As Christians we shouldn’t be worried by the decriminalisation of sex work

‘Those who oppose the decriminalisation of sex work tend to be activists who are ideologically driven by conservative social morality,’ says Sally Hope as she looks at what it would mean for sex workers if their jobs were legalised.

On 3rd October the Council of Europe were asked to vote on a resolution to decriminalise sex work. They chose instead to send it back to the committee for further exploration. Had they voted for it, they would have been urging their member states, including the U.K. to completely decriminalise sex work.

The resolution was opposed by Citizen Go, (a conservative advocacy group). Their argument sounds reasonable: the majority of sex workers are not doing the job by choice, they are often victims of trafficking and violence. Decriminalising sex work normalises it, and by removing penal sanctions against clients and pimps, trafficking and violence against women is effectively given a state sanction.