Prostitution: Collectives and the Politics of Regulation

TLDR

Prostitution regulation is rapidly evolving, with sex workers exerting greater influence than previously acknowledged. The study examines how prohibition, legalization, and decriminalization are adopted in the UK, Australia, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, comparing the influence of sex‑worker collectives to community groups, councils, police, and the industry, while also considering health and occupational initiatives that foster self‑regulation. The paper argues that collective action and broader regulatory shifts both reflect and reinforce growing differentiation within prostitution.

Abstract

The regulation of prostitution is changing as rapidly as its organization and sex workers have had more influence on this than usually recognized in either theory or research on prostitutes' rights. Using examples from the UK, Australia, the Netherlands and New Zealand, the paper shows how elements of prohibition, legalization and decriminalization are variously adopted in response to specific interests and their political representation. With the focus on law reform, the impact of collectives is compared to that of other contemporary players in the politics of prostitution, including community groups, councils, the police and the sex industry itself. But attention is also paid to health and occupational initiatives, and the conditions promoting the self‐regulation of sex work both by prostitutes and employers. The paper also argues that the role of collectives, together with changes in the wider regulatory context, reflect and reinforce increasing differentiation within prostitution.