Regulating the “Oldest Profession”: A Conversation on Policy Approaches to Sex Work with Manisha Shah

Professor Manisha Shah, Franklin D. Gilliam Chair in Social Justice and director of the Global Lab for Research in Action at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, joins Then & Now producer Maia Ferdman in conversation about the long history of policy approaches to sex work. They discuss the motivations behind the prohibition and regulation of sex work as well as their public health and economic implications. They also discuss the “end demand” policy approach to sex work, which criminalizes those who purchase, rather than sell, sex. They then discuss the empirical evidence that supports the decriminalization of sex work.