Since 1975, the International Prostitutes Collective has been campaigning for the abolition of the prostitution laws which criminalize sex workers and our families, and for economic alternatives and higher benefits and wages. No woman, child or man should be forced by poverty or violence into sex with anyone. We provide information, help and support to individual prostitute women and others who are concerned with sex workers’ human, civil, legal and economic rights.

The English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) and the US PROStitutes Collective (US PROS) are part of the International Prostitutes Collective.  We are in touch with sex workers all over the world.  The situation of those of us in Third World countries and those of us who work the streets, often Black women, other women of colour and/or immigrant women, has always been our starting point. We are members of the International Wages for Housework Campaign.

Since 8 March 2000 we have been participating in the Global Women’s Strike.  Part of our work for the Strike 2003 was to write, with others, an Open letter to the Women’s Movement - some of those who claim to speak against violence against women picketed a sex industry establishment on International Women's Day, when most women, children and men are desperately trying to prevent the war against Iraq.  Machismo begins with the military, not with lap dancing.

 

This is what the International Prostitutes Collective stands for: (+ in Spanish)   Los Angeles Conference 14 March 1997 All sex workers must be decriminalised whether they work on the street or in premises. Scrap the prostitution laws: they criminalize sex workers, divide us from our families and friends, make us vulnerable to violence, and set us apart from the rest of the community -- separate is never equal. An end to police brutality, corruption, racism and other illegality against sex workers: police who break the law should be prosecuted. Protection from the police and courts against rape and other violence, whoever is the rapist. No zones, no licensing, no legalised brothels which ghettoize sex workers; we oppose all forms of apartheid. An end to racism and other discrimination within the sex industry. Sex workers must be recognized as workers with rights like other workers, including the right to pensions, the right to form and join trade unions. Free/low cost, high quality and flexible childcare for all children regardless of their mothers’ occupation or ‘lifestyle’. Free, accessible and non-discriminatory health services for all: no mandatory health checks or HIV tests. The right to legal aid. Autonomy and self-determination for prostitute women and other sex workers. Sex workers must decide how we want to work: we oppose any form of legalization which gives powers to police, local authorities, pimps, madams or other managers to regulate our wages and working conditions and censor what we demand so that they and those they work for can profit from our work. Workers must decide, not the industry. Prostitute women must have the right to organize independently from men, including male sex workers. Sex workers must organize independently from pimps, police and those who are managers in the sex industry. Unions are for workers not for bosses. Viable economic alternatives to prostitution: no woman, child or man should be forced by poverty into sex with anyone. People who want to leave the sex industry should get the help and resources they need. Shelters and economic resources for runaway children and adults so they don’t have to beg or work as prostitutes in order to survive. Children must be protected from violence and abuse -- they must not be criminalized. No rehabilitation schemes which force women back into low-paid jobs. An end to extortionate room rent and other overcharging in red light areas. The right to freedom of movement within and between countries. Implementation of the Final Report of the San Francisco Task Force on Prostitution, 1996, which recommends decriminalization, the recognition of sex workers as workers and the diversion of funds to protect sex workers from violence.