Ideological war against the decriminalisation of sex work risks sidelining much of the evidence

I’ve spent more than a decade researching controversial, sensitive topics. But in many ways, my research on the sex industry has been the most difficult. This is in large part due to the contentious nature of debates on how to organise it, writes Erin Sanders-McDonagh.

These debates remain very current in Britain. Following the publication in May of an inquiry into “pop-up brothels”, Gavin Shuker, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Prostitution and the Global Sex Trade, recommended that in order to end sex trafficking, the government should criminalise paying for sex.