Sex Workers
In South Africa, sex workers are calling for justice
#SayHerName — The pandemic has wrecked the livelihoods of sex workers around the world. But in Cape Town – where racism, gender-based violence and police brutality are already rife – the struggles are even more acute.
Written by: Daisy Schofield
Anti-prostitution ‘feminism’ has no place in a pandemic
People are in danger — With no protection or support to deal with the coronavirus crisis, sex workers are more vulnerable than ever. It’s time to put aside your personal politics, argues Molly Smith.
Written by: Molly Smith
In Bolsonaro’s Brazil, sex workers are in serious danger
‘Some of us will die’ — As Jair Bolsonaro’s fascistic grip tightens around the country, there are fears that even the most basic of protections will be stripped away – leaving sex workers more vulnerable than ever.
Written by: Peter Yeung
The British sex workers fighting censorship
Red light revolution — The British sex trade remains an off-radar taboo, relegated to a legal grey area. But with looming legislation threatening to put workers in danger, sex activists are fighting to be better understood.
Written by: Lydia Morrish
The rarely-seen reality of life as a male sex worker
Scenes of a Sauvage nature — Sensitive, nuanced depictions of sex workers can be rare in cinema – especially when the subject happens to be a man. But with his debut feature Sauvage, director Camille Vidal-Naquet is looking to buck the trend.
Written by: Ella Kemp
Photos that capture the red lights of ’70s Paris
Pigalle People — Out of low-lit bars and into bedrooms, Pigalle People is an ode to Paris’s lost sex-workers through the humanist lens of Jane Evelyn Atwood.
Written by: Ellie Howard
Neville Southall tackles… Decriminalising sex work
Neville Knows Best — Footballing legend and Twitter sensation Neville Southall takes on the biggest issues of our time. This week it's sex work, and why it's time to decriminalise the oldest profession in the world.
Written by: Neville Southall
Capturing the dark side of China’s underground club scene
Into the night — Photographer and dancer Sergey Melnitchenko goes backstage at a nameless Chengdu city nightclub in his Behind The Scenes photo series.
Written by: Dominique Sisley
The photographer turning sex workers into works of art
The Act — Photographer Julia Fullerton-Batten's latest project, The Act, captures women in the sex industry in theatrical scenes and allows them to tell their own stories.
Written by: Michael Segalov // Jen Brook
The play putting the everyday stories of sex workers on stage
Neither villains nor victims — See Me Now, a new play at the Young Vic in London, is written and performed by current and former sex workers. We talk to its creators about why it's time their voices are heard.
Written by: Marta Bausells
We don't need saving: London sex workers demand an end to racist police raids
No bad women, just bad laws — Women from the English Collective of Prostitutes and the Sex Workers Open University protest police attitudes to migrants sex workers. Sex workers don't need a hero, they say, but to be treated like humans.
Written by: Ella Guthrie
Stripping away the stigma: Photos of London's male sex workers in 2016
Meet the men — When it comes to sex work current debates are consumed by ethics and morals, but all too regularly we ignore the human faces and stories of those who've chosen to earn cash in the oldest profession on earth. Photographer Jessica Kelly has set out to shoot intimate portraits of some of London's male sex workers, in the hope of stripping away the stigma surrounding the industry.
Written by: Tenelle Ottley-Matthew