Decriminalizing Sex Work to Combat Exploitation in the Sex Trade

Sex work is a criminalized field that has largely been legislated from a place of moral panic that has contributed to a conflation with sex trafficking. This fundamental misunderstanding of the work has constituted the rationale for criminalization of the sex trade thus far and perpetrated violence and victimization in the sex trade. Research on criminalization and alternative regulatory frameworks (end-demand and legalization) show that carceral approaches only further exploitative labor practices without addressing the structural issues that create vulnerabilities for this community. In this commentary, I argue for the adoption of a decriminalization framework that approaches sex work as labor to address the reproduction of inequalities, disruption of health and safety practices, and limited access to justice that criminalization currently consequates. While decriminalization would not address all the issues that marginalized sex workers face, the removal of punitive policies opens pathways for formal worker protections that honors the self-determination of sex workers.