English Collective of Prostitutes

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| name = English Collective of Prostitutes

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| formation = 1975

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| founding_location = London, England

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The English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) is a campaigning group which supports the decriminalisation of prostitution, sex workers' right to recognition and safety, and the provision of financial alternatives to prostitution so that no one is forced into prostitution by poverty. The group works against the social stigma that is associated with prostitution, and the poverty that is sometimes its cause.{{cite book|title=Women and Work: A Handbook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OosuAgAAQBAJ|editor-first1=Sonia|editor-last1=Carreon|editor-first2=Amy|editor-last2=Cassedy|editor-first3=Kathryn|editor-last3=Borman|editor-first4=Paula J.|editor-last4=Dubeck|publisher=Routledge|year=2013|isbn=9781135818937|series=Garland Reference Library of Social Science|volume= 679|first1=Barbara G.|last1=Brents|first2=Gayle|last2=Morris|first3=Lisa|last3=Licausi|chapter=Prostitution|page=223}} It provides information, help, and support to individual prostitute women and others who are concerned with sex workers' rights, civil, legal, and economic rights. The organisation was founded in 1975, and its first spokeswoman was Selma James.{{cite web|title=Profile of our first spokeswoman, Selma James|url=http://prostitutescollective.net/2012/06/08/our-first-spokeswoman-selma-james-profiled-in-the-guardian/|publisher=English Collective of Prostitutes|date=8 June 2012|access-date=9 November 2012|archive-date=29 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160329151618/http://prostitutescollective.net/2012/06/08/our-first-spokeswoman-selma-james-profiled-in-the-guardian/|url-status=dead}}

Origins

The ECP was formed as part of the highly politicised prostitutes' rights movement that emerged in Europe in the mid-1970s. The 1975 prostitutes' strike in France and the subsequent formation of the French Prostitute Collective inspired the formation of a similar organisation in England.{{cite news|author=Selam James|title=Sex workers need support – but not from the 'hands off my whore' brigade|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/01/sex-workers-hands-off-my-whore-france-prostitutes|newspaper=The Guardian|date=1 November 2013|accessdate=4 August 2014}}

Associations

The ECP and the US PROStitutes Collective (US PROS) are part of the International Prostitutes Collective, which has a network of sex workers in many countries of the world. The ECP is said to work closely with the New Zealand Prostitutes' Collective who spearheaded legislation in New Zealand in 2003{{cite web |url=https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/research-papers/document/00PLSocRP12051/prostitution-law-reform-in-new-zealand |title=Prostitution Law Reform – Ministry of Justice, New Zealand |publisher=Justice.govt.nz |date=10 July 2012 |accessdate=6 October 2010 |archive-date=9 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200909213206/https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/research-papers/document/00PLSocRP12051/prostitution-law-reform-in-new-zealand/ |url-status=live }} to decriminalise prostitution. A 2010 review by the New Zealand Government found that over a seven-year period there had been no increase in the number of sex workers in Christchurch.{{cite web|url=http://www.justice.govt.nz/policy-and-consultation/legislation/prostitution-law-review-committee/publications/plrc-report/executive-summary |title=Executive Summary – Ministry of Justice, New Zealand |publisher=Justice.govt.nz |date=8 February 2010 |accessdate=6 October 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100523010943/http://www.justice.govt.nz/policy-and-consultation/legislation/prostitution-law-review-committee/publications/plrc-report/executive-summary |archive-date=23 May 2010 |df=dmy }}

In the aftermath of the Ipswich serial murders of five young women in December 2006, the ECP initiated the Safety First Coalition{{cite web |url=http://www.prostitutescollective.net/safety_first%20petition.htm |title=Safety First |publisher=Prostitutescollective.net |accessdate=6 October 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100329015905/http://www.prostitutescollective.net/safety_first%20petition.htm |archive-date=29 March 2010 |df=dmy }} to decriminalise sex work, and prioritise safety. Members include the Royal College of Nursing, the National Association of Probation Officers, bereaved families, some anti-poverty campaigners, church people, residents of red-light areas, medical and legal professionals, prison reformers, sex workers, anti-rape organisations, drug rehabilitation projects.

Campaigns and positions

=Policing and Crime Act=

The English Collective of Prostitutes campaigned against the Policing and Crime Act 2009,{{cite web |url=http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2008-09/policingandcrime.html |title=Parliament UK: Bills before Parliament |publisher=Services.parliament.uk |date=12 November 2009 |accessdate=6 October 2010 |archive-date=8 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101208191045/http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2008-09/policingandcrime.html |url-status=live }} which originally included proposals to criminalise anyone involved in the sex industry, whether or not there was force or coercion; target safer premises; seize and retain money and assets, even without a conviction; increase arrests against street workers; arrest men on "suspicion"; imprison sex workers who breach a compulsory rehabilitation order.{{cite news|author=Jonathan Brown|title=WI enlisted in fight against prostitution|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/wi-enlisted-in-fight-against-prostitution-1035174.html|newspaper=The Independent|date=26 November 2008|archive-date=6 December 2017|access-date=20 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171206005832/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/wi-enlisted-in-fight-against-prostitution-1035174.html|url-status=live}} The ECP argued that these measures would force prostitution underground, exposing sex workers to greater danger and preventing them coming forward to report violence and access health and other services.

=Trafficking=

The ECP argues that discredited academic work has falsely labelled most sex workers as victims of "trafficking". Its website provides critiques of such work.{{cite web|url=http://prostitutescollective.net/2012/04/12/anti-trafficking-a-justification-for-an-increase-in-deportations-and-a-moralistic-crusade-against-prostitution-3-2/|title=Briefing: Anti-trafficking – an excuse for a moralistic crusade against sex workers|website=Prostitutes' Collective|date=12 April 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131024171022/http://prostitutescollective.net/2012/04/12/anti-trafficking-a-justification-for-an-increase-in-deportations-and-a-moralistic-crusade-against-prostitution-3-2/ |archive-date=24 October 2013 }}

=Decriminalisation=

In 2015, the ECP organised a symposium in the House of Commons, presenting evidence to parliament in support of the decriminalisation of sex work.{{cite news |last=Corvid |first=Margaret |date=2 November 2015 |title=As our MPs gather evidence on decriminalising sex work, they need facts – not the old myths |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/feminism/2015/11/our-mps-gather-evidence-decriminalising-sex-work-they-need-facts-not-old |newspaper=New Statesman |access-date=9 November 2015 |archive-date=6 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151106005515/http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/feminism/2015/11/our-mps-gather-evidence-decriminalising-sex-work-they-need-facts-not-old |url-status=live }}

=Universal Credit=

In 2019 Laura Watson from the ECP gave evidence to the Work and Pensions Select Committee which was examining the link between sex work and poverty caused by the introduction of Universal Credit. She said that payment delays had led to "increased destitution and homelessness" and pushed some women into "survival sex".{{cite news|title=Universal credit: MPs call for action on women driven to 'survival sex'|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-50170297|date=25 October 2019|work=BBC News|archive-date=25 October 2019|access-date=25 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191025081439/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-50170297|url-status=live}}

=COVID-19 pandemic=

In the spring of 2020, during the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, Niki Adams of the ECP warned that some sex workers were continuing to see clients during England's first national lockdown as a result of financial need, potentially exposing themselves and others to COVID-19, and asked for emergency cash payments for sex workers in need.{{cite news|title=UK sex workers in 'dire and desperate' need amid coronavirus lockdown|url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/apr/13/uk-sex-workers-in-dire-and-desperate-state-amid-coronavirus-lockdown|newspaper=The Guardian|first=Alexandra|last=Topping|date=13 April 2020}} In the autumn of that year the ECP renewed its request for emergency payments as a result of the country's second national lockdown.{{cite news|title=Covid: Second lockdown 'will deepen sex work crisis'|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-54780027|website=BBC News|first=Clara|last=Bullock|date=17 November 2020}} In January 2021, at the beginning of the country's third national lockdown, the ECP reported that increasing numbers of women were turning to sex work for the first time as a result of poverty.{{cite news|title=Growing numbers of women turning to sex work as Covid crisis pushes them into 'desperate poverty'|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/sex-work-coronavirus-poverty-b1769426.html|newspaper=The Independent|first=Maya|last=Oppenheim|date=8 January 2021|archive-date=8 March 2021|access-date=15 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308163951/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/sex-work-coronavirus-poverty-b1769426.html|url-status=live}}

=Local issues=

The ECP has been involved in local campaigns aimed at making life safer for prostitutes following incidents in certain areas, for example, the Ipswich murders of 2006 in which all the victims were prostitutes. It also objects to the actions of Reading Borough Council and the Thames Valley Police, which have been targeting prostitutes working in the Oxford Road area of Reading, Berkshire, for several years.{{cite web |last=Prior |first=Malcolm |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/berkshire/2972595.stm |title=UK | England | Berkshire | 'Saving' the street-walkers |publisher=BBC News |date=24 April 2003 |accessdate=6 October 2010 |archive-date=25 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090325073223/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/berkshire/2972595.stm |url-status=live }}{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/berkshire/4132349.stm |title=UK | England | Berkshire | Photos of prostitutes condemned |publisher=BBC News |date=29 December 2004 |accessdate=6 October 2010}}{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/berkshire/6506445.stm |title=UK | England | Berkshire | Vice crackdown sees 22 arrested |publisher=BBC News |date=29 March 2007 |accessdate=6 October 2010}}

References

External links

[http://www.prostitutescollective.net International Prostitutes Collective]

;News

[https://web.archive.org/web/20090223001311/http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23646265-details/Soho+brothel+to+re-open+after+judge+throws+out+police+case/article.do Keith Dovkants, "Soho brothel to re-open after judge throws out police case", London Evening Standard, 18 February 2009.]
[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/sex--the-citizens-new-prostitution-laws-explained-1026318.html Ben Russell, "Sex & the citizens: New prostitution laws explained", The Independent, 20 November 2008.]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20121002051512/http://news.sky.com/story/650952/jam-jerusalem-and-prostitutes "Jam, Jerusalem and Prostitutes", Sky News On-line]
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/the_daily_politics/7737543.stm "Should Sex Laws Be Tougher", BBC Two, 19 November 2008.]
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7737144.stm "Critics hit out at sex law plan", BBC News, 19 November 2008.]

Category:1975 establishments in England

Category:Organizations established in 1975

Category:Prostitution in England

Category:Sex worker organisations based in the United Kingdom