ECP Evidence Gathering Symposium on Decriminalisation
Violence against sex workers & issues for internet based sex workers
Dr Teela Sanders, Laura Connelly, Alex Feis-Bryce and Rosie Campbell
Two recent datasets have been collected:
- an analysis of 961 Ugly Mug reports from July 2012 to July 2014 and
- the largest UK survey (n=240) to date on internet based sex workers examining their working conditions and job satisfaction.
This paper will pull out the key information from these datasets to evidence the following:
- levels of violence against sex workers, making comparisons between sectors
- working histories of internet based sex workers
- sex work histories
- experiences of crime and safety at work
- job satisfaction
- sex workers opinions on how to improve safety, highlight the unanimous disregard for criminalisation as a sound policy
Whilst this data is largely based on female British based sex workers in the UK there will be reflections on the data for male sex workers and other groups. Overall we hope to showcase some of the most detailed quantitative data on violence against sex workers in the UK and the dominance of indoor / internet based sex work, to contribute to the campaign for a safer sex working environment that decriminalisation offers.
Another member of the Beyond the Gaze Team, Dr Jane Pitcher will also be presenting at the symposium. She will be presenting a paper based on her MRes and PhD research.