This report outlines the key findings of qualitative research undertaken between 2020 and 2022 with 70 sex workers in New Zealand, Scotland, and the Republic of Ireland. The research examined how stigma and discrimination impacts sex workers when different laws are in place, along with how laws impact sex workers more broadly. Providing critical insights from the lived experiences of sex workers working under variations of the Nordic model, decriminalisation, and partial criminalisation, this report emphasises why the harms of stigma and discrimination must be a consideration when sex work laws are made, making a series of recommendations to reduce harms and strengthen the rights of sex workers.

P.8 While all sex workers are impacted by stigma, specific groups are subject to particularly entrenched stigma and distinct versions of it. Streetbased sex workers, sex workers who use drugs, trans and gender diverse sex workers, and migrant sex workers are all subject to multiple, overlapping forms of stigma.