Adjustments to sex worker protections and pornography regulations

Proposer
Autumn-Leah
State

Accepted

Vote Score

2

Age

2569 days


@Autumn-Leah edited crime.md - about 7 years ago

War on Sex

All regulations on production of pornography in the UK are to be repealed, barring those that would expose the material to those below the age of consent or allow images of those below the age of consent of a sexual nature into adult stores. Pornography that is explicitly stated to be non consensual would also be illegal. These regulations criminalise the actions of consenting adults and entire subcultures, such as bans on production of BDSM pornography, and are more fit for a theocratic nation than a democracy.

All regulations on production of pornography in the UK are to be repealed, barring those that would expose the material to those below the age of consent, or allow images of those below the age of consent of a sexual nature into adult stores or anywhere else, or those that prevent those below the age of consent being involved in a sexual or erotic capacity in pornography production or distribution. Pornography that is explicitly stated to be non consensual would be illegal. These regulations criminalise the actions of consenting adults and entire subcultures, such as bans on production of BDSM pornography, and are more fit for a theocratic nation than a democracy.

Sex work is to be completely decriminalised (barring sex work for those under the age of consent) and active outreach work will be taken to destigmatise, but not encourage people into, this line of work. In line with this policy, sex work is to be practiced only in regulated brothels and brothelkeeping would be legalised, and though sex work in the home would not be encouraged, it would have a neutral legal status for the worker and it would be illegal to solicit the services of a sex worker for money in an unregulated environment. Brothels would be taxed as any other business.

Sex work is to be completely legalised (barring sex work for those under the age of consent) and active outreach work will be taken to destigmatise, but not encourage people into, this line of work. In line with this policy, sex work is to be practiced in regulated brothels and brothelkeeping would be legalised, and though sex work in the home would not be encouraged, it would be legal for the worker to do so and it would be illegal to solicit the services of a sex worker for money in an unregulated environment. Brothels would be run by non-profit sex worker charities receiving donations from taxes, and it would be illegal to employ in a brothel where a precondition of doing so is agreeing to give a portion of your earnings to the management or staff of the organisation, ensuring that the workers won't be exploited for profit, and that they keep what is vital for them to survive. The use of sexual protection would be mandatory at these establishments, and abortions would be provided without charge, as it is under the NHS.

If not previously established, a 24/7 freephone number will be formally established to report abuse specifically of sex workers and will add to the myriad of techniques currently utilised by law enforcement to avoid this happening. This will contribute to the ongoing battle against human trafficking and abuse of sex workers.

Xyleneb

@Xyleneb - about 7 years ago

If you'd separate the porn laws from the rest of the sex work I'd immediately approve the former.

The problem is the latter. You're telling me essentially, that sex workers are crying out for the government to get involved and spread their gargantuan regulatory hands all over their work?

I don't think so. I can imagine them saying "just stop prosecuting us for doing our job", which is why the solicitation law amnesties came about. But to contain and then to strictly regulate it will not work in any of the areas where you want it to work.

That there is enough reason for me to oppose, but then you've also got the NIMBY's. The over 65's who vote en masse, among whom very few of them want a brothel outside of their house...

Just let the workers work without persecution from the authorities and you will see improvements across the board.

ghost

@ghost - about 7 years ago

@Xyleneb I appreciate your frustration with my ideas, but your objections don't actually make comment on the change. The brothel thing has already passed, if you want to vote it out, by all means go and do that, but I've attempted to make the legislation fairer than it otherwise was by avoiding worker exploitation, explicitly changing the wording to legalise sex work at home, banning set-ups which would create a profit motive, an objection in the previous thread, and ensuring that nobody gets STD/STIs thereby avoiding a public health crisis the moment the hordes of people try it out on opening day.

May you please evaluate these changes on their merits rather than complaining about the policy that's already been passed?

Xyleneb

@Xyleneb - about 7 years ago

May you please evaluate these changes on their merits rather than complaining about the policy that's already been passed?

Ahh right.

Points of contention: State-funded brothels Banning the solicitation of sexual services leaves mutualistic customer/service arrangements (think the craigslist nonsense) in a legal grey area. The point about abortion doesn't need to be made there. It'd lose more votes than gain any.

Compared to the current status quo it's an improvement and my vote will be to approve either way. Vote: ✅

philipjohn

@philipjohn - about 7 years ago

receiving donations from taxes

I'm not keen on these effectively​ being, at least partly, state funded.

and abortions would be provided without charge, as it is under the NHS.

Is it intended that abortions could be carried out at the licensed premises? That's how this reads to me, which I'm not keen on. If not,i think we should leave this out - it doesn't seem necessary to mention this when we're not changing anything about abortion policy.

Otherwise,I'm happy with this proposal.

Vote: ✅

ghost

@ghost - about 7 years ago

Yeah, that section on abortion is rather unnecessary. The state funding is to ensure that profit motive cannot come into play regarding the wellbeing and finances of the workers.

Floppy

@Floppy - about 7 years ago

This has passed, so I'm merging it. @philipjohn I suggest you make a subsequent edit on the abortion aspect.

Floppy

@Floppy - about 7 years ago

Belay that, I got confused over dates. Not merging for another 3 days min, so @Autumn-Leah if you want to edit the abortion aspect then go ahead.