Japanese lawmakers have attempted to curb the manipulative tactics used in the country’s “host clubs,” pricey establishments where lonely women (and sometimes gay men) are encouraged to run up huge tabs by attractive male “hosts” who feign romantic attraction. Women are then forced into prostitution if they cannot otherwise pay off their debts. Despite legislative […]
India Supreme Court Legalizes Voluntary Sex Work
Public opinion and police enforcement in India have long assumed that all sex work is illegal, and women found engaged in the trade are often confined against their will to “protective homes.” In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court has clarified that the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act only criminalizes public solicitation and third persons profiting […]
Montreal Sex Workers Strike During Grand Prix Weekend
During Montreal’s F1 weekend, the city’s sex workers working in clubs went on strike to protest working conditions and practices. The timing of the strike was significant as the F1 weekend is one of the busiest times of the year for the city’s clubs. The striking workers are pushing back against their status as independent […]
High-Heeled Activism
It is important to note that there has been some sassy pushback in response to the anti-LGBTQ+ antics of the current cruel and out-of-touch American administration. More than 1,000 people attended a fundraiser for the American Civil Liberties Union at a gay bar in Brooklyn on April 16. The drag event raised $25,000, and the […]
Sex Work Exhibition Opens at German Museum
The Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn opens a special exhibition on the cultural history of sex work, based on a collaboration with sex worker researchers, based on the principle “Nothing About Us Without Us.” From the museum’s online announcement: “The exhibition highlights the creative and artistic role that sex workers also play. To tell a cultural history […]
Sex Workers Help Catch Serial Killer in Alaska
Sex workers in Anchorage were being targeted by a serial killer and the police did nothing. As Season 2 of the HBO docuseries “The Lost Women of Alaska” reveals, sex workers themselves discovered critical information leading to the killer’s identity: he showed one of them a video of him raping a black woman’s corpse, but […]
Sex Workers Fight for Control of Their Images
Workers in Nevada’s brothels and strip clubs used to operate in relative anonymity. But employers now encourage them to promote themselves through social media and Only Fans, since advertising brothels directly is illegal in Nevada. The brothel Sheri’s Ranch, outside Las Vegas, is now at the center of an effort to unionize sex workers. It […]
Sue Everyone but the Traffickers
A lawsuit recently filed against a San Francisco apartment building claims it was negligent in failing to stop a 17-year old resident from engaging in sex work. The suit claims that maintenance personnel should have notice the presence of condoms and drug paraphernalia in her unit and that doormen should have noticed her provocative attire […]
Colorado May Decriminalize Sex Work
A bill introduced by four legislators, all Democrats, three of whom are female, would completely decriminalize commercial sex and prohibit localities from banning it. Supporters say it will make sex workers safer by bringing them out of the shadows. Opponents, including minority Republicans, churches, and law enforcement, claim it will turn the state into a […]
Where Failure to Pay Is Rape
Under a new Australian law, having sex under the pretense of paying for it and then failing to pay is not merely theft, but may qualify as sexual assault. Harmeet Singh Saini was sentenced to six years in prison after failing to pay the $2200 that he owed to a Sydney sex worker and had […]