Banwell, Stacy ORCID: 0000-0001-7395-2617 (2015) The law as violence against women: Sex workers’ views on stigma, exclusion, governance and patriarchy. In: 'The Other' - International Cultural Criminology Conference, 25 June 2015, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

In a 2014 cross-party report for the UK parliament, a proposal was put forward to reform prostitution laws. This report follows the Nordic model, and will criminalize those who use prostitutes: including both ‘pimps’ and ‘punters’. Women, who are currently prosecuted for soliciting, will be given Anti-Social Behavior Orders. The response has been mixed, reflecting the socio-political and feminist divide that surrounds this topic. The Oppression paradigm regards prostitution as a form of violence against women, whilst the empowerment paradigm - preferring to use the phrase ‘sex worker’ - rejects the notion of sex work as inherently exploitative. In contrast, this perspective views the provision of sexual services as a legitimate form of labor. This paper is based on participatory action research with women who sell sex in the UK. Using qualitative interviews, and drawing upon notions of deviance, stigma, and the law-as-violence, this research provides a ‘thick’ account of women’s views on the Government proposals to reform prostitution laws in the UK. This paper – which draws upon the second stage of the research project – will draw upon the qualitative data of these interviews.

Item Type:	Conference or Conference Paper (Paper)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	prostitution laws, sex workers, feminist divide
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences > School of Law & Criminology (LAC) Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences > Crime, Law & (In)Security Research Group (CLS)
Last Modified:	01 Nov 2021 00:11
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/15146

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