Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-cfpbc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T06:35:27.663Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Saving Fallen Women Now? Critical Perspectives on Engagement and Support Orders and their Policy of Forced Welfarism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2014

Anna Carline  and
Jane Scoular
Anna Carline
Affiliation:
School of Law, University of Leicester E-mail: anna.carline@le.ac.uk
Jane Scoular
Affiliation:
Law School, University of Strathclyde E-mail: jane.scoular@strath.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The UK seems set to follow the increasingly abolitionist trend that is taking hold in Europe in response to the issue of prostitution. While some argue that an abolitionist approach signals a serious attempt to tackle the injustices and gendered aspects of commercial sex, we are less optimistic. Drawing upon the findings of the first study to evaluate Engagement and Support Orders, we argue that any focus on women's needs is distorted by the continued zero tolerance approach to street sex work and the criminal justice setting it takes place in. New revolving doors have been created for those involved in the most visible sectors of the industry and support agencies have been made to take on an increased policing role. This narrow focus individualises the causes of poverty and prostitution, elides the wider structural factors that shape sex work and does little to address the real needs of this vulnerable group. In conclusion, we argue that future policy should engage more productively with the rich cultural study of sex work. This will enable the development of ground-up responses and allow for a more effective role for the criminal law.

Keywords

ProstitutionEngagement and Support Orderswelfarismcultural studiescriminal justice
Type
Themed Section on The Cultural Study of Commercial Sex: Taking a Policy Perspective
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , January 2015 , pp. 103 - 112
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agustin, L. M. (2002) ‘The (crying) need for different kinds of research’, Research for Sex Work, 5, June, 30–3.Google Scholar
Agustin, L. M. (2005) ‘New research directions: the cultural study of commercial sex’, Sexualities, 8, 5, 618–31.Google Scholar
Brooks-Gordon, B. (2010) ‘Bellwether citizens: the regulation of male clients of sex workers’, Journal of Law and Society, 31, 1, 145–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carline, A. (2010) ‘Ethics and vulnerability in street prostitution: an argument in favour or managed zone’, Crimes and Misdemeanours, 3, 1, 20–53.Google Scholar
Carline, A. (2012) ‘Of frames, cons and affects: constructing and responding to prostitution and trafficking for sexual exploitation’, Feminist Legal Studies, 30, 3, 207–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, P., Bellis, M., Cook, P. and Tocque, K. (2004) Consultation on a Managed Zone for Sex Trade Workers in Liverpool, Liverpool: Centre for Public Health, Liverpool John Moores University.Google Scholar
Cusick, L., Brooks-Gordon, B., Campbell, R. and Edgar, R. (2011) ‘“Exiting” drug use and sex work: career paths, interventions and government strategy targets’, Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy, 18, 2, 145–56.Google Scholar
Fawcett Society (2011) Single Mothers: Singled Out – The Impact of 2010–15 Tax and Benefit Changes on Women and Men, London: The Fawcett Society, http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Single-MothersSingled-Out-The-impact-of-2010--15-tax-and-benefit-changes-on-women-and-men.pdf (accessed 12 March 2014).Google Scholar
Fawcett Society (2013) The Changing Labour Market: Delivering for Women, Delivering for Growth, London: The Fawcett Society, http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Fawcett-The-changing-labour-market.pdf (accessed 12 March 2014).Google Scholar
Hester, M. and Westmarland, N. (2004) Tackling Street Prostitution: Towards a Holistic Approach, London: Home Office.Google Scholar
Home Office (2000) Setting the Boundaries, London: Home Office.Google Scholar
Home Office (2004) Paying the Price: A Consultation Paper on Prostitution, London: Home Office.Google Scholar
Home Office (2006) A Coordinated Prostitution Strategy and a Summary of Responses to Paying the Price, London: Home Office.Google Scholar
Home Office (2007) Crime Reduction Briefing, Prostitution, London: Home Office.Google Scholar
Home Office (2008) Tackling Demand for Prostitution: A Review, London: Home Office.Google Scholar
Home Office (2010) Guidance on Section 17 Policing and Crime Act 2009: Engagement and Support Order, London: Home Office.Google Scholar
House of Commons (2009) Policing and Crime Bill, Public Bill Committee,10th Sitting, Tuesday 10 February, http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmpublic/policing/090210/pm/90210s01.htm (accessed 27 November 2013).Google Scholar
Hubbard, P. (2004) ‘Cleansing the metropolis: sex work and the politics of zero tolerance’, Urban Studies, 41, 9, 1687–702.Google Scholar
Matthews, R. (2005) ‘Policing prostitution: ten years on’, British Journal of Criminology, 45, 6, 877–95.Google Scholar
O’Neill, M. (1996) ‘Prostitute women now’, in Scambler, G. and Scambler, A. (eds.), Rethinking Prostitution in the 1990s, London: Routledge, pp. 3–28.Google Scholar
O’Neill, M. (2001) Prostitution and Feminism: Towards a Politics of Feeling, Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Phoenix, J. (1999) Making Sense of Prostitution, London: Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phoenix, J. (2008). ‘Be helped or else! Economic exploitation, male violence and prostitution policy in the UK’, in Munro, V. and Giusta, M. Della (eds.), Demanding Sex: Critical Reflections on the Regulation of Prostitution, London: Ashgate, pp. 35–50.Google Scholar
Phoenix, J. (2009) ‘Frameworks of understanding’, in Phoenix, J. (ed.), Regulating Sex for Sale: Prostitution Policy and Reform in the UK, Bristol: The Policy Press, pp. 1–28.Google Scholar
Pitcher, J. (2006) ‘Support services for women working in the sex industry’, in Campbell, R. and O’Neill, M. (eds.), Sex Work Now, Cullompton: Willan Publishing, pp. 235–62.Google Scholar
Policing and Crime Act 2009, London: The Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Prostitution (Public Places) (Scotland) Act 2007, asp 11, London: The Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Sanders, T. (2005) Sex Work: A Risky Business, Cullompton: Willian Publishing.Google Scholar
Sanders, T. (2009a) ‘Controlling the “anti sexual” city: sexual citizenship and the disciplining of female street sex workers’, Criminology and Criminal Justice, 9, 4, 507–25.Google Scholar
Sanders, T (2009b) ‘Kerbcrawler rehabilitation programmes: curing the “deviant” male and reinforcing the “respectable” moral order’, Critical Social Policy, 29, 1, 77–99.Google Scholar
Sanders, T. and Campbell, R. (2007) ‘Designing out vulnerability, building in respect: violence, safety and sex work policy’, The British Journal of Sociology, 58, 1, 1–19.Google Scholar
Sanders, T. and Campbell, R. (2008) ‘Why hate men who pay for sex? Exploring the shift to “tackling demand” in the UK’, in Munro, V. and Giusta, M. Della (eds.), Demanding Sex: Critical Reflections of the Regulation of Prostitution, Aldershot: Ashgate, pp. 163–79.Google Scholar
Scoular, J. and O’Neill, M. (2007) ‘Regulating prostitution: social inclusion, responsibilization and the politics of prostitution reform’, British Journal of Criminology, 47, 3, 764–78.Google Scholar
Sullivan, B. (2010) ‘When (some) prostitution is legal: the impact of law reform on sex work in Australia’,Journal of Law and Society, 37, 1, 85–10.Google Scholar
Women's Budget Group (2011) The Impact on Women of the Budget 2011, London: Women's Budget Group, http://www.wbg.org.uk/index_7_282363355.pdf (accessed 12 March 2014).Google Scholar