UK P4P News

The founder of the Swindon Feminist Network has whinged at a new directory of the town's sex workers.

The McCoy's Guide to Adult Services in South West England plus South Wales is the latest title from George McCoy, who has written at least 11 similar books and gives a rating out of five for each service, including costs and the occasional photograph.

The book includes listings for 21 working girls, three dominatrixes and a massage parlour in the town.

Albertine Davies, founder of the Swindon Feminist Network blasted McCoy for effectively marketing the work of the town's sex workers.

Whatever anyone says, no one chooses to go into sex work, she said. People sometimes say that it is the woman's choice and that should be respected and everything is ok, but it's not. Many people are driven to it out of desperation in the circumstances they are in. So called 'high-class' escorts who earn a lot of money are exceptionally rare.

I've read that many people who end up in that line of work are also victims of childhood abuse. It's also a tragic result of our benefits system that people are driven to sell themselves in order to earn some money.

It also has great ramifications for the rest of society, since people who are willing to buy sex are de-valuing people to the value of consumable goods.

Anybody who makes money out of something like this is no better than a pimp.

George McCoy said:

Most of the people who are opposed to the sex industry and sex work are feminist lesbians with a holier-than-thou prudish attitude towards the industry. I don't deal with street prostitutes. The ladies I include are well-respected for their unique services and private venues and they all are in a job they want to be in and enjoy.

For many it's far more preferable to working at a check-out in a supermarket, for example. They can earn more, they can choose their own hours which also means that it's easier to arrange childcare. It's much easier to work evenings and arrange for a friend to look after the children than it is doing a day job.

Prostitution and illegal drugs are contributing around £10bn a year to the British economy, according to official data.

More than half of that, £5.3bn, is attributable to prostitution, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

Illegal drugs and prostitution are worth 0.7% of GDP, which is roughly the same proportion as agriculture, gambling and accommodation services which includes hotels, bed and breakfasts and caravan parks. They are worth more than advertising, which is 0.5% of GDP, and double the contribution of real estate activities, at 0.35%.

The contribution of prostitution to GDP was calculated using a number of estimates, including the clients per prostitute per week based on Dutch practise, the average price per visit and the cost of room rental and clothing.

Amnesty International has urged Northern Ireland's politicians to ditch plans to criminalise the purchasing of sex. The human rights organisation wants a clause contained in a bill against human trafficking to be excised because it argues it would create a hierarchy of criminal liability among sex workers.

Clause six of the bill would make it a criminal offence to buy, but not sell, sex and is based on Sweden's repressive model. Lord Morrow, a Democratic Unionist member of the Stormont assembly who also sits in the House of Lords, has been trying to force the bill through the devolved parliament.

Amnesty stressed it was not taking sides on the debate over sex work and prostitution, but said sex work and human trafficking were two very complex social phenomena that required different laws. Grainne Teggart, Amnesty's Northern Ireland campaigner, said:

We recommend that our political parties remove clause six from the bill and that planned research into sex work by the Department of Justice is used to inform future policy, which should establish the degree to which legislation -- together with educational, social, cultural and other measures -- could serve to reduce the demand that fuels trafficking, including for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

It is claimed this clause will help protect sex workers by shifting the criminal liability away from them as the seller of sexual services, to the purchaser. In reality, it fails to do this and provides no exploration of, or guarantees against, the potential unintended consequences of such a move. It is clear that many others, including the police, share our concerns on the risk of potential negative effects.

In effect, clause six would introduce a hierarchy of criminal liability amongst those engaged in the selling of sexual services, many of whom may be vulnerable, with some remaining at risk of prosecution and others not.

Legislation to criminalise men for buying sex in Northern Ireland would be unworkable because the devolved government at Stormont has no powers to authorise telephone bugging operations.

The region's justice minister, David Ford, has told the Guardian he is far from convinced over the plans because mobile intercepts, crucial in prosecutions in countries which have introduced the laws, are [supposedly] rarely used, even in cases against republican and loyalist terror groups.

Police would have to intercept all calls from clients to sex workers in the province, Ford warned. He claimed only a UK cabinet minister such as the Northern Ireland secretary had the power to sign off spying operations.

In response to Democratic Unionist assembly member Lord Morrow's attempt to introduce such a law via new human anti-trafficking legislation, Ford has established a commission to explore the extent of prostitution in Northern Ireland and the efficacy of the Swedish model. Ford told the Guardian:

I think there is far too little evidence to legislate in a hurry -- the research will tell us what the position is. But I am far from convinced that what is currently being suggested such as the Swedish model would work here.

One specific issue which has been raised with me is the fact that the Swedish model largely depends upon telephone intercept evidence. Telephone intercepts can be obtained by an officer more or less the equivalent of a police superintendent in Sweden. In Northern Ireland such telephone intercepts would have to be signed by the secretary of state and I think that is a very different situation.

Certainly in terms of the proportionality of such a process these intercepts are applied against serious cases such as terrorism not issued such as those relating to prostitution, and indeed even in the case of terrorist cases not very often.

And to be honest -- not that I would know! Because the National Security Agency cannot operate yet in Northern Ireland because of objections from nationalist politicians to it working here.

As I said before my understanding is that the only person here who could sign off and authorise the use of telephone intercepts to catch men in the act so to speak would be Theresa Villiers, the current secretary of state, or any future one.

The justice minister said he was concerned that any legislation directed at people who buy sex could make matters worse for those involved in prostitution.

The issue that concerns me as minister of justice is whether there is a need for legislation to make sure the law actually deals with the problem. What we need to do is to protect the women (because they are nearly all women involved in it) and assist those who want to get out of prostitution if they want out. And in particular, that we take strong action directed against those who are trafficking human beings for any purpose. The specific issue of a ban on the purchase of sexual services, and even that is an unclear phrase, is not where I think the priority needs to be at this point.

Meanwhile nasty Tory speaks out in favour of jailing men just for buying sex

See  article from  independent.co.uk

Caroline Spelman, the former Tory environment secretary, says buying sex from prostitutes should be criminalised. She also called on more male politicians to enter into a discussion on the reform of prostitution laws. (

Spelman said she supports the Nordic approach, used in Sweden, Iceland and Norway, which makes it a crime to buy, but not sell, sexual services. Speaking to The Guardian , she said it is important for more men to make their views clear on the issue, rather assuming that men would support her miserable cause.

A flood of tributes from across the political and public spectrum have been paid to the Scottish politician Margo MacDonald, who died on Friday aged 70 after a long, public struggle with Parkinson's disease.

From the moment she burst on to the scene with the SNP in the 70s to her bitter bust-up with the party and reinvention as a popular independent politician, she never relinquished her role as a political firebrand and maverick operator.

Serious yet charismatic, Ms MacDonald was hugely influential within the Scottish independence movement for more than 40 years.

She was also known for high-profile campaigns, from protecting female sex workers to legalising assisted suicide for the terminally ill - an issue which took on a deeply personal significance.

In fact she also stood up for workers in other adult industries, notably lap dancing.

Safety First! Stop the Criminalisation of Sex Work. People's Parliament Meeting
House of Commons, Conference Room 12
26 March 2014, 6.30-8.30 pm

Host: John McDonnell MP

Chair: English Collective of Prostitutes

Proposals to increase the criminalisation of prostitution are being put forward in a number of European countries including the UK. Increased criminalisation would be a disaster for women's safety. The laws already push sex workers into isolation and into danger. Of the two women recently murdered in London, one was working on the street and one was working indoors alone.

Despite senior police officers acknowledging that operations to tackle the trade are 'counterproductive' and likely to put the lives of women at risk mass raids against sex workers in Soho , London, have thrown scores of women out of the relative safety of their flats. Arrests continue against sex workers on the street. Most of the women are mothers but the impact of arrests and evictions on their ability to support their families is not even being discussed.

SPEAK OUT: Sex workers from England, France, Germany, Ireland, Scotland, Sweden and Wales.

REPORT ON: New Zealand which decriminalised sex work 11 years ago and Canada s Supreme Court which ruled that criminalisation is in breach of sex workers human rights.

PLUS: Anti-violence, church, health and legal professionals, red-light residents, students.

Update: Protests

2nd April 2013. See article from ynuk.tv , See also article from  westendextra.com

About 70 people turned out to protest against the criminalisation of sex workers and/or their customers.

The protestors danced across Piccadilly Circus and later gathered for talks, speeches and debates. It was all part of a video shoot for a new song by Tim Arnold, also known as The Soho Hobo , called The Piccadilly Trot , which he hopes will be London's answer to Gangnam style . Arnold said:

I created a platform for everyone who wants to express something in Soho. Social tolerance and sexual freedom have always been part of Soho's history and part of its global appeal. My grandfather worked for Paul Raymond as a comedian in the 1950s and my mother was a Windmill Girl, so Soho is in my blood.

Sex workers have also been lobbying in parliament. Sex workers from across the UK and rest of Europe crammed into a select committee room in the House of Commons to argue against plans to change prostitution laws that would criminalise clients.

The parliamentary meeting was hosted by Labour MP John McDonnell and organised by the English Collective of Prostitutes and the People's Parliament