The Path To Sex Work Decriminalization: Public Health & Safety

The Path To Sex Work Decriminalization: Public Health & Safety

This presentation will explore the intersection of law and public health, specifically as it relates to the decriminalization of prostitution. We will not be able to change policy related to sex/sexuality without a reliance on data, research, and expertise in the field of public health. While the debate over sex work is imbued with moral, religious, political and social overtones, health, safety, and human rights are the true core of the issue. This conversation will explore the research related to the decriminalization of prostitution and how we can harness that to create progressive policies.

Melissa Sontag Broudo, JD, MPH ’06, is the Legal Director of Decriminalize Sex Work and co-director of the Sharmus Outlaw Advocacy and Rights (SOAR) Institute. She has been part of the sex-workers' rights and harm-reduction movements for over 20 years, working to further policy and advocacy that supports the rights of sex workers and survivors of human trafficking. Broudo is currently on the Board of Gays and Lesbians Living in a Transgender Society (GLITS), an organization supporting TGNC communities and sex workers. She is also on the Board of Advisors for Equality New York and the Pregnancy Loss Support Program of the National Council of Jewish Women.  Broudo received her Bachelor of Arts from Brown University in Gender Studies in 2001. She received her Master of Public Health from the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University and a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center through their dual-degree program in 2006.