Rape and Prostitution – a Question of Consent – 3rd Feb
ECP
* Tuesday 3 February 6-8pm
* House of Commons, Committee Room 6, Westminster, London SW1
* Hosted by John McDonnell MP, Baroness Vivien Stern and Lord Richard Faulkner
While government feminists and religious fundamentalists equate prostitution with rape and claim most sex workers have been trafficked, rapists continue to get away with it – the conviction rate for reported rape in England and Wales is a shocking 6%. But a growing international movement for women’s safety is demanding the decriminalization of sex work. In England it is opposing a new bill to rehabilitate sex workers, raid brothels and criminalize clients. In San Francisco, 41% voted for decriminalization in the last elections.
Speakers:
* Andrea Spyropoulos, Royal College of Nursing
* Baroness Sue Miller, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson
* Fr..David Gilmore, Rector, St. Anne’s, Soho
* Helen Bamber, Helen Bamber Foundation,
* Jean Johnson, Hampshire Women’s Institute
* Jenny Pearl, sex worker mother of child with disability
* Karen de Souza, Guyana, sex workers’ welfare
* Lynne Jones MP, Labour
* Manju Gardia, India, organising against rape by police & landlords
* Nell Myhand, Legal Action for Women
* Niamh Eastwood, Head of Legal Services, RELEASE
* Parisa Cannell, Sibilla Holcroft, Soho sex worker and receptionist
* Rachel West, US PROStitutes Collective
* Ruth Hall, Women Against Rape,
* Victoria Andrews, lap-dance club manager & ex-lap dancer
Endorsed by the Safety First Coalition, formed in the aftermath of the Ipswich murders and including anti-rape and anti-poverty campaigners, church people & residents from Ipswich & elsewhere, the Royal College of Nursing, the National Association of Probation Officers, members of the medical & legal professions, prison reformers, bereaved families, sex worker & drugs rehabilitation projects.
English Collective of Prostitutes
Tel: 020 7482 2496, 07956 316 899
Web: http://www.prostitutescollective.net
Part of a series of events The Struggle Against Poverty, War and Occupation
You can read our Briefing on the Policing and Crime Bill 2009 online