While the minister's relationship with a sex worker has been treated as a liability, a majority of the public support decriminalisation of sex work
No one seems entirely certain what the key point in the John Whittingdale story is, beyond the fact that he had a relationship with a woman who was a sex worker.
It may be that the culture minister left himself open to media blackmail and that there was a media cover up, it may be that he should have revealed this conflict of interests, or it could be old-fashioned gossip about a politician’s sex life.
But underlying all of these angles is the assumption that there’s something seedy, embarrassing or blackmail-worthy about a relationship with a sex worker, or sex work itself. Whittingdale himself describes the relationship as ’embarrassing’.
In fact, polling data clearly shows that the public is not uniformly anti-prostitution.
Last week, after France introduced a new law making the purchase of sex illegal, YouGov conducted a poll assessing support for a similar measure in the UK. Of those who offered an opinion, 48 per cent supported criminalisation of purchase, while 51 per cent were opposed.
Image: YouGov
This follows another poll in August 2015, which found that 54 per cent of the population supported decriminalisation, while 21 per cent were opposed. In March, Jeremy Corbyn aligned himself with the majority view, commenting:
“I am in favour of decriminalising the sex industry. I don’t want people to be criminalised. I want to be [in] a society where we don’t automatically criminalise people. Let’s do things a bit differently and in a bit more civilised way.”
His statements provoked an angry response from several of his Labour colleagues, and some feminist organisations. Sex work is a contentious issue among feminists. Some believe that criminalising the buyers of sex while decriminalising the sellers is the only way to clamp down on the industry, while others argue that decriminalising and regulating sex work is the best way to protect workers’ safety.
The 2015 poll showed that decriminalisation sex work is more popular among men. 65 per cent of whom supported decriminalisation, while 15 per cent were opposed. Among women, decriminalisation had 43 per cent support, with 27 per cent opposed.
The UK’s Home Affairs Committee is currently conducting an inquiry into the way prostitution is treated in legislation, with a particular focus on whether the the ‘burden of criminality should shift to those who pay for sex rather than those who sell it.’
Given the balance of public opinion on this issue it may be that, in Whittingdale’s case, the story didn’t receive much coverage because the public is simply not that interested.
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3 Responses to “Does the lack of interest in John Whittingdale’s behaviour reflect changing attitudes to sex work?”
Jimmy Glesga
Prostitution should be legal and women protected. The women should pay tax and VAT on their business earnings. The country would benefit with less police time wasted.
Cat Stephens
Hundreds of sex workers’ organisations globally campaign for a human rights approach to the problems associated with the sex industry and for legislation that respects our consent to sex. There is nothing feminist about denying a woman’s right to consent to sex – criminalisation of our clients is simply an inversion of the vile patriarchal trope “you can’t rape a whore”. It counts when we say “yes”, and it counts when we say “no”.
http://www.nswp.org/resources
http://www.sexworkeurope.org/resources
The UN, ILO, WHO and Amnesty International all recognise that criminalisation is a driver for abuse, exploitation and HIV within the sex industry.
In the UK, the IUSW campaigns for policy to be based in reality and on evidence, not on ideology, assumption, dramatic individual cases and stereotypes.
http://www.iusw.org/2015/08/welcome-amnesty-internationals-decision-adopt-policy-human-rights-sex-workers/
Evidence based policy is the only way to develop effective action to improve complex social issues. Evidence shows that the New Zealand model of decriminalisation offers the strongest foundation for improving safety, human rights and public health.
National Ugly Mugs, the UK’s only specialist anti-violence service for people in the sex industry, likewise supports the New Zealand model and opposes criminalisation of clients.
https://uknswp.org/um/about/
Alexsandr
The whittingdale story was a nothing story. Single man has sex with woman who makes her living quite legally. isnt much of a story. Sniggering about a man liking a domme and a bit of flagellation isn’t really very edifying.
but talk of decriminalising prostitution is silly as prostitution is quite legal in the UK except NI.
(Managing a brothel, kerbcrawling and ‘using’ a coerced prostitute’ is illegal. everything else is quite within the law)
we do need to look at the brothel law. Why a small number of prostitutes cant work together for their own safety is beyond me, but is illegal.