Sex Work and the New Zealand Model: Decriminalisation and Social Change

A compelling, international edited collection from two leading figures in the area of sex work decriminalisation, filling in the gaps of knowledge regarding the ways in which different groups of sex workers are experiencing decriminalisation.

Seventeen years have passed since the law regarding sex workers in New Zealand has changed and as a model it has been endorsed as best practice by international organisations, leading scholars and sex worker-led organisations. Yet in some corners, speculation is ongoing regarding its impacts on the ground.

Written by an international group of experts, this groundbreaking collection provides the much-needed in-depth research into how decriminalisation is playing out in sex worker’s lives, how different groups of sex workers are experiencing it and what some of the challenges and tensions that continue to be negotiated in this context are.

Using the evidence from New Zealand, it makes an invaluable contribution to the international debates regarding sex work laws and the global struggle to realise sex worker’s rights.