Sex Worker Rights: (Almost) Everything You Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask

This resource is a briefing on why the American Jewish World Service funds sex worker rights organisations. At the same time, it is also a very effective introduction to the concept of sex worker rights, and the sex worker rights movement. It discusses who sex workers are and what is sex work, the rights of sex workers in places where sex work is illegal, and introduces a rights-based approach.

The briefing tackles the inaccurate conflation of sex work and trafficking, and points to ways that the sex workers rights movement can help to combat exploitation and rights abuses. It discusses why merely offering 'exiting' strategies is stigmatising and unhelpful, and looks at the harms of criminalisation, along with the benefits of decriminalisation. It notes the important difference between decriminalisation and legalisation, and tackles some 'feminist' responses to sex workers. It also discusses several of the many problems with the Swedish model or end demand approach and concludes with a concise world history of sex worker organising, a list of "Dos and Don'ts", and a glossary.