World P4P News

According to Economist, In 2006, the cost for one hour of sex with a female sex worker averaged $340 worldwide. Nowadays, the average rate is down to $260. But how does this billion-dollar industry trickle down to the workers who make it possible?

\the Havocscope team analyzed thousands of profiles of female sex workers on 200 websites, covering 55 countries, from escort directories to agencies and some of the most recognized international sites. The prices obtained for the visualization aren't the standard, rather the approximate average of prices published in 2019 by the many escorts on the web.

All costs are converted to U.S. dollars and reflect only the costs for 1 hour of escort service. Here are a few examples:

Australia	350
Germany	350
Singapore	350
United Kingdom	350
Poland	320
Belgium	300
Japan	300
New Zealand	300
South Africa	300
United States	250
Ireland	230
Netherlands	180
Thailand	150
Philippines	140
Colombia	50

Spanish sex workers and adult industry figures are sounding the alarm about a proposed new law, supported by politicians from both the ruling and opposition parties, aiming to outlaw all forms of paid sex work -- including commercial pornography.

Last week, the ruling Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, known as PSOE, introduced a proposal for an "abolitionist law against sexual exploitation," something that had been included in the party's platform.

Prominent politicians within PSOE have taken up the abolition of sex work as their personal cause. These include the party's General Vice-Secretary Adriana Lastra, who last month took to the press to promote a change in the Spanish penal code to mandate up to three years of jail time for anyone paying for sex.

The proposed legislation would revive the crimes of "proxenetism," meaning pimping or pandering, and "tercería locativa " or brothel keeping. Both were removed from the penal code in 1995 by a previous Socialist administration.

Noted Swedish-Spanish adult filmmaker, producer and studio owner Erika Lust took to Twitter today to sound the alarm about the impending government attempt to ban all sex work, including adult performance. Lust tweeted:

This International Sex Workers Day, I want to take the opportunity to express my unconditional support to all sex performers currently based in Spain, where the government is once again threatening their safety with prohibitionist bills that claim to 'protect their rights'.

The European Sex Worker Alliance (ESWA) is circulating a petition in solidarity with Swedish sex worker activists fighting a politically motivated attempt to require mandatory jail time for their clients.

In a letter to the Swedish Parliament published in English and Sweden, the ESWA addressed the upcoming May 31 vote on a proposal to increase the minimum punishment for the purchase of sexual services from a fine to a prison sentence.

The group urged Swedish politicians who are threatening the livelihoods of the country's sex workers to listen to sex workers, to consider current, as well as upcoming, research on the matter and to take into account the countless recommendations from organizations, including the sex worker-led organization Red Umbrella Sweden, to start committing to supporting a legal framework for people working in the sex trade, that protects and affirms those individuals' human rights.

The letter reads:

It has come to our attention that there will be a vote on the 31st of May on a proposal to increase the minimum punishment for the purchase of sexual services from a fine to a prison sentence. 

Sex workers in Sweden, as in many countries in Europe and globally, are amongst the most marginalised and discriminated against members of society, and experience high levels of violence and human rights violations.

We urge you to listen to sex workers, to consider current, as well as upcoming, research on the matter, and to take into account the countless recommendations from organisations, including the sex worker-led organisation Red Umbrella Sweden, to start committing to supporting a legal framework for people working in the sex trade, that protects and affirms those individuals’ human rights.

We are deeply concerned that research indicates that the current Swedish government’s "pursuit of sex buyers and combatting sex trafficking functions as punitive and racialised policing, targeting people in the sex trade and resulting in forced evictions, deportations, and police harassment. This increases their vulnerability for violence and experiences of stigma".

It is also very alarming to hear that the Swedish government is positioning themselves to support this, when there are many recommendations that Sweden should be adapting the approach and policy making regarding sex work and people in the sex trade. From WHO, Amnesty International, UNAIDS, ILGA Europe, ESWA, NSWP, La Strada International, the Global Alliance Against Traffic In Women, TGEU and independent researchers, there is a clear recommendation to decriminalise sex work, because of the negative effects of any form of criminalisation of sex workers and their environments. The European Convention on Human Rights recognises, under Article 11, the fundamental right to form and to join trade unions, making unionisation an established right that applies across the member states of the Council of Europe.