This open letter, signed by 50 groups and organisations, and more than 400 individuals, calls on the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) to reject the motion calling for the ‘decriminalisation of prostitution’ at its upcoming 2019 Congress. We are concerned that many people will incorrectly assume the motion means the decriminalisation only of those directly engaged in prostitution and not of the entire sex trade, including pimps, brothel keepers and sex buyers (punters).
23 April 2019
Professor Rafferty, RCN President
Ms Coghill, Deputy RCN President
Members of the RCN Council
Dear Professor Rafferty, Ms Coghill and members of the RCN Council,
We write to express our concern that the upcoming RCN Congress will be asked to pass a resolution calling on “Council to lobby governments across the UK to decriminalise prostitution.”
We believe that many people will assume this means the decriminalisation only of those directly engaged in prostitution and not of the entire sex trade, including pimps, brothel keepers and sex buyers (punters) – as the proposal actually means.
There is no clear consensus that full decriminalisation of the entire sex trade is the best approach. Many women’s rights activists and sex trade survivors believe the Nordic Model is better – because it decriminalises those directly involved and provides them with high-quality services, including routes out and genuine alternatives, while cracking down on pimps and brothel keepers, and making buying sex a criminal offence, with the aim of changing attitudes and reducing the demand that drives sex trafficking.
No clear evidence full decriminalisation makes women safer
Those who support full decriminalisation generally consider New Zealand, which introduced the approach in the 2003 Prostitution Reform Act (PRA), as the example to follow. But a 2008 review found conditions in abusive brothels hadn’t improved, and the women felt it had made little difference to punter violence, which remained endemic. We hear a similar story from women, such as Sabrinna, Chelsea and Rae, who’ve experienced New Zealand’s brothels.
More recent research found there’s little independent oversight of the industry. There were only 23 brothel inspections in 2003–2015 but 914 applications for brothel operator certificates in 2004–2011. The latter suggests an increase in demand from men and profiteers wanting to cash in, which inevitably leads to an increase in sex trafficking to fill the extra demand. It’s not surprising therefore that sex trafficking is recognised to be prevalent in New Zealand, with a disproportionate number of the victims being Māori and Pacific Islander women and children. Because brothels are legal, there is little or no oversight from the police.
The author concludes that when legislation frames prostitution as normal work, it becomes virtually impossible to see it outside a labour paradigm. Punter violence is therefore a “breakdown in labour relations,” and not violence against women (VAWG) that’s intrinsic to prostitution. Similarly the predictable consequences of such violence are “occupational hazards” that must be accepted and where possible minimised but never challenged. So no one asks what prostitution is for and why it’s considered inevitable.
Entry into prostitution
Most women and girls in prostitution have histories of multiple disadvantage. UK studies found 33% were “looked after” children, 72% were abused as children, 50% started before they were 18, 50% were homeless, and 50% were coerced by someone.
Violence
Prostitution is damaging both to those in it and to society more generally. A meta study found that violence is a prominent feature regardless of the setting and prostitution deepens the disadvantages of those involved.
Studies of punters find they’re more likely to commit rape and other aggressive sexual acts. Any increase in men buying sex is therefore likely to lead to more violence against the greater numbers of women involved in prostitution and to an increase in VAWG in the general population.
Can we really afford to recommend an approach that inevitably leads to more prostitution when VAWG is already at epidemic levels?
Physical health risks
Prostitution involves a series of strangers penetrating a woman’s mouth, vagina and/or anus, often with violent and prolonged thrusting. This can lead to unwanted pregnancies, infection with HIV and other STIs, and injuries to internal organs, which can cause sterility and long-term ill-health. Condoms cannot provide a Health & Safety level of protection and men often refuse to wear them or take them off midway.
A German study based on medical examinations of 1,000 prostituted women found that most:
- Suffer from chronic abdominal pain caused by inflammation and mechanical trauma.
- Show signs of premature ageing, a symptom of persistent stress.
- Had injuries caused by overuse of their sexual organs and orifices.
- Had injuries deliberately inflicted by punters.
Financial or other pressures meant that most had to continue in prostitution even when in severe physical pain.
It is claimed full decriminalisation prevents the spread of HIV. However, this assertion is based on flawed modelling and faulty logic. The UNAIDS and WHO guidelines that recommend full decriminalisation were developed in consultation with an advisory group that was co-chaired by the Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) under the leadership of Alejandra Gil, a pimp, who’s since been jailed for sex trafficking.
Mental health risks
Prostitution can have a profoundly negative impact on mental health. In order to endure multiple strangers groping and penetrating them, women describe “splitting off” from their conscious selves and/or taking alcohol or drugs. This can lead to addictions and long term psychological difficulties.
Prostituted women experience high levels of PTSD. One study found 68% of the 854 people interviewed met the PTSD criteria, which is within the range found in war veterans.
Mortality
A Canadian commission estimated the death rate of women in prostitution to be 40 times higher than the general population. Women in indoor prostitution have a very high rate of suicide. In one study, 75% of women in escort prostitution had attempted it.
Many prostituted women are murdered by punters and pimps and sadly this remains true in New Zealand. The more prostitution there is, the more murders of prostituted women there will be.
Sex trafficking
Evidence suggests that when the sex trade is legal (whether decriminalised or legalised), sex trafficking increases. For example:
- A study of 150 countries found more trafficking where prostitution is legal.
- An economic analysis concluded the same thing.
- And so did an extensive study by the European Parliament.
Vested interests
Prostitution generates vast profits – estimated at $1 Billion a year in the UK and $186 Billion globally. It is capitalism at its most ruthless and predatory.
Little of that money ends up in the pockets of the women and girls who are rented out for sexual use. They are the commodity that’s being sold. Third parties get rich off the back of their suffering and have a vested interest in expanding the industry. It is no surprise therefore that there’s a powerful lobby pushing for full decriminalisation.
Two years ago the BMA debated a similar motion at its annual conference. Dr Mark Porter, chair of the BMA Council, spoke of the unprecedented lobbying they’d received and how it reminded him of lobbying by tobacco and alcohol companies. He asked delegates to reject the motion and maintain the existing BMA policy that centres the rights of women and recognises that trafficking, sexual violence and poverty force many women into prostitution.
Representatives followed his advice, but his words raise the question of who really benefits from full decriminalisation and why there’s such a vocal lobby for it.
A brief look at how Amnesty International came to adopt its policy is instructive. Douglas Fox, a pimp who ran a large prostitution ring, was a member of the branch that introduced the motion.
The policy calls for all aspects of “consensual adult sex work,” including pimps and brothel-keepers (now called “organisers”) to be fully decriminalised in order to secure “sex workers’ human rights.” But there’s no mention that in 1949 the UN declared prostitution incompatible with human rights, nor that the policy contradicts CEDAW and the Palermo Protocol.
Amnesty failed to carry out any research anywhere full decriminalisation has been implemented. Such general research they did carry out was of poor quality. They presented the arguments as if the options were between full decriminalisation and full criminalisation – when there’s no serious lobby for the latter. We question whether the policy would have been approved if they had presented the full information.
We urge the RCN Council to learn from this and not follow their lead.
Conclusion
Prostitution is seldom a real free choice between multiple viable options. Nothing can make it safe for the women and girls caught up in it, and it can never meet the requirements for “decent work”, let alone Health and Safety norms. Accepting prostitution as regular work sets a terrible precedent for all workers and means prostitution inevitably becomes institutionalised as a form of welfare for women – while men’s “right” to buy women for sex is enshrined in law.
The ethical approach must therefore be to decriminalise those involved and provide them with support and genuine alternatives, to crack down on profiteers, and introduce measures to change men’s attitudes so that prostitution buying is seen for what it is – an exploitative and damaging activity. This is exactly what the Nordic Model seeks to achieve.
We believe that the Nordic Model is the only solution that conforms to the RCN’s obligations under the NMC code to promote the health and wellbeing of the public we serve.
The motion is misleading and there’s a risk delegates will vote for it without understanding its implications. We therefore call on you to declare it defective and strike it down – or failing that, to clarify that it’s calling for decriminalisation of the entire sex trade, including pimps and brothel keepers, and that it would open the way for multi-storey brothels in this country like they have in Germany.
Yours sincerely
Organisations
- Nordic Model Now!
- Build A Girl
- Campaign Against Sex Robots
- CEASE UK
- Critical Sisters
- Equality Now
- Essex Feminist Collective
- EVE (formerly Exploited Voices now Educating)
- feminism4sisters
- FiLiA
- scot
- FOVAS
- Healthy Horizons
- Justice for Women (West Yorkshire)
- Kofra e.V. Munich Germany and Abolition2014
- Liverpool ReSisters
- London Feminist Network
- Not Buying It
- Not Buying It, Sheffield
- Not for Sale in Scotland
- OBJECT
- Older Feminist Network
- Older Women’s Group
- Persons Against Non-State Torture
- Plataforma Abolicionista de Salamanca (España)
- RadFem Collective
- Radical Feminist Alliance
- Rede Não Cala (Brazil)
- Religious Sisters of Charity
- Resist Porn Culture
- Rooms of our Own
- Scary Little Girls Association
- Scottish Women Against Pornography
- Sheffield Women’s Counselling and Therapy Service.
- SISTERS – für den Ausstieg aus der Prostitution! e.V.
- Soroptimist International
- Survivors for Solutions
- The Centre for Active and Ethical Learning
- The Judith Trust
- The Recovery Hub Ipswich
- The Reward Foundation
- TRAC
- Vancouver Collective Against Sexual Exploitation
- VictimFocus
- Woman’s Place UK
- Women’s Equality Party, Scotland
- Women’s Voices Matter
- Women’s Aid South Lanarkshire and East Renfrewshire
- Womyn Unleashed
- ZERO OPTION Sheffield
Individuals
- A Lock
- Alan Caton OBE
- Alan Ferry, I feel strongly that the motion being presented is misguided and will do nothing for the majority of people involved in prostitution. I ran drug projects in Glasgow for a number of years and worked with many young women and men who turned to prostitution, either to supplement their incomes for drugs, or provide an income for others to do the same. As a result the young people suffered assaults, both physical and sexual, arrest and imprisonment, had their children removed from their care, and ostracisation from their families. The motion you are presenting will not address these problems in any way.
- Alessio
- Alexandra Goss, Midwife, volunteer host of asylum seekers
- Ali Edney
- Alice Bondi
- Alisa Yezerska
- Alison Batts
- Alison Gunn
- Alison Jenner
- Alison McGarvie, Lecturer in criminology
- Alison Wilson, Documentarian/Researcher (Political Sc & Communications background) – Working on a documentary on the sex industry in a Spanish context, yet these girls are bought from everywhere to feed the local and sex tourism market. I have regularly seen criminologists & nurses harass survivors on social media. This is completely unacceptable on all levels. Thank-you for your careful consideration of this letter.
- Alison Wren, Have volunteered in an organisation which supports women working on the street
- Almudena Fernandez-Alonso
- Amanda Burleigh , Registered Midwife + General Nurse
- Amanda Whyte
- Amy Foji
- Amy Wing, Survivor
- Anber Raz, Worked globally with survivors of prostitution for over 10 years in a legal advocacy capacity. All have consistently said that women and girls should be decriminalised and buyers criminalised.
- Angie Smith, Domestic violence worker
- Ann Moran
- Ann Fehilly
- Ann Hall
- Ann Keeling, Former Head Gender Equality Policy UK government
- Ann Speakman, Studied subject in my degree
- Anna Cleaves, Have run workshops with religious organisations about the lack of choice for prostituted people and the harms of prostitution.
- Anna Rose, Retired psychotherapist
- Anne Bardon, Retired social worker
- Anne Ehrlich
- Anne Farr, Former SRN
- Anne Kazimirski, I am a rape crisis volunteer counsellor, I have conducted (published) analysis on the mental health and childhood trauma of women trying to exit the sex industry, and I advise violence against women charities on evaluation, as a charity consultant.
- Anneli Thörnmo
- Annie Gwillym Walker, Youth Worker in the past, experience of Street Based Youth Work
- Anthony Martin
- April Chabot, Survivor, Academic
- Barbara Ewing
- Barbara Bevens
- Barbara Lapthorn, Ex nurse who specialised in women’s health
- Barbara Scott
- Barbara Wesby, Retired GP, seen women devastated by prostitution
- Bartels Hilde, Survivor of the sex trade
- Bec Wonders
- Bernadette O’Malley
- Bethany Lowe
- Bettina Trabannt
- Betty Hales, Teacher
- Biba Foley, I worked with Sex Workers in my job as drug and alcohol counsellor and co-ordinator.
- Billie Wealleans, I have worked on this issue as a Soroptimist or the programme action officer for Scotland North 2011-2015
- Billy Jess
- Bindu, Social worker
- Birgit Knaus
- Birte Spreckelsen
- Blonska Yulia
- Brigitte Lechner, I was a Lifeshare volunteer in Manchester and saw the reality of prostitution during every night-shift.
- Bronwen Salter-Murison, Have interviewed street prostitutes for work.
- Caitlin Hurley
- Cara Scott-Prestridge
- Carell Wingrave
- Carl Springer, Lead local anti-trafficking team
- Carley Stancil, I have an intimate relationship with a woman who is an exited fssw (sex worker) and I love her very much.
- Carol Fraser, Wife of a serial user of prostitutes & hard core pornography.
- Caroline Ayerst, As a social worker was linked to a project called Trust that supported women sex workers in Lambeth
- Caroline Faisey, Retired Midwife and General Nurse
- Caroline Hadley
- Caroline Horne
- Caroline Richmond
- Cat Whitehouse, Former manager in services working with women overcoming experiences of sexual violence, trafficking and prostitution.
- Catherine Brown
- Catherine Farrar, Safeguarding Specialist Nurse
- Catherine Jense,
- Cathy Devine, Academic and Independent Researcher, specialism: women’s rights.
- Cathy Loftus
- Celia Coulson
- Charlie Dacke
- Charlotte Wells, Registered General Nurse
- Chiara Martin
- Chris Wyper
- Christine Cluness, RGN, RSCN
- Christine Finlayson
- Christine Murray
- Christine Wright
- Ciara Perera, Work with women involved in prostitution
- Clair Yates, Through my work with the charity OBJECT, I have worked with women who have been exploited in prostitution.
- Claire Heather, Survivor of male violence
- Clare Phillipson, I have worked with women and girls who have been prostituted and trafficked
- Clare Windsor
- Coralie Lolliot
- Cordelia Mayfield
- Corrine Streetly, MA in Women’s Studies
- Csilla Florian
- D J Gourley
- Ryan
- Da Choo
- Dana Levy, Sex industry survivor (ex-prostitute)
- Dave Rundle
- David Savard
- Dawn Barnes
- Dawne Brown
- Debbie Epstein
- Debbie Stott, Teacher
- Debra Bick
- Dee Sheehan
- Diane Cornell
- Dionne Kennedy, Social worker
- Donald Purves
- Donna Robertson
- Donna Stevenson
- Doreen Kalideen, Retired nurse
- Dorothee Fagard, Psychotherapist
- Dr Ben Jameson, I am a general practitioner, working with people who are homeless, including women and men who sell sex. I have witnessed the misery and consequences of the sex trade and support evidence based action to reduce harms to vulnerable people.
- Dr Darryl Mead, Chair of an organisation which works world-wide to raise awareness of the harms of pornography consumption
- Dr Gautamkumar Appa
- Dr Helen Mott, Consultant in the prevention of violence against women and girls
- Dr Jacci Stoyle, Member of the Scottish Parliamentary Cross Party Group for Commercial Sexual Exploitation
- Dr Jacqueline Granleese
- Dr Judith Dodds BM BScDFSRH, I work with women in the sex trade
- Dr Kate Coleman
- Dr Kathryn Cooper, Clinical psychologist
- Dr Lesley Semmens
- Dr Liz Garnett
- Dr Marit Gaimster
- Dr Nina Granberg, I was born and raised in Stockholm before the Swedish/Nordic model, and all of us young girls were constantly targeted by pimps and johns on the streets then. I’ve had countless friends and acquaintances suffering under sexual exploitation (pornography, strip clubs, sex lines and prostitution). I was an active member of women’s and girls’ shelters and support lines for 15 years. I’ve worked as a security officer for 14 years, having to handle all the dark sides of society and on the streets. Today I’m a medical doctor, and beginning from medical school in 2005, I’ve met many patients suffering from sexual exploitation.
- Dr Pam Cairns, Retired GP, Anti-human trafficking campaigner, Co Founder of The Free to Live Trust a charity working with children of prostitutes in India.
- Dr Paul Hewson, PhD in statistics, published in peer reviewed journals
- Dr Ruth Thomas
- Ann Rossiter
- E Blyth
- Elaine Wishart , Trauma counsellor
- Eleanor Canero, Midwife/ Health Visitor
- Elizabeth Gordon
- Elizabeth Matz, Retired sexual trauma psychotherapist
- Ellen Grogan, Registered General Nurse
- Emily Breen
- Emily Turvey, I was a sex worker. I was groomed into the industry and I found it hard to leave. I have been left with a lot of mental confusion as well as physical ailments because of this.
- Emma Dickson
- Emma Leckey
- Emma MacLeod
- Emma Robertson, Lecturer in FE
- Eurig Scandrett, Formerly worked in community project with dependent drug users, some of whom were prostituted women. Currently academic in sociology (in which I teach a module on gender justice and violence in conjunction with Scottish Women’s Aid). Trade union lay officer in University and College Union.
- Ezra Burnette, Work with women who have survived the sex industry
- Fafa Virn
- Fhiona Sinclair, Worked with women in street based prostitution
- Fiona Broadfoot, Sex trade survivor and front line service provider to women exiting
- Fiona Hawke
- Fiona Roberts
- Frances Davidson, Was a police officer for 30 years
- Francine Sporenda
- Gabriella Lee
- Geesmiek Geldof, Volunteer in a safe house for sex-trafficked women (City Hearts)
- Gemma Griffiths
- Gill Marchbank
- Gina McCaughan
- Gisele Lamarche
- Grainne Healy (Dr), Policy expert and researcher on trafficking and prostitution, former Chair of National Women’s Council of Ireland and former President of European Women’s Lobby on violence against women
- Hannah Bailey, Researched prostitution in a comparative study of the UK, Sweden and Netherlands. Started off thinking decriminalisation was the way, but completely changed my mind based on the evidence.
- Hannah Harrison
- Hayley Robinson, I’m a feminist who wants women and men to be viewed as equals in society. Women are not possessions to be bought.
- Hazel Turner-Lyons, I have worked with victims of child sexual exploitation
- Heather Russell
- Heather Rutherford
- Heather Wakefield, Ex-social worker and campaigner for women’s rights
- Heidi Proctor
- Heidi Worrall
- Helen Colledge
- Helen Fallows
- Helen Lipscomb
- Helen St Luce, Therapist working with (ex) prostituted women
- Helen Steel
- Hilary Thomas
- Inge Kleine, Member of Kofra, a feminist organisation in Munich, and co-founder of Abolition2014, an abolitionist initiative in Germany
- Isabel Kelly
- Ivietta Kamienieva
- J Anderson
- J Gourley
- J Tinsley
- Jackie Mearns, Community Worker
- Jacky Holyoake
- Jacqueline Moulson, I have worked as a Probation Officer with women working in the sex trade.
- Jalna Hanmer
- James Lyon, Various contacts with those familiar with some aspects of people involved in the sex trade, most significantly including women who are sex workers.
- Jan Goodyear
- Jan Oliver
- Jane Harris
- Jane Loe
- Janet Holden
- Janet Warren
- Janice Allen
- Janice Williams
- Jay Ginn, Sociologist
- Jean Fessey, Public Servant
- Jennie Hammond
- Jennifer Forsyth, Fellow of the British Psychological Society
- Jennifer Taylor
- Jenny Fortune
- Jessica Newbold
- Jill leigh, I have worked with many women in the sex trade
- Jill Nesbitt
- Jillian McCormick, Ex-social worker
- Jim Balfour, Mental Health Staff Nurse
- Jimin Nam
- Jinhee Park
- Joanna Campbell
- Joanne Snowden
- Johanna Slothouber Galbreath
- Johanna Wisbey
- Josephine Bartosch
- Joy Sturgess
- Joy Wood
- Jude Boyles
- Julia Aparisi Sevilla, Feminist psychologist
- Julia Hopten, English Teacher
- Julia Long, Dr
- Julia Marshall, Ex Police Officer
- Julie A Bell, Feminist campaigner
- Julie Campbell
- Julie Kavanagh
- Julie Timbrell
- Juliette vH
- Justin Ratliff
- Kara Newsome, I volunteer with women who have exited the sex trade.
- Karen Drake, Case worker
- Karen Martin
- Kate Challis
- Kate Hardman, Work with women in the sex trade
- Kate Morrissey, Counsellor and social worker
- Kate Stevenson
- Kathleen Richardson, Activist and academic
- Kathleen Webster
- Kathy Cohn
- Katie Cosgrove
- Katrina Glennie, I was a probation officer for 26 years and met women who had been charged and convicted of prostitution and women who were victims of abuse while selling sex. It is a heart-breaking and destructive way to earn money and has to stop. I support all of the views stated in this letter
- Kayleigh Clements
- Kelly Engstrom
- Kelly Ryan
- Kelly Wilkins
- Kevin Rielly
- Kiri Tunks
- Kirsten Ficklin, LPN, 13 years of work with sex workers
- Kylee Gregg, Survivor of child sex trafficking
- Kym Stallworthy
- Ladislava Zakladna, Survivor of prostitution
- Laila Namdarkhan RN ( retired) MA , 20 years’ experience as a Woman’s Advocate for Marginalised girls/women. Too many had been pimped from girl to adulthood. Pimped, owned and eventually broken, ending up in prisons and dumped as Mentally ill in long-stay secure forensic environments. Decriminalising the sex trade will legitimise such abuse and enable pimps/brothel owners to create demand that will abuse and destroy many more women/girls lives. Say NO to decriminalisation as a profession that cares and wants to support healthy women and girls. The Nordic Model protects women/girls rights, whereas decriminalisation puts their human rights at huge risk.
- Laura Briggs
- Laura Isabel Gómez García, Social worker
- Laura Jones, PhD researcher on prostitution
- Laura Martin
- Laurie Lyon
- Leah Marchbank, Support worker of women trying to exit prostitution
- Lee-Anne Menzies, Working with women who have been prostituted.
- Lesley Craig
- Lesley Or
- Lesley Page, Midwife
- Lesley Paterson
- Liz Elkind
- Liz Gerty, Senior safety manager – the safety risks in sex work are far greater than those permitted under HSAW Act 1974
- Liz Swanson, Trauma Psychotherapist
- Lorna Ward
- Louise Bond, Survivor of sexual exploitation
- Louise Cameron, Community Worker who has worked with survivors of the sex trade
- Lucy Smith
- Lucy Wainwright
- Lynda Haddock
- Lynda Murphy, Survivor
- Lynn Alderson
- Lynne Harne, I am an academic who has done research with women who were being supported to exit prostitution
- Madeleine Heitmann
- Magi Gibson
- Maire McCormack
- Manon Michaud, Survivor
- Marcia R. Lieberman
- Margaret Ann Cusack, Volunteer
- Margaret BH Paris
- Margaret Bremner, I worked as a nurse, as a counsellor in a women’s drug project, and as a volunteer in rape crisis. The Nordic model makes sense
- Margaret M Lennon
- Margaret Manning
- Margaret Young, Work for a women’s organisation which campaigns on women in the justice system.
- Maria Rossi
- Marion Harris, Ex nurse and midwife
- Marion Sporing
- Marlene Adam
- Marlyn Glen
- Mary Cameron, Retired social worker
- Mary Moore
- Mary Sharpe, I am CEO of a charity which campaigns world-wide to reduce the negative health impacts of excessive pornography viewing. Our one-day workshop on Pornography and Sexual Dysfunctions is accredited by the Royal College of General Practitioners.
- Mathylde Wojiek, Volunteer in an association which helps people in prostitution to gain more independence and to exit prostitution.
- Maura Wilson
- Maureen, I have worked with women in the sex trade on a voluntary basis. I grew up in an area which was a centre of street prostitution, and experienced sexual harassment from ‘punters’ as a child. I also saw the way women in the sex trade were abused by ‘punters’ and pimps.
- Maxine Johnson , Survivor
- Maya HUGUENIN
- Melinda Balatoni
- Michèle A. Hecht
- Michele Sedgwick
- Michelle Kerwin
- Michelle Laing
- Mitzi Stone
- Mónica Freitas
- Morag Carmichael
- Morgan King, Worked in Women’s Services with Prostituted Women
- Morven Magari
- Ms J Connelly
- Muriel Petit
- Myroslava Skorobagatko,
- Nancy Brown, Educator
- Naomi Self
- Natalie Cotterill
- Natascha Verbrakel, Survivor
- Neil Ayres
- Néli Busch
- Nicky Russell
- Olena Zaitseva, Lawyer with experience working with women in the sex trade in Ukraine
- Olga Semeniuk
- Olha Liber
- Olha Tveddokhlibova
- Oliver Bellamy
- Olivia Windridge
- Özlem Imil
- Pat Page
- Patricia Byrne, I have worked directly with prostituted women for several years and maintain an interest in their welfare
- Paula Woods, Sexual health nurse, Theatre nurse
- Pauline Taylor, Midwife
- Penny Adrian, A survivor and a peer volunteer with homeless prostituted women.
- Peter Willson
- Philippine Lelievre
- Prikhodko Ivan, I have had lots of conversations with prostituted women, and I think the Nordic Model is the best resolve of this problem.
- Professor Donna Dickenson, Former principal investigator of EC project comparing prostitution policies across Europe
- Professor Kirstein Rummery
- Professor Richard Byng, I work as a GP with individuals who have and do work in the sex trade as part of my clinical role in our primary care outreach team. I work as a Professor of Primary Care Research developing and evaluating interventions for those who are seldom heard.
- Prue Rundle
- Rachel King
- Rachel Martinelli
- Rachel McKeon
- Rachel Pickering
- Rachel White, MA in Women and Gender Studies, Warwick University
- Rae Evans
- Randene Hardy, I am a Canadian advocate, activist and lobbyist – to prevent sexual exploitation amongst our youth. Working to enforce the Nordic Model worldwide.
- Rebecca Abrams
- Rebecca Ashton, Mental health nurse
- Rebecca Harrison, MA DipSw
- Rebecca James, Adult nurse
- Rebecca Mitchell
- Rebecca Mordan
- Rebecca Mott, Survivor of prostitution
- Rebekah Mason
- Regina Rodriguez, Long-time activist for women’s rights
- Roger Fisken
- Rosemary Hunter, National committee member on national women’s organisation in Scotland campaigning for women’s rights
- Rosemary Snelgar
- Roswitha Reger, Former social worker with girls and young women who were sexually abused and in Munich shelter for girls
- Roxana Stuparu
- Rukshana Afia
- Ruth Greenberg
- Ruth Keszia Whiteside
- Ruth Pearson
- Ruth Swirsky, Did research on prostitution when I was an academic
- S A KEENAN
- S R Kalideen
- Sally Jackson
- Sally McDonagh
- Sam
- Sam Hutchinson, Mental Health worker
- Sandra McNeill
- Sara Stewart, Social worker, previously worked with prostituted women
- Sarah Bowden
- Sarah Cooksley
- Sarah Ferguson
- Sarah Gray
- Sarah Munson
- Sarah Smith
- Sarah Tolley
- Sarah Williams
- Shally Shefer
- Shannon Shoemaker
- Shauna Devlin
- Shawnee Love HHD, PhD
- Sheena Best
- Sheila Jeffreys, Retired Professor of Sexual Politics
- Shernaz Dinshaw, As someone who worked with an NGO that worked with prostitutes I looked at legalisation, decriminalisation intensely including where it had been legalised and came to the conclusion that decriminalisation needs to be applied ONLY to prostitutes and NOT to the industry (i.e pimps, brothel owners, clients etc). To decriminalise all is to legitimise violence against women and it has been seen that where legalisation and decriminalisation has been applied pimps and traffickers are able to continue with impunity in their oppression and violation of women and children. Be very clear in what you hope to achieve by wide-scale decriminalisation – it must not be done!
- Shirley Jones
- Shivali Fifield, I’ve worked with female rough sleepers and many women who have experienced multiple trauma, and have supported routes out of prostitution for 25 years.
- Shonagh Dillon
- Sibyl Grundberg
- Simon Aalders
- Simona Gasparini
- Siobhan Jess
- Sonja Hartmann
- Sophie Atherton
- Stefania Prigoda
- Stefanie Ettmann
- Stephanie Howarth, Social Worker
- Stephen Jordan, Social worker
- Steve Rawbone, Master’s degree dissertation on Human Trafficking for sexual exploitation in Europe.
- Sue Banting
- Sue Laughlin, Planner for women’s health services including for women involved in prostitution
- Sue Peters
- Susan Bewley, Obstetrician/Gynaecologist, Academic, Research into Violence against Women and Girls, Forensic Examiner work in Sexual Assault Referral Centres
- Susan Moffat, I worked for many years as a health promotion specialist for NHS Lothian and specialised in multiagency work addressing violence against women
- Susan Smyth, Canadian RN
- Suzanna Deutsch
- Suzanne Grace
- Suzanne Miller
- Suzzan Blac, Sex trafficking survivor and subsequently entered prostitution due to complex PTSD alcohol/drug use and poverty
- Sylvia Shek
- Tania Earnshaw, Trade union branch secretary Unison
- Teresa Rickard, Survivor
- Teri Andrade
- Thain Parnell, Anti-sex trade activist and writer
- The Reverend Claudia Neely, I have worked with survivors for forty years, and not one child ever chose trafficking. Adult women all began as children, forced into prostitution by family or supposed friends. We need to help women and children, and not throw them to traffickers.
- Trisha Baptie, Survivor of the sex trade and run an organization for women with histories in the sex trade who want to influence policy and law reform.
- Valerie Garwood
- Vanessa Martins do Monte
- Vicki Wharton, Survivor of sexist violence in the home
- Viktoriia Petruk
- Virginia Grinevitch, Secondary science teacher, human being revolted by the rape of (mostly) women) by (almost entirely) men for money.
- Walker Victoria
- Woody Caan, Researched drug use (and related harm) among sex workers in the past
- Yağmur
- Yannica Catarina Grunewald, Support Worker
- Yuliia
- Yvonne Roberts
- Zacky Bregovic, Survivor and now advocate
- Zoe Ruddock
- Zoryana Shypailo