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SEX INDUSTRY
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Legislation Prostitution - exchanging participation in sexual activities for money or other goods - has always been legal in the UK. It's arguably more acceptable to charge for your sexual skills than your cooking or brewing skills as you need a certificate or licence for the latter two! However, many of the activities that prostitution often involves are illegal. The legal situation in England and Wales has changed over time, and keeps changing. A government consultation on sex work laws, Paying the Price, was held in 2004 and the results were published in the January 2006 Prostitution Strategy. The introduction of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 means there have been several changes.Age: Streetwork: Working alone indoors, or for an agency or in a brothel: All remain legal. Provided the worker is at least 18, buying sex from them is also legal. 'Pimping', running an agency or brothel: All remain illegal. But controlling another adult's prostitution is now only illegal if you gain from it (or know that someone else does). Looked at another way, gaining from someone else's prostitution is now legal: it's the control for gain that's illegal. So sex workers' families should now be free of the risk of being charged with "living on the earnings of prostitution", however owners of escort agencies and brothels as well as 'pimps' will still be at risk. In addition, it is specifically illegal to own or run a 'disorderly house' or brothel – anywhere to which more than one woman or man resorts for non-marital sex. As this doesn't necessarily have to be at the same time, or involve sexual intercourse or, indeed, any payment, a very wide range of places are therefore 'brothels', including many hotels. (Remember that it's legal to be a sex worker at a brothel provided you don't assist in its management.) New changes were announced in November 2008 making illegal to purchase sex from someone who is being controlled; ignorance is no defence. Hear the debates for and against at http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/news/2008/11/081119_uk_sex_workers.shtml Those who propose legalising prostitution should think carefully about the consequences, as once it is legitimate work/employment then job centres will have to cut your benefits if you refuse to take that work: “I have come not to abolish the law but to fulfil it” Yasmin described how the organisation POPPY referred women to them who had been trafficked from Latvia, in order to make a claim for Criminal Injuries Compensation on the grounds that they had been repeatedly abused by British men. After a conviction of repeated rape, any woman is only entitled to claim £16,000 compensation. The amount is viewed as a symbolic gesture, recognising a lack of protection, rather than an assessment of suffering or harm. Many of these women had been held against their will for up to 3 years and so, trying to think round the issue, the firm also applied for compensation on the grounds of their being held against their will and for a lack of opportunity to earn a living over this time. This greatly increased the potential amount which could be claimed for the women. Jesus said in Matthew 5:17, “I have come not to abolish the law but to fulfil it’ and this seemed a good case example in action. Motivated by a sense of justice, the lawyers worked together to challenge and stretch the law, so that is worked more in the women’s favour. After being successful the company received significant hate mail from people outraged that British Tax payer’s money was going to Latvian women. The Pharisees and the Sadducees it seems are still alive and kicking!
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