UPDATE: Monday 25th July 2022 Good news, vaccine access in the UK is now much wider than when we wrote this blog on 4th July. Our advice to in-person sex workers of all genders is to phone up your local sexual health clinic now and ask for an appointment to get the Imvanex vaccine for protection against monkeypox. Don’t wait for them to call you. If your local clinic says they don’t have it, push them to find out and tell you where you can get it. If you manage to get an appointment, spread the word among other sex workers you know. Should I be worried? There’s no reason to panic. The best thi ..read more

This article is a guest post by Victoria Holt, Emily Kenway and Addy Berry, with thanks to Lydia Caradonna Context and background Evidence-based research is necessary to help improve the lives and working conditions  of sex workers and this is especially the case where research lies at the intersection of anti-trafficking and the sex sector. Some discourses and discussions end up positioning people who are trafficked as mere victims of crime, forgetting the whole social, economic and political context that puts people in that situation, often in a voluntary and conscious way.  Respon ..read more

SWARM need new designs for the merch we sell! We currently sell t-shirts, tote bags, posters, badges and stickers to fundraise for SWARM & so people can show their support for sex workers in their homes or on the street. We're almost out of all our old stock & are looking for two new designs from two different people - could you be the one to create that artwork? Tell us your idea using the application form at the bottom of this page and we’ll choose our 2 favourite designs to go on our merch. Each successful designer will be paid £200 for 1 design. The deadline for proposals is Friday ..read more

17th December is the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers (IDEVASW), a day in which we honour and mourn the sex workers who have been murdered and abused because of the marginalisation and criminalisation that we experience. We are holding a digital vigil; asking workers and allies to post candles of remembrance onto social media. Download this image below to post, tagging #IDEVASW and @swarmhive on Instagram or @sexworkhive on Twitter. You can also find GIFs/stickers to add to your story by searching ‘swarmhive’ in GIPHY. This year, we want to draw attention to the multiple ..read more

What is the Swedish Model? The Swedish Model is a legal model that criminalises the purchase of sexual services and the clients of sex workers. Depending on where you are (and your perspective) it’s also known as the Nordic Model, the Equality Model and End Demand. It originated in Sweden in 1999 and is currently in place in Sweden, Norway, Iceland, France, Ireland, Northern Ireland and Canada. Sex workers across the globe have been protesting this model since its introduction and - in countries where it has been proposed or introduced - there has been huge resistance from the sex workers who ..read more

In response to COVID-19, SWARM started up a Hardship Fund to support sex workers affected by the pandemic. This report details what we did and how we did it. It is a clear eyed detailing of the logistics, funding sources and process of delivering the fund, incorporating reflections from the organisers on the experience. We hope this report can be helpful to others who wish to run a similar project. Download Here   ..read more

During the current COVID-19 outbreak in the UK, many sex workers are seeing a dramatic decrease in clients and work. As more and more people will be self-isolating over the coming weeks, it’s going to get worse.  Like other precariously employed workers, sex workers do not have a monthly salary we can rely on. We don’t get sick pay. Many of us exist without savings of any kind.  The most marginalised are the most at risk. We often have nowhere to turn if clients stop coming to see us, and can face poverty or homelessness. Our community is facing a crisis.  SWARM is launching a h ..read more

Screenshot from ‘To Survive; To Live’ Last year for December 17th - International Day To End Violence Against Sex Workers - we released ’To Survive; To Live' - a short animated documentary about the lives of sex workers in the UK. Produced by SWARM in collaboration with Ada Jusic, and Woven Ink, ‘To Survive; To Live’ weaves together candid interviews from five people selling sex in austerity Britain. Setting aside the polarising optics that often surround discussions of sex work, the film gives an intimate insight into the hopes, fears and needs of a group whose voices are routinely silenced ..read more

The message from Bristol University’s Home Office-commissioned report into sex work is loud and clear: austerity is pushing people into sex work at the same time as current laws make them less safe. This echoes SWARM’s demands for the full decriminalisation of sex work and for real measures to tackle poverty. ‘Less income made me more desperate’ Sex workers, most of whom were women, pointed to financial need as the driving force behind their entry into prostitution. As one sex worker said, “I just want to say that I know the industry is bad but I don’t think it’s ever going to not exist unless ..read more

Joint statement from SWARM, Decrim Now and x-talk  New research, commissioned by the Northern Irish Ministry of Justice and released on 18th September 2019, shows that four years of the “Nordic Model” in Northern Ireland have had no impact on the prevalence of prostitution. The evidence shows the clear failures of the model in achieving its stated aims. Key findings of the review: No decrease in the number of sex workers in Northern Ireland following the law change 56.7% of sex workers surveyed felt that the law had made sex work more dangerous, while 29.1% felt that it had made no di ..read more