Editing Sex worker (section)

== Advocacy ==
{{Main|Sex workers' rights}}
[[File:Sex worker statue Oudekerksplein Amsterdam.jpg|thumb|Bronze statue ''Belle'' in [[Amsterdam]]'s [[red-light district]] [[De Wallen]] reads "Respect sex workers all over the world".]]
Sex worker's rights advocates argue that sex workers should have the same basic human and labor rights as other working people.{{sfn|Weitzer|1991}} For example, the Canadian Guild for Erotic Labour calls for the legalization of sex work, the elimination of state regulations that are more repressive than those imposed on other workers and businesses, the right to recognition and protection under labour and employment laws, the right to form and join professional associations or unions, and the right to legally cross borders to work. Advocates also want to see changes in legal practices involving sex work, the [[Red Umbrella Project]] has pushed for the decriminalization of condoms and changes to New York's sex workers diversion program.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Not Everyone Is Happy with the NY Courts Treating Sex Workers as Trafficking Victims |language=en-US |work=VICE News |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/not-everyone-is-happy-with-the-ny-courts-treating-sex-workers-as-trafficking-victims/ |access-date=2016-12-25}}</ref> Advocacy for the interests of sex workers can come from a variety of sources, including non-governmental organizations, labor rights organizations, governments, or sex workers themselves. In [[Latin America]] and the [[Caribbean]], sex worker advocacy dates back to the late 19th century in Havana, [[Cuba]]. A catalyst in the movement being a newspaper published by Havana sex workers. This publication went by the name ''La Cebolla'', created by [[Las Horizontales]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cabezas |first=Amalia L. |date=2019-04-29 |title=Latin American and Caribbean Sex Workers: Gains and challenges in the movement |url=http://www.antitraffickingreview.org/index.php/atrjournal/article/view/376 |journal=Anti-Trafficking Review |issue=12 |pages=37–56 |doi=10.14197/atr.201219123 |s2cid=159172969 |issn=2287-0113|doi-access=free }}</ref> Each year in London, [[Sexual Freedom Awards|The Sexual Freedom Awards]] is held to honor the most notable advocates and pioneers of sexual freedom and sex workers' rights in the UK, where sex work is essentially legal.

=== Unionization of sex work ===
The unionization of sex workers is a recent development. The first organization within the contemporary sex workers' rights movement was Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics ([[COYOTE]]), founded in 1973 in San Francisco, California. Many organizations in Western countries were established in the decade after the founding of COYOTE.<ref name="sex worker unionisation Gall" /> Currently, a small number of sex worker unions exist worldwide. One of the largest is the International Union of Sex Workers, headquartered in the United Kingdom. The IUSW advocates for the rights of all sex workers, whether they chose freely or were coerced to enter the trade, and promotes policies that benefit the interests of sex workers both in the UK and abroad.<ref name="IUSW: Who We Are">{{Cite web |title=IUSW: Who We Are |url=http://www.iusw.org/iusw-who-we-are/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140315075748/http://www.iusw.org/iusw-who-we-are/ |archive-date=15 March 2014 |access-date=15 March 2014 |publisher=International Union of Sex Workers}}</ref> Many regions are home to sex worker unions, including Latin America, Brazil, Canada, Europe, and Africa.<ref name="Sex worker organizations around the world">{{Cite web |title=Sex Worker Rights Organizations and Projects Around the World |url=http://www.bayswan.org/orgs.html |publisher=Prostitutes' Education Network}}</ref>

In unionizing, many sex workers face issues relating to communication and to the legality of sex work. Because sex work is illegal in many places where they wish to organize, it is difficult to communicate with other sex workers in order to organize. There is also concern with the legitimacy of sex work as a career and an activity that merits formal organizing, largely because of the sexism often present in sex work and the devaluation of sex work as not comparable to other paid labor and employment.<ref name="sex worker unionisation Gall" />

A factor affecting the unionization of sex work is that many sex workers belong to populations that historically have not had a strong representation in labor unions. While this unionization can be viewed as a way of empowering sex workers and granting them agency within their profession, it is also criticized as implicitly lending its approval to sexism and power imbalances already present in sex work. Unionization also implies a submission to or operation within the systems of capitalism, which is of concern to some feminists.<ref name="sex worker unionisation Gall">{{Cite journal |last=Gall |first=Gregor |date=1 January 2007 |title=Sex worker unionisation: an exploratory study of emerging collective organisation |journal=Industrial Relations Journal |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=70–88 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-2338.2007.00436.x |s2cid=154670925}}</ref>

====Unionizing exotic dancers====
Performers in general are problematic to categorize because they often exercise a high level of control over their work product, one characteristic of an independent contractor. Additionally, their work can be artistic in nature and often done on a freelance basis. Often, the work of performers does not possess the obvious attributes of employees such as regular working hours, places, or duties. Consequently, employers misclassify them because they are unsure of their workers' status, or they purposely misclassify them to take advantage of independent contractors' low costs. Exotic dance clubs are one such employer that purposely misclassifies their performers as independent contractors.

There are additional hurdles in terms of [[self-esteem]] and commitment to unionize. On the most basic level, dancers themselves must have the desire to unionize for collective action. For those who wish not to conform to group activity or want to remain independent, a union may seem as controlling as club management since joining a union would obligate them to pay dues and abide by decisions made through majority vote, with or without their personal approval.

In the ''Lusty Lady'' case study, this strip club was the first all-woman-managed club to successfully unionize in 1996. Some of the working conditions they were able to address included "protest[ing] racist hiring practices, customers being allowed to videotape dancers without their consent via one-way mirrors, inconsistent disciplinary policies, lack of health benefits, and an overall dearth of job security". Unionizing exotic dancers can certainly bring better work conditions and fair pay, but it is difficult to do at times because of their dubious employee categorization. Also, as is the case with many other unions, dancers are often reluctant to join them. This reluctance can be due to many factors, ranging from the cost of joining a union to the dancers believing they do not need union support because they will not be exotic dancers for a long enough period of time to justify joining a union.<ref>Brooks, S. (2001). Exotic dancing and unionizing: The challenges of feminist and antiracist organizing at the Lusty Lady Theater. Feminism and anti-racism: International struggles for justice, 59-70</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chun |first=Sarah |date=1999 |title=An Uncommon Alliance: Finding Empowerment for Exotic Dancers through Labor Unions |url=https://repository.uchastings.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1085&context=hwlj |journal=Hastings Women's Law Journal |volume=10 |issue=1 |page=231}}</ref>

=== Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) ===
NGOs often play a large role in outreach to sex workers, particularly in [[HIV]] and [[Sexually transmitted infection|STI]] prevention efforts.<ref name="Dhanda, dharma, and disease">{{Cite journal |last=O'Neil |first=John |date=August 2004 |title=Dhandha, dharma and disease: traditional sex work and HIV/AIDS in rural India |journal=Social Science and Medicine |volume=59 |issue=4 |pages=851–860 |doi=10.1016/j.socscimed.2003.11.032 |pmid=15177840}}</ref> However, NGO outreach to sex workers for HIV prevention is sometimes less coordinated and organized than similar HIV prevention programs targeted at different groups (such as men who have sex with men).<ref name="HIV, Sex Work in China">{{Cite journal |last=Kaufman |first=Joan |date=2011 |title=HIV, Sex Work, and Civil Society in China |journal=Journal of Infectious Diseases |volume=204 |issue=5 |pages=S1218–S1222 |doi=10.1093/infdis/jir538 |pmid=22043035 |doi-access=free}}</ref> This lack of organization may be due to the legal status of prostitution and other sex work in the country in question; in China, many sex work and drug abuse NGOs do not formally register with the government and thus run many of their programs on a small scale and discreetly.<ref name="HIV, Sex Work in China" />

While some NGOs have increased their programming to improve conditions within the context of sex work, these programs are criticized at times due to their failure to dismantle the oppressive structures of prostitution, particularly forced trafficking. Some scholars believe that advocating for rights within the institution of prostitution is not enough; rather, programs that seek to empower sex workers must empower them to leave sex work as well as improve their rights within the context of sex work.<ref name="Prostitution as violence against women">{{Cite journal |last=Raymond |first=Janice G. |author-link=Janice Raymond |date=January–February 1998 |title=Prostitution as violence against women: NGO stonewalling in Beijing and elsewhere |journal=[[Women's Studies International Forum]] |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=1–9 |doi=10.1016/S0277-5395(96)00102-1}}</ref>