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Sex Workers

Inside Yoshiwara, Japan’s oldest red light district

Asasuka soaplands — Despite numerous fires and harshening sex work laws, the centuries old area continues to persevere in East Tokyo. Manami Okazaki traces its history and meets people who shape its present.

  • Culture
  • Manami Okazaki
Blonde man in white t-shirt and blue shorts stands beside black car with person visible through sunroof, palm tree and houses in background.

How Santa Monica Blvd inspired queer classic film Hustler White

Baal — Rick Castro’s new exhibition explores his journey from photographing male sex workers in LA to creating one of the most shocking LGBTQ+ films of all time.

  • Culture
  • Miss Rosen

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.

  • Reportage
  • 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.

  • Opinion
  • 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.

  • Reportage
  • 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.

  • Activism
  • 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.

  • Film
  • 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.

  • Photography
  • 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.

  • Opinion
  • 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.

  • Photography
  • 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.

  • Outdoors
  • 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.

  • Culture
  • Marta Bausells

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