Victims Without a Choice? A Critical View on the Debate About Sex Work in Northern Ireland (original) (raw)
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This article interrogates the discursive framing of recent law and policy debates on criminalizing sex purchase in Ireland and the implications this has for sex workers’ political voice. Drawing on Nancy Fraser’s work on the political dimensions of justice, we look at how Irish neo-abolitionists, through their Turn Off the Red Light (TORL) campaign, map and delimit access to political space and consequently misframe, misrecognize and misrepresent the ‘problem’ of sex work and sex-working women. We employ the methodological framework suggested by Carol Bacchi’s What’s the Problem Represented to Be (WPR) approach to explore how TORL campaigners exercise and manage frame-setting in law and policy contexts to deny all ‘other’ voices parity of participation in political space. We argue these misframing strategies reflect meta-political injustices of misrepresentation.
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This article attempts to uncover the discursive practices that have framed recent debates on prostitution in the Republic of Ireland. As Ireland prepares to introduce Swedish-style laws, which criminalize the purchase of sexual services, we are particularly interested in interrogating the dominant construction of prostitution in recent policy debates and consultations. Taking these spaces as sites for the reproduction of discursive and material practices, we employ methods of critical discourse analysis through Carole Bacchi’s (1999) ‘What’s the problem represented to be’ approach to question: How is prostitution problematized in Irish law and policy? We argue the representation of prostitution in neo-abolitionist discourse in Ireland operates through gendered and racialized assumptions about sex workers and migrant women. The material consequences of this have implications not only for current prostitution law and policy proposals but also for wider feminist spaces in Ireland.
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The Republic of Ireland is a good case study to highlight the problems associated with uncritical appeals to criminal law as the only appropriate tool to tackle demand and protect sex workers from harm. In 2017, the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act came into force in the Republic of Ireland (hereafter Ireland) making it a criminal offence to purchase sex in the jurisdiction. Ireland’s decision to introduce Swedish-style laws followed a protracted public campaign instigated in 2009 by the Irish and radical fem- inist inspired neo-abolitionist organisation, Turn off the Red Light. In this article, we confront and de-centre the Turn off the Red Light campaign’s hegemonic narrative that the criminal rather than social justice responses provide a more effective vehicle for sex workers’ empowerment. Undertaking our intervention in Irish feminist prostitution politics as a ‘politics of doing’ social justice through our separate and combined research, we extend our analysis by invoking Nancy Fraser and Barbara Hudson’s the- oretical work on social and restorative justice. We wish to develop a theoretical framework that can serve as a roadmap for restorative social justice – the process of achieving rights, recognition and redistribution through relational, reflective and discur- sive interventions in sex work research, policy and practice. We argue that by ‘thinking’ sex workers’ positionality in social relations differently, the ‘doings’ of restorative social justice for sex workers can begin or take place.
Sex work and the laws that surround the selling of sexual acts have been always been plagued by debate, and these discussions are becoming increasingly more volatile. This paper attempts to breach the widening chasm between the two sides and explore the various tensions that exist. Through an exploration of intersectional methods, the theory surrounding legal deconstruction, and newer legal models in England and Wales such as the Merseyside model, this paper illustrates that dismantling the law is not enough. It is instead vital to continually investigate creative ways to use law to protect and support all sex workers, and especially those who reside in the periphery. Ms Ackhurst received her MA in 2015 from SOAS, specialising in feminist legal theory, intersecting notions of justice and sexual violence. She has over three years of experience providing outreach support to women involved in the sex industry and currently provides frontline emotional support to female survivors of sexual violence at Rape Crisis Surrey and Sussex. KENT STUDENT LAW REVIEW Volume 2 2015 2
Labour and Industry, 2020
The notion of unacceptable work has formed, in part, as a counterweight to the push for decent or better forms of work. That is, naming and understanding the functioning of unacceptable work helps 'promote respect for rights at work by eliminating egregious labour practices.' (Fudge & McCann, 2015: v). There are important insights around unacceptable work to be gained from feminist debates on the sex industry. Engaging with these debates through the prism of unacceptable work can illuminate the way in which systems of prostitution can function simultaneously as forms of labour and as forms of exploitation and violence against women. If prostitution / sex work meets many of the criteria available for understanding unacceptable forms of work, then the question of abolition can be raised from a labour rights perspective. Following this logic, it is also possible to view the Equality / Nordic Model of asymmetric decriminalisation of the sex industry (where prostituted persons are decriminalised, but brothel owning and the purchase of sexual access are criminalised-see: Waltman, 2011) as a form of innovative policy to address unacceptable work, and promote decent work.
Demonising desire:men who buy sex and prostitution policy in the UK
2009
CLoK Central Lancashire online Knowledge www.clok.uclan.ac.uk Editorial Melissa Ditmore and Will Rockwell Researchers frequently ask sex workers about wages earned, traumatic experiences endured, and the requests of their clients, but rarely about their own satisfactions and pleasures. In this issue, Jayasree A.K. analyses some Indian sex workers' manipulation of male desire for vaginal sex. Sex workers at Mali's DANAYA SO show how the condom operates as a marker of commerce and how unprotected sex can be a symbol of love. Editorial Melissa Ditmore and Will Rockwell Les chercheurs demandent fréquemment les travailleurs de sexe combien ils gagnent, ou les expériences traumatisantes qu`ils ont vécues, mais rarement ils leurs posent des questions sur leur satisfactions et leurs plaisirs. Jayasree A. K. a analysé la manipulation des hommes pour le désir du sexe vaginal des travailleuses de sexe en Inde. A DANAYA SO au Mali, les travailleuses de sexe montrent comment le préservatif peut faire la différence entre le commerce et l`amour. Rut Pinedo González, à partir d'un projet d'appui, discute le plaisir physique des travailleurs de sexe lorsqu'ils travaillent. Holly Pottle décrit comment la satisfaction des personnes dans l'industrie du sexe peut se retrouver dans une action collectivespécialement les travailleurs de sexe indépendants ou isolés qui n'ont peut être pas de collègues avec qui ils peuvent travailler. Nous sommes heureux d'offrir un extrait du nouveau livre de Hilary Kinnell « Violence et Travail de Sexe en Grande-Bretagne » qui met en évidence le rejet du rôle du client par des hommes qui commettent des actes de violence contre les travailleurs d sexe. Ces hommes souvent refusent de payer, d'utiliser le préservatif ou de se conformer à d'autres revendications des travailleurs de sexe. Sarah Kingston examine l'actuel législation britannique qui propose de criminaliser les hommes qui achètent du sexe les
2005
This presentation will focus on the existing legal approaches to prostitution, the moral and ideological presumptions underlying the different legislative models and their impact on the working and living conditions of women and men working in the sex industry. It will also touch on the current debate on sex work, including the views of sexworkers themselves. Specific attention will be given to the Netherlands, where the sex industry has been decriminalised since October last year.
Urban Studies, 2017
Commercial forms of sex such as prostitution/sex work, strip clubs and even sex shops have been the subject of much political debate and policy regulation over the last decade or so in the UK and Ireland. These myriad forms of commercial sex and land usage have managed to survive and even thrive in the face of public outcry and regulation. Despite being part of the UK we suggest that Northern Ireland has steered its own regulatory course, whereby the consumption of commercial sexual spaces and services have been the subject of intense moral and legal oversight in ways that are not apparent in other UK regions. Nevertheless, in spite of this we also argue that the context of Northern Ireland may provide some lessons for the ways that religious values and moral reasoning can influence debates on commercial sex elsewhere.
How Sex Workers Understand Their Experiences of Working in the Republic of Ireland
Sexuality Research & Social Policy, 2021
Introduction This study seeks to explore the ways in which sex workers understand their experiences of working under sex work legislation in the Republic of Ireland, including laws that criminalise the purchase of sexual services. Participants reflected on their experiences of working in Ireland both and after the passing of [the] Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017. In 2017, the Republic of Ireland criminalised the purchase of sexual services and increased fines and sentences for brothel keeping. Method In 2020, semi-structured interviews lasting 60 to 90 min were conducted with 6 sex workers from diverse backgrounds, ages 24–44, actively working in Ireland since 2017. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Transcriptions were used to conduct an interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results Seven themes arose from the data: psychological wellbeing, relationships with law enforcement, relationships with friends and family, the effects of client criminalisation la...