The laws “have not deterred … the selling or buying of sex … and are not rationally capable of doing so. They merely create greater stigma and vulnerability among sex workers and violate their rights.” By Tania Broughton A Cape Town sex worker, with the support of the Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT), has launched a constitutional challenge to...

Human Rights Watch calls for decriminalisation  By Zoë Postman “Two years ago a policeman arrested me. He was alone and took me somewhere in the town in his car and then told me to give him free services and so I did,” a sex worker from Tzaneen, Limpopo, is quoted as saying in a new report. She was one of 46 female sex...

“It’s like any other type of work” By Ashraf Hendricks and GroundUp Staff Gavin Jacobs started his career in sex work in London. Running out of cash, he learnt about massage parlours though friends. Not wanting to return to Cape Town, his hometown, just yet, he decided to work at one. Gay, young and energetic, Jacobs partied hard and often. So he thought, “I might...