Triggered by MPs calling for soliciting by sex workers to be de-criminalised
External Link/Members OnlyEnding the criminalisation of soliciting for sex in England and Wales could lead to one of the most tectonic shifts in how prostitution is seen in society since it was first made illegal nearly 200 years ago. But what is it like to sell your body for sex in London?
On Friday a cross-party group of senior MPs called for soliciting by sex workers to be decriminalised in what would be radical changes to the laws on prostitution.
This will most likely be welcome news to London's estimated 32,000 sex workers who, charities say, are less safe as a result of the criminalisation of their trade.
But it doesn't take many paragraphs to get around to this
She says targeting people who exploit women and buy sex is "at the top" of the Met's agenda
So I guess we know where she stands on the issue. (Although picking up streetwalkers has been illegal for some time anyway AIUI, which maybe what Commander Jones is referring to specifically - I don't think the BBC make that clear).
The article talks of buying sex from a streetwalker for £20 down to £5 - a scenario I suspect is completely foreign to most UKP members contemporary experience of punting in London. Personally I've not spotted a streetwalker selling sex in London this century - though in truth I've not been looking.
The article does have the usual token Happy Hooker "Alice" who says she does not need rescuing, and input from the English Collective of Prostitutes.
Anyway, I'm all for decriminalising sex workers, though as pointed out in the article the attention of the political classes is elsewhere at the moment.
