All Student Vote (Spring 2021)

Support Student Sex Workers

Proposer: Bede Pharoah-Lunn                                                    Warwick No: 1817491

Seconder: Laura Prisco                                                               Warwick No: 1692623
 

This Union Notes:

This section should include any facts, figures or statements that you believe are relevant to the topic of your policy. Remember in this section clear and effective referencing is important.

1. That sex work is a broad industry, including but not limited to full-service sex work, camming, stripping, domination and phone-sex lines.
2. That, currently, full-service sex work (exchanging sexual services for money) is not illegal, but associated activities, such as soliciting in a public place or operating a brothel, are.
3. The lack of adequate support for sex workers is already isolating sex workers, leading them into more dangerous situations.
4. That at least 6%¹ (with other studies showing over 10%²) of students say they would try sex work if they needed emergency money. These numbers will always be an underestimation due to students not feeling comfortable to publicly say that they are a sex worker.
5. That students have been permanently excluded from their university around sex work^3,4.
6. That the University, in its Student Sexual Misconduct Policy, is “committed to providing a campus environment in which all members of our community feel safe and respected”⁵.
7. That in the Student Sexual Misconduct Policy, the University defines sexual misconduct as including “conduct which, by whatever means, interferes with the normal operation of the University’s business or which is likely to bring the University into disrepute”⁶.
8. That there is currently no specific University Policy regarding sex work, including no exemption of it from the Student Sexual Misconduct Policy.

This Union Believes:

This section should include opinions or supporting statements for your policy.

1. Sex work is legitimate work.
2. That, with the rise of living costs, tuition fees, slashing of benefits, amongst other costs, it is highly likely that some students will do sex work alongside their studies.
3. That the criminalisation of sex workers’ clients has been proven to lead to further distrust of the police amongst sex workers and a willingness of sex workers to engage in more risky behaviours/safety procedures out of desperation.
4. Decriminalisation would ensure that sex workers feel able to report unsafe clients or violence at work without the worry of criminal repercussions, work together for safety, and that those who wish to leave the sex industry are not left with criminal records as a result of their job.

This Union Resolves:

This section should be about how you want the SU to react, the outcome of this policy. Remember to mandate specific departments/sabbatical officers; this will make things easier for future accountability

1. To support and campaign for the full decriminalisation of sex work.
2. To campaign against any attempt to criminalise sex workers’ clients.
3. To support any attempts to form a Sex Workers’ Union.
4. To support and be led by sex worker-led organisations, such as the English Collective of Prostitutes, Sex Worker Open University.
5. To mandate the President, the Welfare and Campaigns Officer and the Democracy and Development Officer to lobby the University to explicitly exempt sex work from the misconduct policy.
6. To mandate the Welfare and Campaigns Officer to support student sex workers.
7. To mandate the Advice Centre to advocate for student sex workers in any misconduct inquiries or similar proceedings.
8. To mandate training for the Advice Centre to understand the issues sex workers face, particularly the issues relevant to Warwick Campus, including but not limited to the effects of the size of the population of Coventry, the financial exploitation of many managers in strip clubs, the current leading organisations advocating for sex worker rights.
9. That the Students’ Union will advocate for student sex workers in disputes with landlords pertaining to sex work.

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