Sex Workers’ Rights Movement and the EU: Challenging the New European Prostitution Policy Model

Abstract

This chapter analyses relationships and interactions between civil society organisations (CSOs) active at the European Union (EU) level in the prostitution policy area. This policy area is characterised by strong polarisations and opposite frames, such as regarding prostitution as work, sex or violence, for example, and how this relates to issues of gender equality. Exploring current debates on fields and a relational approach to interactions between CSOs, we analyse the EU prostitution policy area as a field populated by incumbents and challengers engaged in contentious actions and reactions, so-called episodes of contention. In particular, we aim at eliciting what it takes for an organisation with an ‘outsider’ position to enter into the EU field and make its voice heard and recognised among actors that have different views on issues of prostitution and sex work regulation. More specifically, we analyse the strategic actions of the International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe (ICRSE) and how its actions have been met by established actors such as the European Women’s Lobby (EWL), clearly propagating against prostitution and sex workers’ rights. Three research questions will guide the analysis: First, which episodes of contention has the ICRSE been involved in? Second, which position does the ICRSE have in the EU-level prostitution policy field in relation to other actors?