A response to the sex work debate

Abstract

With trade unions and feminists divided over the question of how to understand sex work in terms of women’s oppression and whether to relate to sex workers when they organise, it is timely that International Socialism has opened up this debate. Sex workers led the May Day march in London this year with Thierry Schaffauser, president of the International Union of Sex Workers (IUSW), speaking from the platform about the need for solidarity between all workers. At another event in London, the Reclaim The Night march last November, arguments between sex worker rights activists and abolitionist feminists came to a head, with the former being shunned and heckled by some of the latter. Sex worker rights activists were interrogated by police before being allowed to join the march, allegedly on the instruction of one of the stewards. In these pages we offer a response to Pritchard’s article, as well as some general remarks concerning the role sex work plays in women’s oppression and vice versa.