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Outdoor Sex Work and COVID-19 resource

January 10, 2021

Back in July, the Sex Workers Alliance Ireland (SWAI) held a webinar to launch a new harm reduction resource we developed in collaboration with GOSHH in Limerick and Sexual Health Centre in Cork. The information card provides practical advice for anyone selling or trading sex on the street or outdoors during the pandemic and was created by a group which included current street workers, other sex workers and support workers with experience in this area.

When the pandemic started, harm reduction guidelines appeared online with advice for sex workers who continued in-person sex work out of necessity. Here in SWAI, our outreach worker Becky joined up with Billie, the support worker in GOSHH, as they realised that there was nothing available with specific information for people working on the street. More people joined the group and, in writing the guidelines, we focused on simple steps people could take to reduce the risk of COVID transmission, to protect themselves when selling sex. There is no way to guarantee safety when you’re in close contact but people still need to make money and these are just some tips for keeping yourself safer while working. The tips are also not just relevant for sex workers, they can be useful for anyone because, of course, people are still having sex even in a global pandemic! The information can be especially helpful for anyone meeting others for sex outdoors or in cars.

The leaflet is COVID-19 specific so all of the advice is focused on reducing the risk of contracting COVID but this needs to be taken into consideration alongside protecting yourself in terms of your overall health and physical safety. Sex workers are used to risk assessing and making judgements for their own safety, and often go by gut instinct. This new information isn’t supposed to override all of that and we always stress that your immediate physical safety takes priority.

On the back of the card we have included some facts about the law. We know from experience and discussions with other street workers that not everyone knows what the laws around sex work are, including the Gardaí! Since 2017, selling sex on the street is legal but paying for sex is not. It is also illegal to work indoors with other people but you are allowed to work inside alone. The Gardaí were given new powers at the start of the pandemic which allowed them to move on and even arrest people who were not complying with lockdown orders. These laws have now been rescinded but currently on-the-spot fines exist for people found breaking COVID regulations. However, you should not be getting in trouble or arrested for street working otherwise and if you are having any issues with this you can contact us for advice and support.

SWAI is a sex-worker led organisation working towards giving a voice to people who are in sex work by choice, circumstance or coercion. We believe that sex workers know what is best for us and are best placed to advocate in the policies that affect our lives. We also work to provide support to any sex workers who need it whether they work indoor, outdoor, online or another section of the industry. We have peer support available so that you can speak to someone who has a similar experience, without any judgement. We can help with a range of issues including legal, immigration, accessing addiction or housing and homeless services, health, or if you want to look at leaving sex work and need support.

If you want to contact us you can call Becky on: 085 824 9305 or email outreach@swai.eu

Here is a link to the resource and if you are interested in attending a webinar about this issue please get in contact with us Leaflet Print ready v2

Structural and actual violence against sex workers did not end under COVID

December 17, 2020

Images from vigil 2019 December 17th marks International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers.

Kate McGrew, director of Sex Workers Alliance Ireland (SWAI) says “This year the review of the sex work laws has begun and we worked to ensure that sex worker’s voices were heard in the policy decisions that govern our lives. These laws have kept us isolated by ensuring we work alone or forcing us to break the law when we work together with another worker for safety. Poverty is brutal and taking away our options does nothing to increase our safety. These laws have increased violence against us and only by fully decriminalising sex work will we begin to remedy that and centre the safety of sex workers.”

She continues “The End Demand laws were purported to end trafficking but Ireland has moved down to the Tier 2 Watchlist in the US Trafficking in Persons Report this year.

This year so-called brothel workers remain imprisoned. In Limerick, co-workers were attacked precisely because they were working together for safety and they had no legal recourse that would not result in them also being arrested. We have seen more migrant workers sentenced around the country. Our sex work and so-called brothel-keeping laws continue to be applied in a racist way.

This year has been devastating for all marginalised people including sex workers. Because of the quasi-legal nature of our work, most sex workers did not qualify for PUP and were left behind. Our organisation was also refused funding and admission to government committees for vulnerable people because we recognise that sex work is an economic activity.

Almost half of sex workers in Ireland were unable to give up work during the pandemic and even now most have returned to work. It is simply unfeasible to expect people not to work for 9 months of the year, even if your job is intimate work. Demand for sex work was severely reduced this year and yet there were little to no supports for sex workers. Laws that are based on ideology instead of worker safety are state-supported violence against us.

Gardaí also used COVID laws to move on and detain workers and they continue to misrepresent the law. Street sex work is decriminalised in Ireland yet street workers have been pulled off the street and photographed in Garda stations so that the Gardaí can more easily identify them if they are murdered. They are then released back onto the street hours later with their whole night’s work ruined. This forces street workers to take on work they would normally turn down because the need for money is more important than the fear for their own safety.

As we face into a recession we know more and more people will turn to sex work, as they did in 2008, to make ends meet. Our laws should ensure safety for these new workers, not put them in more danger as they have since 2017.

In the last few weeks, the sex worker community has been devasted by blow after blow. Scotland is currently consulting on introducing the Nordic Model and the UK passed its first reading on legislation to introduce End Demand laws there too. These laws are being introduced for moral reasons with no evidence that they work. Sex workers are being ignored again about the reality of lives and our safety. Sex workers continue to have their income curbed as various platforms such and Instagram and Facebook have banned us and many financial platforms such as Paypal, Visa and Mastercard do not allow us on them. During a global pandemic, we need to be able to access cash. SWAI struggled with this issue when giving our hardship funds.

However, as always the sex work community takes care of our own because no one else will. We created a hardship fund which gave small grants to over 170 sex workers during the first lockdown. We also created a number of harm reduction guidelines for those who could not give up work.

The Sex Workers Alliance Ireland also received our first Irish funding, a milestone for us and an acknowledgement that affected led advocacy is key. Despite the constant cruel stigma, laws that have made us less safe and a society that wishes we weren’t there we are resilient and we deserve to be heard.”

#DecrimforSafety #SupportSafeSexWork

SWAI statement on leaked nudes

November 25, 2020

woman looking at phone with creepy ghost behind her Consent is vital for any sexual relationship, whether online or in-person, whether transactional or not. The leaking and distribution of sexual images which have been reported recently breaches the consent and trust of those involved.

Misogyny, rape culture and consent are at the heart of this, issues sex workers are all too familiar with. We have seen an effort by people who wish to eradicate sex work to separate those whose Only Fans images have been leaked and those who have had their private images released by former partners but we expect everyone to stand together to oppose slut shaming and hatred of women’s sexuality in all its forms. Sex workers are constantly excluded from the consent conversation in Ireland but we are in the middle of this scandal. We are not outside of this, anyone who sells sexual services including nudes is doing sex work.

Sex workers have learned not to turn to the laws and Gardai to keep us safe. The criminal justice system fails sex workers every day. The sex work laws which were brought in with great fanfare were supposed to keep us safe but have led to a 92% increase in violence against us. Sex workers are now less likely to report to Gardai when they are victims of a crime than they were 3 years ago.

Sex worker’s images and stories are regularly taken without consent by media outlets and organisations who fight to end our means of survival without providing alternatives. We understand all too well how stigma and fear of being outed as a sex worker can affect you, and we know that being outed is many people’s worst fear. We know people have had the knowledge of their sexual services used against them in custody battles, housing and employment.

People have reached out to our organisation because they want sex worker-friendly, peer-led support. Earlier this year we were refused funding from the Department of Justice. We can only afford to pay our outreach staff for 1 day per week, we cannot run a 24-hour hotline. Lack of support from the top down in Ireland means that we cannot provide the support we want to but we will do our best to see that those who contact us are supported.

Ireland needs decent, non-stigmatising sex education, consent education and an overhaul of how women are viewed in society. We cannot rely on the criminal justice system alone to do this. Sex worker’s trust in Gardaí in Ireland is at an all-time low. Dara Quigley’s images were leaked by a Garda, in case you needed reminding. Marginalised people such as the undocumented cannot and will not turn to the very Gardaí who deport them for help. We cannot leave them behind.

To that end we are having an online support meeting for anyone who sells images for money that has been affected by this incident online on Tuesday 1st December. Contact us at info@swai.eu or contact Becky at 085 824 9305.

Press Release: “It’s a brothel. I’ll end you!” – chilling words of a man who attacked two sex workers

October 14, 2020

Yellow siren Today the Sex Workers Alliance Ireland (SWAI) learned that two sex workers working together for safety were attacked precisely because they were, in the eyes of the law, working illegally.

Two workers were sharing a premises in Limerick when a client refused to shower properly. When he was requested to shower thoroughly he lost his temper and threw objects at the worker. She politely asked him to leave and when he reacted badly again she asked the other worker on the premises for help. He attacked them, and in the worker’s own words “He treats us with violence”. The workers involved want to warn any other sex workers in the area.

Barbara*, the sex worker involved said “This is why it has to be legal to share a flat with another worker. I can’t imagine what would have happened to her if she was here alone. One of the things that he screamed at us was “its two of you! It’s a brothel. I’ll end you!”

Kate McGrew, active sex worker and director of SWAI said “Incidences like this are the reason that sex workers work together for safety and risk breaking the law by so-called brothel-keeping. Who knows what would have happened if the worker was on her own when the client assaulted her? We need policymakers, politicians and sex work prohibitionists to understand that this is what happens when you criminalise one part of transactional sex.”

She continued “Sex workers warned that the End Demand model, brought in with great fanfare in 2017, would mean increased violence for sex workers. In fact, violent crime against sex workers has increased by 92%! The law prohibited the purchase of sex and increased penalties and added a jail sentence for workers sharing a premises. Decent clients disappeared and it became necessary to take on clients with nothing to lose, more dangerous clients to make ends meet. This is evidenced also by the fact that even in a pandemic the client refused to shower thoroughly, showing scant regard for the sex worker’s health.

Sex work is an economic activity and until it is understood as such and our needs are met in other ways sex workers will continue working. Sex workers have been forced to return to work as they have been out of work for over 7 months. Would you be able to survive without an income for that amount of time?

It is extremely unlikely that these workers will report to the Gardaí as they themselves risk arrest for breaking the law. No exploitation was involved, these women were working together for safety but, as evidenced by the HIV Ireland report published recently, sex workers are at pains to avoid interaction with the Gardaí. The so-called brothel-keeping laws have been almost exclusively used to prosecute young, migrant sex workers. Today’s incident comes on the back of the news that another migrant was prosecuted last week for brothel-keeping. These are not hypothetical scenarios, these are very real concerns of a population who are already extremely marginalised.

Sex workers look out for each other because no one else will. We have been marginalised even in discussions that affect our lives and livelihood. We need to decriminalise sex work in Ireland so that we can work with another worker legally and we can report crimes against us without fear. We all deserve to be safe in our job.

The Sex Workers Alliance Ireland is a peer-led service for anyone who sells sexual services in Ireland. Please contact us at info@swai.eu or 085 824 9305 if you are a sex worker and need our help.

#DecrimforSafety #SupportSafeSexWork

*Real name not given

International Workers Day – Sex Work is Work

May 1, 2020

Neon sign of workers holding a hammer and a vibrator

Has your income dried up because of the pandemic?

Do you put in more hours online for less money than you would have before Covid-19?

As a freelance worker do you find it hard to prove where your money came from to apply for emergency welfare?

Well, then your experience of the coronavirus is much like a sex worker’s. Sex workers should have your solidarity because sex work is work and we should all be as safe as we can be.

Unions and labour movements have fought for safer and fairer working conditions. They have changed laws and brought in regulations to ensure that society is structured to benefit the worker. Do you stand with all workers?

This pandemic shines a light on the cracks in society that we knew already existed.

There are many individuals that are shut out of traditional types of work for a plethora of reasons, people such as transgender individuals, undocumented migrants, members of the travelling community, people living with disabilities and people who use drugs. People in direct provision are refused permission to work while being forced to survive on €38 a week. International students are only allowed 20 hours a week and single mothers without family support and college students often find it difficult to find work that fits their available hours while paying their bills.

Right now, in Ireland, a law exists which puts workers in danger. It was brought in with great fanfare by groups whose funding is dependent on the silence or compliance of sex workers, purporting to save workers from their own exploitation. The workers themselves were against the law and were not listened to when they warned that it would make them less safe. Workers were told that they would not be heard because we have a financial interest in the laws that govern our very lives and existences. What they are referring to is our survival. Since the law was passed violence against these workers has risen by 92%. But the law has made it less likely for these workers to report crimes against them. Trust in Gardaí has dropped to less than 1%. Workers want to be able to contact Gardaí without fear of worse repercussions such as arrest, eviction and deportation. Workers can now be jailed for working together for safety. Workers are being evicted and denied housing because of these very laws. This leaves them open to exploiters who take advantage of them being alone. We are flat-out refused to be recognised as workers, Ireland has criminalised our means of survival. We are stigmatised as people suffering from false-consciousness or as vectors or disease, and so at this time we continue to operate on the fringes of society, becoming even more susceptible to poverty and or ill-health. Not everyone gets to decide the type of work that is available to them but they still have rent and bills that need to be paid regardless. Every worker deserves to be safe, including sex workers.

Harm reduction, sex work and Covid-19

March 27, 2020

For sex workers

As sex workers ourselves, we know that when everyone is being told to isolate our work gets hit. If you can take some time off to stop working and social distance now is a good time.

We also know that some people will need to work to survive. This blogspot outlines a harm reduction approach to sex work during the coronavirus. Do the best you can, that is all anyone can do and you are the best person to make decisions about the reality of your life.

Covid-19 spreads through droplets when a person sneezes or coughs. The virus has a long incubation period so people can transmit without showing symptoms. The safest possible scenario is to keep a distance from others of two to three meters. We know this makes most of our work impossible! So, some suggestions for safer work during this time are:

Refraining from kissing and insist on condom-covered services including for blowjobs and dental dams for rimming.
Positions like doggy style or reverse cowgirl are better to limit contact and make sure you and your client take long hot showers before and after.
Make sure your client washes his hands for 20 seconds upon entry, and when he has left clean all surfaces that he has touched (including doorknobs and handles) with soap and water. Anti-bacterial wipes are okay, soap and water is better.
Try not to touch your own face as this is the way the virus enters the body.
Take extra care to wash any sex toys that are used
Wash your hands for 20 seconds or longer between each client, after being outside and after handling money
Do not do in-person sex work with a client who is displaying symptoms of the virus
Do not do in-person sex work if you are displaying symptoms of the virus
Each worker charges according to her situation but if possible do not drop your prices. Remember that for your client this is leisure but for you, it’s your livelihood

We know us sex workers are already very good at protecting our health, we just have to be extra careful at this moment!

Please note that there is now a firewall between immigration and the department of health so even if you are undocumented you can still contact a doctor if you have symptoms of the coronavirus.

If you need anything from SWAI, even just for a chat please get in contact with us. We would love to hear from you.

For clients

Please note that sex workers have always been impeccable when it comes to hygiene.

If possible try to seek remote sexual services such as video or phone sex. Please note that this may not always be possible
Ensure your hygiene is exemplary. Note that you are responsible for your own health
Wash your hands immediately for 20 seconds or more when entering the premises
If running water is not available please use hand sanitiser
You should always respect the boundaries a sex worker has but now please do so for your own safety
Tip generously, sex workers are always impeccable about hygiene but are taking a risk to see you
Wear a condom for all sex acts (without complaint!)
Do not seek the services of a sex worker if you are displaying symptoms of the virus
Do not be racist to members of the Asian community

For allies

Do not stigmatise or judge a worker who keeps working, it can mean the difference between having food to eat or not
Do not be racist to members of the Asian community

SWAI Hardship Fund

March 22, 2020

On Saturday 21st March the Sex Workers Alliance Ireland launched our crowdfund to ensure that some of society’s most vulnerable people can survive.

All non-essential workplaces have closed and people are being advised to stay indoors and to ‘social distance’ from each other. This is having a particular impact on the sex industry. Already sex workers are seeing a dramatic decrease in clients. Clients are staying away, hotels are closing or at least disallowing non-residents in, and university students are being evicted in swaths if they are in student housing, in order to keep people apart.

We in Ireland were already living under the Nordic Model, which meant a reduction in decent clients for sex workers. This pandemic will make it so much worse for sex workers.

We know from first-hand accounts that street workers, in particular, are feeling the sting of the efforts to curb COVID-19. Most of the street workers in Ireland are truly working at a survival level and this will not change under the current lockdown.

We have also contacted high-level politicians and government departments to request that we are included in any meetings about high-risk populations. We have asked for the cessation of all garda raids on sex work-related activity for the duration of Covid-19, in particular for issues such as ‘brothel keeping’, which in most cases involves two or more people working together for health and safety.

We ask you to give what you can to help precarious workers make it through. This money will go directly into the hands of sex workers through individual emergency payments. Any little helps.

Covid-19, sex workers and the state’s response

March 20, 2020

Woman in mask image Earlier this week we sent the following email to the caretaker Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and caretaker Minister for Health Simon Harris as well as other state departments. Sex workers who are experiencing financial difficulties, much like other precarious workers during these times, are being affected by Covid-19. We must be included in any plans for vulnerable populations and we cannot remain invisible to the state during this time.

We are writing on behalf of the Sex Workers Alliance Ireland (SWAI) regarding measures and public awareness strategies to combat Covid-19. We wish to offer the full support of SWAI and to participate positively in all efforts to mitigate the impact of this health crisis.

There are currently thousands of people in Ireland involved in sex work-related activity involving considerable interpersonal contact. Examples include escorting, massage, stripping and sugaring. For some of the more vulnerable members of the sex working community their accommodation in hostels and homeless accommodation may increase their risk further.

The advice of the National Health Emergency Team to minimise social contact will inevitably reduce the levels of this work. However, it is inevitable that sex work-related activity will continue.

This situation will both very seriously impact the ability of sex workers, many of whom have dependents and family, to earn an income and continue to pose significant threats to the health and general wellbeing of both sex workers and their clients.

Openly addressing this health crisis is greatly complicated in the area of sex work by the fact, that while our work is deemed legal under 2017 legislation, our clients at the criminalised. Co-operation with health professionals, contact tracing measures, self-isolation, etc are seriously impeded by the provisions of this law.

To facilitate the fullest engagement by sex workers in the battle against Covid-19 we request the following:

1) Inclusion of SWAII in all communications and information regarding best practice and control measures related to Covid-19

2) Participation of SWAI in relevant sub-committees dealing with vulnerable and most-at-risk categories of individuals and communities

3) Confirmation that funding and welfare payment measures for the general community, including earlier sickness benefit and its extension to the self-employed, applies fully to sex workers.

4) Cessation of all garda raids on sex work-related activity for the duration of Covid-19, in particular for issues such as ‘brothel keeping’, which in most cases involves two or more people working together for health and safety.

5) Establishment of a specific SWAI /gardaí liaison arrangement to address the separate issue of trafficking during the period of Covid-10 measures.

6) Suspension of current stigmatising advertising campaigns such as ‘We don’t buy it’ during Covid-19, as the messaging in these campaigns drives sex workers and their clients further away from engagement with health professionals and necessary participation in mitigation and self-isolation requirements.

7) Inclusion of SWAI in the notification for any process related to small grants or payments to promote health and safety at local community level or vulnerable persons categories related to Covid-19.

We look forward to supporting the combined government and community based effort to successfully address Covid-19 and to hearing from you.

Comment on arrests of attackers 20th November 2019

November 20, 2019

We deserve t be safe

Kate McGrew, current sex worker and director of the Sex Workers Alliance Ireland (SWAI) welcomes the news that arrests have been made following raids on suspected attackers. She said “We know that when sex workers and the Gardaí can work together we can make Ireland a safer place for everyone.

However, these arrests do little to assuage the fear and paranoia sex workers feel because of the law. These attacks are the direct consequence of a law that does not prioritise sex worker’s safety and instead focused on a vain attempt to end demand for sex work.”

She continued “Everyone wants sex workers to be safe but we need to be realistic about what the laws introduced in 2017 have actually accomplished. We have seen a 92% increase in violent crime against sex workers and a marked decrease in the probability of sex workers reporting a crime against them to the Gardaí. One client has been taken to court and many more workers have been prosecuted.

Forcing sex workers to work alone under the so-called brothel-keeping laws makes them a target for criminals such as these attackers. Driving sex workers to the margins by criminalising the purchase of sex or forcing them to break the law to work together in safety is detrimental to the safety of sex workers.

Gardaí resources are wasted on attempting to police consensual sex work. An Garda Siochana are already stretched thin. We want sex work decriminalised so sex workers are no longer afraid to engage with the police.”

Comment on Only Fans 12th November

November 12, 2019

Only Fans

The Sex Workers Alliance Ireland (SWAI) advocate for all sex workers in Ireland, including cam workers. All aspects of cam work are legal but there is still shame and stigma attached to this type of work, and increasingly support from SWAI is sought around issues in this area. SWAI provide non-judgemental information to any sex worker in Ireland.

Many people enter this type of work because they lack supports. While social welfare remains low and rents remain high many young people will take up this type of work to make ends meet and because it allows them to work less for more money. This is ideal for students who already are strapped for time due to their studies.

We want OnlyFans and all cam workers to know that we are here for them and we ask them to get in contact at 085 824 9305. We will be hosting a drop-in in Dublin 6th where cam workers and sugar babies can meet each other, share knowledge, and get support.