“Sex Work: Does Legitimization Mitigate Violence?”

This is the third panel of a three-part series titled “Global Perspectives on Gender-Based Violence”. Read more about the full series here.

The legitimization and legalization of sex work are much-debated topics in countries around the world. From issues of women’s agency to concerns over human trafficking and exposure to violence, this conversation examined how sex workers make choices about their profession in conflict-affected regions. It also delved into the implications of reducing violence against sex workers should the practice become legalized.

For the third installment of The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation’s Global Perspectives on Gender-Based Violence speaker series, HFG Program Officer Nyeleti Honwana moderated a discussion of the issues with these experts on gender-based violence:

• Modupe Animashaun, Institute of Peace, Security and Humanitarian Studies, University of Ibadan
• Michele Decker, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University
• Claudia Torres-Patino, Harvard Law School, Harvard University

The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation Knowledge Against Violence Speaker Series provides timely research and analysis for an informed audience from leading violence experts. Guest speakers, drawn from the Foundation’s network of scholars and practitioners, seek to illuminate the causes, manifestations, and responses to violence in areas such as war, crime, terrorism, intimate relationships, climate instability, and political extremism.

Watch Panel I: “Weapons of War: Examining Gender-Based Violence in Conflict Zones”

Watch Panel II: “Reckoning with Intimate-Partner Violence after the Pandemic”