“Against criminalization, for rights” – two fundamental points that perfectly sum up the goal Italian congress on the rights of those involved in sex work, which took place in Bologna on Friday 2 June.on the occasion of International Sex Work Day. Almost twenty years have passed since such a meeting was organized in our country: collectives, associations and individual sex workers from all over Italy gathered. Then, the next day, there was an open meeting about sex work, the rights that continue to be denied, and the stigmatization of those who choose this work.

Rights of sex workers in Italy

In Italy, sex work is legally regulated by the Merlin Act of 1958, which, among other things, abolished brothels, shifting sex work primarily to the streets. He imposes the so-called abolitionist model: this means thatprostitution itself is not prohibited by the penal code, there are no penalties for those who engage in sex work, but other sex work-related activities such as pimping, facilitating or grooming are illegal. The problem is that this approach actually limits even legal sex work and never considers it real work. It also leaves enough room for municipalities to regulate the phenomenon and is out of step with the times as it does not take into account various forms of sex work, including online sex work with webcams and platforms like OnlyFans that are currently very widespread.

First national meeting in Bologna

For this reason, during the congress, the will of associations dealing with the rights of those involved in sex work was shown to push for sex work to be recognized as work in all respects, defending the rights of those who do itAND. As he points out Fast, among the most authoritative votes was city council member Porpora Marcacciano, a historic transgender rights activist, president of MIT Movimento Identità Trans. Marcacciano spoke of sex work as “a very valuable experience that gave me so much in understanding and reading the world.” “run away from violent situations.” The problem is that usually sex work is only presented as exploitation, “it’s not,” he added, “this rhetoric, this narrative is not ours, we don’t like it.” Pia Covre, one of the founders of the Committee for the Protection of the Civil Rights of Prostitutes in Italy in 1982, also spoke. She described Merlin’s law as “outdated,” stereotyping and discriminatory, and “criminogenic” because it causes many sex workers to be perceived by justice, law enforcement agencies and society as criminals, even if they are not.