No Bad Women, No Bad Children, Just Bad Laws
oo | 03.12.2004 01:19 | Gender | Health | London
The English Collective of Prostitutes and the International Prostitutes Collective invite you to an International Conference on prostitution
Saturday 4 December 2004
9.30am – 6pm
St Mary's Church, Somers Town, Eversholt St. London NW1
(Corner of Aldenham St. & Eversholt St. Undergrounds Mornington Crescent & Euston)
Fully wheelchair accessible. Refreshments.
Entrance: institutions £30; high waged £10; waged £3-£5; unwaged £3.
Saturday 4 December 2004
9.30am – 6pm
St Mary's Church, Somers Town, Eversholt St. London NW1
(Corner of Aldenham St. & Eversholt St. Undergrounds Mornington Crescent & Euston)
Fully wheelchair accessible. Refreshments.
Entrance: institutions £30; high waged £10; waged £3-£5; unwaged £3.
Victory: 12-day occupation against police illegality and racism
A response to the government’s review of the prostitution laws, the first in 50 years.
For those concerned with the safety and welfare of sex workers, and all women and children, and those ready to learn from the experience in other countries where prostitution has been legalised or decriminalised.
Speakers include:
* Catherine Healy, New Zealand Prostitutes Collective
* Abhijit Dasgupta, former coordinator of anti-trafficking programme Action Aid International
* Terri Dowty, Action on Rights of Children
* Pauline Campbell, mother of Sarah Campbell, who died in Styal prison
* Nushra Mapstone, British Association of Social Workers
* Cari Mitchell, English Collective of Prostitutes
* Rev Paul Nicolson, Zacchaeus 2000
* Rachel West, USPROStitutes Collective
* Chair: Nina Lopez, International Prostitutes Collective
Contact details: Crossroads Women’s Centre PO Box 287 London NW6 5QU
Tel: 020 7482 2496 minicom/voice Fax: 020 7209 4761
E-mail:
ecp@allwomencount.net 
http://www.prostitutescollective.net/
Most people believe sex workers should not be criminalised and do not consider paying for sex an offence. Poverty and debt, major factors in driving women into prostitution, are major issues for millions of us. Yet cuts to our survival benefits and services as well as unequal pay continue side by side with billions in unrestrained military spending.
The consultation paper appears to target men ("the demand"), rather than women and children ("the suppliers"), appealing to many women’s dislike of the sex industry.
But given the punitive approach the UK government has adopted, following the US lead of bullying in civil liberties and criminal justice issues, women and young people can expect the worst:
* more Anti-Social Behaviour Orders landing more of us in prison;
* more deportations under the guise of cracking down on trafficking;
* higher prison sentences for women working from premises;
* military style boot camps, with an eventual army job, for ‘wayward’ children as young as six.
In other words, criminalisation or militarisation for most of us!
It is time to stand united against our being divided between those of us labelled "bad" and those labelled "respectable". No bad women, no bad children, just bad laws!
For those concerned with the safety and welfare of sex workers, and all women and children, and those ready to learn from the experience in other countries where prostitution has been legalised or decriminalised.
Speakers include:
* Catherine Healy, New Zealand Prostitutes Collective
* Abhijit Dasgupta, former coordinator of anti-trafficking programme Action Aid International
* Terri Dowty, Action on Rights of Children
* Pauline Campbell, mother of Sarah Campbell, who died in Styal prison
* Nushra Mapstone, British Association of Social Workers
* Cari Mitchell, English Collective of Prostitutes
* Rev Paul Nicolson, Zacchaeus 2000
* Rachel West, USPROStitutes Collective
* Chair: Nina Lopez, International Prostitutes Collective
Contact details: Crossroads Women’s Centre PO Box 287 London NW6 5QU
Tel: 020 7482 2496 minicom/voice Fax: 020 7209 4761
E-mail:
ecp@allwomencount.net http://www.prostitutescollective.net/ Most people believe sex workers should not be criminalised and do not consider paying for sex an offence. Poverty and debt, major factors in driving women into prostitution, are major issues for millions of us. Yet cuts to our survival benefits and services as well as unequal pay continue side by side with billions in unrestrained military spending.
The consultation paper appears to target men ("the demand"), rather than women and children ("the suppliers"), appealing to many women’s dislike of the sex industry.
But given the punitive approach the UK government has adopted, following the US lead of bullying in civil liberties and criminal justice issues, women and young people can expect the worst:
* more Anti-Social Behaviour Orders landing more of us in prison;
* more deportations under the guise of cracking down on trafficking;
* higher prison sentences for women working from premises;
* military style boot camps, with an eventual army job, for ‘wayward’ children as young as six.
In other words, criminalisation or militarisation for most of us!
It is time to stand united against our being divided between those of us labelled "bad" and those labelled "respectable". No bad women, no bad children, just bad laws!
oo
Comments
Hide the following 4 comments
Not right
03.12.2004 09:38
The sex trade is an affront to women (and should be to men). Organisations like the English Collective of Prostitutes legitimise this industry in the eyes of men and make them feel there is nothing wrong in purchasing a women's body for their own pleasure.
Eliminate Prostitution !
Eliminate the trade in women !
Sarah
ECP response to Govt document
03.12.2004 11:55
Paying the price of criminalisation
A response to the government consultation paper on prostitution by the English Collective of Prostitutes
Also this document on the IUSW site is well worth a read:
Recommendations for Political Policy on Prostitution and the Sex Industry
lurker
Get real, Sarah
03.12.2004 13:56
If you don't want sex workers to organise collectively to defend themselves from these twin evils then you are not helping women one iota; in fact you are part of the problem.
I really feel for people in the sex trade - victimised and exploited from the right and attacked by cloud-cuckoo rad fems on the left whose concept of 'sisterhood' extends as far as making wildly unrealistic demands on everyone else.
Pointless purism helps nobody
We're all tradeable items
04.12.2004 18:25
We are all tradeable items for capitalists to buy and sell - it's called the labour market. The real point right now is how much control we can exert over the conditions of our labour, whether in the sex industry or elsewhere. Why should workers in any industry tolerate criminalisation and persecution? Sex workers deserve the support of every politically conscious activist - An injury to one is an injury to all.
The defenders of prohibition should remember that the law they worship is really only designed to persecute working people and the activites they engage in to survive. How about a law to criminalise the teaching of orthodox, 'free-market' economics in schools and colleges? After all, these theories are responsible for the deaths of millions across the globe, but even the most confused liberal knows that this will never happen.
Those who call on the State to police our bodies should think long and hard at what they're about. The police are not neutral players in any conflict. They are the servants of those who own this country. And to the owners of this human farm we are all property. Lets not call on the butcher to resolve our disagreements..
Austin F