Drawing together research and reflections from scholars, activists and sex workers, this edited volume provides cutting-edge insights into New Zealand's decriminalised sex industry. In the context of global politics surrounding sex work laws, the decriminalisation of sex work in Aotearoa/New Zealan remains exceptional. While sex work was first decriminalised in the state of New South Wales, Australia in 1995, New Zealand remains the only country to have decriminalised sex work. Thus, after the Prostitution Reform Act (PRA) was passed in 2003, the situation in New Zealand became a point of interest throughout the world for policy makers concerned with reforming sex work laWs, and a beacon of hope for sex workers advocating for decriminalisation.

In the years following the law change in New Zealand, several empirical studies have been conducted that have illustrated the positive benefits of decriminalisation on the occupational health and safety of sex workers (see, for example: Abel et al, 2007; Abel, 2014; Armstrong, 2016). However, despite the weight of this evidence, the New Zealand model remains contentious in the international context. Opponents of decriminalisation argue that it emboldens clients and managers since they are not subject to criminalisation, and that it ‘normalises’ prostitution, which they believe serves to worsen gender inequality (Bindel, 2018). However, there is no robust evidence to support these speculative claims about the situation in New Zealand. In the face of such conjecture it is particularly important that the findings of research continue to be published so that the situation in New Zealand post decriminalisation – in all its complexity – is well understood within the context of global sex work politics. This collection – featuring contributions from academics across disciplines, including criminology, public health, political science and media studies, as well as sex industry experts with lived experience pre-and postdecriminalisation – provides critical insights and reflections on the story so far, well over a decade since the PRA was passed.

New Zealand and the international policy landscape

Prostitution law is highly contentious globally. While the precise nature of criminalisation differs between jurisdictions, most commonly sex work laws are punitive – with either sex workers and/or their clients and other third parties criminalised. For decades numerous sex worker rights’ advocates and organisations around the world have been calling for the full decriminalisation of sex work (Dziuban and Stevenson, 2015).