Abstract
With Amnesty International’s decision to support the decriminalization of sex work on the one hand and the spread of the so-called ‘Nordic Model’ of client criminalization on the other, recent years have seen a surge in sex workers’ rights activism around the world. Various sex workers’ organizations have mobilized in support of decriminalizing sex work or against the adoption of the ‘Nordic Model’ in their countries. It is therefore a pertinent time for a closer investigation of the self-organization of sex workers.
Gregor Gall’s new book explores one specific type of sex workers’ mobilization: labour unionization. His book is worthwhile reading for anyone interested in the labour rights and political mobilization of sexual service providers, as well as the unionization of self-employed, precarious or marginalized workers more broadly. It provides a brief and concise overview of organizations, unions and pressure groups representing sexual service providers including sex workers, erotic dancers and pornography performers. The book takes its readers to countries including the US, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Germany and the Netherlands, and explores the successes and failures of unionization efforts in these countries. It also provides a brief overview of sex workers’ unionization in African, Latin American and Asian countries, though does not fully explore the possibilities and challenges of sex workers’ unions in the global south.
Understanding sex work as work and sex workers as political actors, Gall affirms that sex workers can be subject to economic exploitation and can organize against it like other workers. Gall argues that unionization of sex workers raises the prospect of ending exploitation and oppression of sex workers. He claims that ‘the process by which collectivism and unionisation of sex workers are created arise from a complex combination of consciousness, ideas and conditions among sex workers’ (p. 2). Furthermore, Gall points out that not everything called a union necessary operates like a union in its traditional sense. He addresses the blurry boundaries between true labour unions, which are rare among sex workers’ organizations, and political pressure groups which combine political lobbying with union-like activities. Gall also addresses the challenges and barriers sex workers’ unions face, which include the large diversity of sex workers and hierarchies in the market, the lack of common identity, the unwillingness of existing labour unions to acknowledge sex work as work, regulatory limitations, activist paucity, increased competition, and the predominance of self-employment in the sex industry, as well as the solitary nature of sex work. The book also presents interesting examples of conflicts within the sex workers’ movement relating to membership, leadership and political outlook. Gall shows how internal cleavages can contribute to the demise of these often very fragile organizations.
Despite Gall’s interesting analysis of sex workers’ organizations, it would be beneficial for the reader to be provided with more background information on the working structures, conditions and legal framework present in the case countries. As Majic (2008) has already indicated with regards to Gall’s earlier book (2006), the author only tangentially engages with the law as an important barrier to sex workers’ unionization. While this book makes some attempt to address the relevance of the prevailing legal climate, it still largely disregards how legal frameworks restrict the ability of sex workers to organize.
Furthermore, Gall recycles several of his previous arguments and presents the same case studies as in his other books (2006, 2012). Despite updating his case studies to include recent developments, the book generally lacks novelty. This may be due to the empirical basis of the book being rather thin and outdated. Across all of his case studies, Gall has only conducted about 30 interviews with activists, the majority of which (20) have been conducted in or before 2010 and are hence outdated. For example, the section on Great Britain fails to discuss the East London Strippers Collective, which was founded in 2013 and has been very active in recent years. The quality of Gall’s data varies by country, but for cases where he has gathered a variety of empirical data (Australia, Great Britain and the US) he generally provides an interesting and detailed analysis of developments he has collected material on.
To fully understand the role unions could play for the sex workers’ movement, one also needs to take the perspective of sex workers who are not activists into account. While Gall acknowledges various barriers to an individual sex worker’s willingness to join a sex worker union, he fails to fully engage with the broad membership of the sex worker community. He recognizes that the issue of sex workers’ political consciousness matters for the prospects of unionization, but does not fully explore this consciousness beyond the unions’ leadership. In this context, several questions remain unanswered: What motivates sex workers to unionize or join an existing union? How do sex workers assess the potential benefits and risks of union membership? More broadly, what are the possibilities and limitations of labour rights instruments and mobilization for sex workers?