Stigma continues to inform legal, social and cultural attitudes towards sex work and remains a barrier to health, human rights and justice. Developing stigma indicators is one step towards change.
Criminalising an entire industry because of isolated examples takes away choice from free-will participants based exclusively on the behaviour of abusers.
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The car, the phone and the internet have changed the way the sex work industry operates, but debates about regulation have not advanced with new technologies.
Decriminalisation allowed sex workers to step out of the shadows and into active participation in public life.
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Full decriminalisation of sex work is advocated by many health and human rights organisations around the world. Sex workers in New South Wales kick-started the process 40 years ago.
In 2016, a UK Home Affairs Committee report highlighted that street-based sex work has diminished significantly over the last two to three decades.
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Consensual sex work, like non-commercial sex, mostly happens behind closed doors. Yet stigma toward and ignorance about sex workers makes people panic when we try to talk about reform.
Different local or state government laws apply in different parts of the country in Australia, Germany, the US and Mexico.
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Understanding laws that govern sex work can be complicated and confusing, especially because laws are not uniform globally, or even within each country.