Normare il sex work? Tra subalternità e ipocrisia

This article examines the contemporary debate on sex work, questioning whether prostitution should be recognized as labor or deemed intrinsically degrading to human dignity. Legally, two contrasting models prevail: abolitionism, which criminalizes clients and exploiters (Sweden, France, Italy), and regulation, which grants sex workers full labor rights (the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium). Grassroots perspectives mirror this divide: active sex workers advocate legalization and protection, while former prostitutes frame prostitution as trauma and structural violence. A third position, “choice by circumstance,” interprets sex work as a survival strategy rather than free choice or coercion. The analysis underscores inequalities within the sex market, between privileged escorts and undocumented migrants, and critiques abolitionist policies as ineffective, advocating instead for decriminalization, harm reduction, and broader socio-economic reforms.