are engaging in sex work as victims, as criminals, as immoral, as unimportant in our society. Every citizen has the same rights. One of the fundamentals is about your ability to choose your employment,” she said.
So great. The message is beginning to get through, although there is still a long way yet to go!