ABSTRACT
On 8 March 2000, the English Collective of Prostitutes and the newly formed International Sex Workers' Union held a widely publicised protest on the streets of Soho, central London. Accompanied by a samba band, a 100-strong group of sex workers marched with placards proclaiming that they were, in effect, on strike. This unprecedented action was in response to continuing attempts by Westminster City Council to displace sex work from Soho through the compulsory purchase of properties that the authorities claimed were being used for ‘immoral purposes’. This policy resulted in the eviction of a number of female sex workers, including some who had lived and worked in the area for 20 years:
We organised a carnival in Soho, because not many people knew that there was going to be a prostitutes' strike. We wanted to make people aware of it and to think about the issues … so we marched through the streets of Soho on the evening of International Women's Day, the day of the strike and it was brilliant, because it was good opportunity to celebrate what it is to be a sex worker. Although the action was firstly in support of those sex workers who were angry about being evicted … it had a positive side. So it was a fun celebration, and that's very important—because it's important that sex workers feel pride in themselves, and pride in what they do (Lynn Clamen, spokesperson for the IUSW). 1
