On the 2nd of June 1975, over 100 sex workers began an 8-day occupation of Saint-Nizier Church in Lyon, France. They demanded an end to fines, stigma, police harassment and the removal of their children, demanded justice for those who had experienced harm and violence only to be ignored by the police, and expressed anger about their criminalised and exploitative living conditions. This day marked the start of an international movement, and this year we mark the 50th anniversary of the occupation which became known as ‘International Whores Day’. The key messages of the original protest were to draw attention to inhumane working conditions and lack of access to justice; half a century later, sex workers are still fighting to see the full realisation of this.
One of the biggest issues still facing sex workers today is unequal power imbalances with the police force and archaic laws and practices which have lasting impacts on their life, regardless of whether they remain in sex work or choose to leave. One such practice is prostitute’s cautions, a non-statutory remand given by police for loitering and soliciting. They can be issued to anyone who the police have ‘reasonable cause’ to believe have committed this offence – there does not need to be evidence. Police discretion of this kind is an open invitation for abuses of power. While the police team in Leeds fully recognise the severe limitations of the caution and therefore hardly ever use it, we know this is not the case elsewhere in the country. While the Leeds experience may be relatively positive, this also illustrates the ambiguity and the varied application of the law across the country – further enhancing the risk and the potential to abuse.
Unlike a police caution, prostitute’s cautions remain on their record until they are 100 years old. For life. Furthermore, there is no right to appeal. This closes a door for women to challenge a mark on their record that they had no control over receiving. It takes away their right to equal justice and often forces people to stay in sex work by removing access to jobs which require DBS checks and means that they will be continually outed as a (former) sex worker long beyond them leaving the industry, unable to escape the stigma. The impact of these go further however, as was confirmed by the English Collective of Prostitutes in their report Proceed Without Caution[1].
Women in the report described how having a record meant they didn’t apply for jobs for fear of the conviction coming up – sadly not every organisation pro-actively appreciates the lived experience of sex work; in fact for many it’s a reason not to employ someone. Even if they are employed, they may face stigma, abuse or even exploitation by those who become aware of their caution They felt they had been trapped in low-wage jobs by the burden of a caution or conviction, keeping them in the conditions that led them to sex work in the first place. Having a caution also greatly limits your access to criminal compensation if you are the victim of a serious or violent crime, as if someone has a criminal record, the Criminal Compensation Board can bar them from getting compensation or reduce the amount. This is a significant barrier to justice, as it prevents women from even trying to receive compensation for experiences of violence.
Another impact that is not often discussed is the impact on access to housing. Having a caution is a large obstacle in being able to rent, get a mortgage, or obtain home insurance as there are often policies of not housing people with criminal convictions. This drives women back onto the streets where sex work is one of the only ways they can make money or have a sheltered, though oftentimes unsafe, place to stay. They may also be more likely to rely on exploitative landlords or engage in sex-for-rent arrangements, as they may be the most accessible form of safe(r) and (more) stable housing available to them, particularly for the most precarious and marginalised workers.
Having a prostitute’s caution or a criminal record brands sex workers as criminals, greatly undermining their safety, making them an easy target for police and other authorities to discriminate against them. This kind of criminalisation model assists in the continued facilitation of systemic violence and undermines sex workers’ health and safety. Migrant, trans and black sex workers are also particularly targeted under these conditions. In most cases, the threat of prosecution for soliciting or brothel keeping (if they are working on the same premises) prevents many sex workers from reporting rape and other violence. For example, the European Sex Workers’ Rights Alliance found in their report across 11 countries, that only 40.7% of participants stated they would seek help from the police due to expectations of unfair treatment or misconduct [2], and research from National Ugly Mugs shared that 72% of participants would not report harm or violence they experienced to the police due to a fear of, or experience of, criminalisation[3].
Street sex workers are driven to work in more isolated and unfamiliar locations and indoor sex workers who would work together for safety are forced to work apart, therefore removing all safety measures they have established. Prostitute’s cautions can have a devastating impact on women, not simply while working in the sex industry, but for their whole lives, and this archaic practice needs to be stopped through the full decriminalisation of sex work and the removal of all existing criminal records associated with sex working.
Today, sex worker-led organisations and allies are gathering outside Downing Street to demand the removal of prostitute’s cautions. Yet while sex worker-led and sex worker-allied organisations fight to remove prostitute’s cautions from law, other groups are prioritising changing legislation in a move towards increased criminalisation and penalisation of those who buy sex. Recently, MPs proposed amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill aiming to criminalise the purchase of sex, the advertising of sexual services and any act to assist or support people engaging in sex work. Client criminalisation and the banning of advertising are policies which have been employed across the world to dangerous and disastrous results[4].
Just as prostitute’s cautions push sex workers into dangerous working conditions and make it harder for them to escape these, so does client criminalisation. Criminalising the buying of sex would only ensure that those who do continue to purchase sex are those who are unbothered about breaking the law. These individuals tend to be significantly more dangerous. Additionally, this would make the screening of clients, for safety reasons, almost impossible, as most punters would be unwillingly to provide their true names or identification for fear of being prosecuted[5]. This puts sex workers at an even greater risk of violence or exploitation, with less recourse and evidence available if this does occur. Furthermore, it does not solve the underlying reasons why people engage in sex work in the first place – it does not solve poverty or financial need, poor working conditions in mainstream jobs, marginalisation, or the care burden placed on women. It simply makes resisting these much more dangerous.
Full decriminalisation is the only way to protect the safety, health and human rights of sex workers, by giving them the power to choose when and how they work. While these proposed amendments are important to discuss, many organisations, including our own, are working hard to see it quashed, and they do not align with the official government stance.
On this day in 1975, the women of Lyon joined in solidarity and stormed the church alongside sex workers. Women in other French towns heard of the occupation and took sanctuary in their own churches. Across the country and across the world, sex workers and allies joined in the action. Now we ask you to continue the solidarity and allyship shown by them today.
This International Sex Worker’s day, we highlight the calls to action of various sex worker-led organisations around the UK. The English Collective of Prostitutes and Decrim Now are leading action outside Downing Street, aiming to highlight the harms of prostitute’s cautions and share an open letter to the Home Secretary[6].
You can also follow @decrimnow on Instagram, who will be updating their page with news of events across the country, and the European Sex Worker’s Rights Alliance are sharing more of the events happening across Europe[8].
One of the strongest things that you can do to be an ally to sex workers is to email your MP and share with them why you support the full decriminalisation of sex work and why prostitute’s cautions must be scrapped, expunged, and replaced with more supportive and compassionate approaches. Whether you support the right of people selling sex to work together for safety, to access safe and stable housing, to access appropriate and non-stigmatising healthcare, to achieve greater autonomy and independence at work, or to have stronger abilities to access legal remedies when their rights are not met or they experience harm at work – share with your MP why decrim matters to you and how it will make your community safer.
We also recommend following the work of sex-worker led organisations across the UK and beyond to find out about other opportunities you can support, including Decrim Now, the Sex Workers’ Union, the English Collective of Prostitutes, and other local collectives across the country. Keep up to date with their campaigns, and find out about how you can continue to show your support for sex workers’ rights.
There’s a variety of learning resources out there; The English Collective of Prostitutes‘ recent report, ‘Proceed Without Caution’, covers the prostitute’s caution in-depth and was referenced for this article (thank you!).
Juno Mac’s TED talk covers four legal models addressing the sex industry and explains why decriminalisation of sex work is the best option for everyone.
The Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) has a variety of resources that covers language, barriers sex workers face and policies around sex work across the world.
Basis Yorkshire also run CPD-certified training courses which focus on sharing best practice on working with women sex workers, understanding the law and how this impacts sex workers. Follow our Eventbrite to find out when the next one is running.
Stigma and discrimination creates a world in which sex workers suffer disproportionately from violence. Anything we can do to reduce the stigmatisation and discrimination of sex work will help create a safer environment for sex workers.
[1] https://prostitutescollective.net/proceed-without-caution/
[2] https://www.eswalliance.org/police_research_brief
[3] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8409698/
[4] For more information about the impact of these policies, see: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cmpublic/CrimePolicing/memo/CPB48.htm
[5]https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2xw1xrq4lo#:~:text=Alba%20MSP%20Ash%20Regan%20is,will%20help%20to%20protect%20women
[6] https://prostitutescollective.net/protest-2-june-international-sex-workers-day%ef%bf%bc/
[8] https://www.eswalliance.org/50th_anniversary