Feminist advocacy and the push for sex work policy change

Abstract

abstract This article proposes reasons for change in policy on sex work in South Africa and the feminist advocacy to lobby and petition for this change. It seeks to understand how recent advocacy by both sex workers and the organisations advocating on behalf of sex workers in pushing for policy change is feminist and explores whether it is in conversation with feminist principles. The article achieves this through an analysis of the activism, strategies, and campaigns to affect policy change, and the varying successes of these in raising awareness around issues faced by sex workers are highlighted. The exploration of sex work policy advocacy is contextualised through a comparison of various policy approaches regulating sex work globally. Feminist advocacy needs to focus on solutions from Africa and the South and consider the impact of the West on local advocacy. This includes the use of legislative frameworks implemented in first world countries, the links being made between sex work and trafficking and the impact of funding on research on sex work. Feminist advocacy is divided, and the article examines the possible reasons for this division and how feminist advocacy can be more effective, considering the unique socio-economic conditions in South Africa and the imperatives for policy change.