Commercial sex in the UK and Republic of Ireland: Current knowledge and future challenges
Lead Research Organisation:
Queen's University Belfast
Department Name: Sch of Law
Abstract
The comparative study of commercial sex in the ROI and UK has implications for assessments of the nature of sexual commerce but also huge implications for how it is policed, issues arising around sexual health, violence and abuse; law and the regulation of the industry more generally. This project will be the first of its kind to bring together UK and ROI academics, sex workers, NGOs, sexual health professionals, the police, government and industry representatives in a way that is genuinely collaborative, and which does not privilege any one particular voice. In some ways the network will build on links already established between stakeholder groups and academic researchers in the UK and ROI through the UK SWRH and the ISWRN. But the main thrust of the proposed network is to move beyond this and establish collaborative relationships on a North-South (NI and ROI) and an East-West (Ireland and Britain) axis. The network will engage in academic research with a strong focus on a policy agenda that emphasises social justice and will include sex workers as key stakeholders (McGarry & FitzGerald, 2018).
The network explores the myriad terrain of commercial sex across the regions of the UK and also examines the situation in the ROI that has recently introduced a sex purchase ban following the example of the Nordic regions. Currently, in the UK, Northern Ireland is the only region to have enacted a similar ban. In both the UK and ROI, though arguably more so in the latter case, a key problem has been the ways that research evidence has been selectively cherry-picked to fit with a particular agenda (Ellison et al, 2019). Currently in Ireland knowledge around sexual commerce stems mainly from the activities of mainly abolitionist groups that are well resourced and funded and who have steered the parameters of the debate in particular ways (e.g. Turn of the Red Light in the ROI which has been very influential). Of course, some of these groups may well make valid points (around drug addiction issues, for example) but these points need to be evidenced and based in the research literature which is arguably not happening at the moment.
In fact, one of the key stakeholder groups - sex workers themselves - are generally talked "about" rather than "to" in these debates and have remained marginalised and on the periphery of developments (O'Neill and Laing, 2018). So, it will be through the establishment of the network that sex workers will be in a position to engage on an equal footing with other key stakeholder groups as a force to influence policies that affect their lives. There are many ways in which stakeholder groups can benefit from this partnership, with for example a consideration of the ways that the police and those involved in the sexual services industry (Internet companies for example) can work more closely to identify those who are underage or who may have been trafficked for sexual exploitation. Likewise, we are aware from our discussions with the Department of Health in NI that while they identify sex workers as a key target group for sexual health screening and advice, they are currently at a loss as to how to contact online escorts who are relatively hidden and which health professionals have historically had difficulties accessing.
The study of commercial sex is also particularly germane at the moment given the global Covid-19 pandemic which raises important questions about sex worker access to health services and also epidemiological questions around the potential spread of infection, but also Brexit which may fundamentally restructure the nature of the sex industry in the UK, and potentially lead to issues around criminality and trafficking given the likely existence of a porous land border between the EU (ROI) and the UK (NI). These are issues that warrant immediate attention from policy makers and will run as a "golden thread" throughout the thematic sessions and workshops proposed in the network.
The network explores the myriad terrain of commercial sex across the regions of the UK and also examines the situation in the ROI that has recently introduced a sex purchase ban following the example of the Nordic regions. Currently, in the UK, Northern Ireland is the only region to have enacted a similar ban. In both the UK and ROI, though arguably more so in the latter case, a key problem has been the ways that research evidence has been selectively cherry-picked to fit with a particular agenda (Ellison et al, 2019). Currently in Ireland knowledge around sexual commerce stems mainly from the activities of mainly abolitionist groups that are well resourced and funded and who have steered the parameters of the debate in particular ways (e.g. Turn of the Red Light in the ROI which has been very influential). Of course, some of these groups may well make valid points (around drug addiction issues, for example) but these points need to be evidenced and based in the research literature which is arguably not happening at the moment.
In fact, one of the key stakeholder groups - sex workers themselves - are generally talked "about" rather than "to" in these debates and have remained marginalised and on the periphery of developments (O'Neill and Laing, 2018). So, it will be through the establishment of the network that sex workers will be in a position to engage on an equal footing with other key stakeholder groups as a force to influence policies that affect their lives. There are many ways in which stakeholder groups can benefit from this partnership, with for example a consideration of the ways that the police and those involved in the sexual services industry (Internet companies for example) can work more closely to identify those who are underage or who may have been trafficked for sexual exploitation. Likewise, we are aware from our discussions with the Department of Health in NI that while they identify sex workers as a key target group for sexual health screening and advice, they are currently at a loss as to how to contact online escorts who are relatively hidden and which health professionals have historically had difficulties accessing.
The study of commercial sex is also particularly germane at the moment given the global Covid-19 pandemic which raises important questions about sex worker access to health services and also epidemiological questions around the potential spread of infection, but also Brexit which may fundamentally restructure the nature of the sex industry in the UK, and potentially lead to issues around criminality and trafficking given the likely existence of a porous land border between the EU (ROI) and the UK (NI). These are issues that warrant immediate attention from policy makers and will run as a "golden thread" throughout the thematic sessions and workshops proposed in the network.