Decrim now world news digest for September 2026

The USS Lincoln, Thailand, and Sex Work

Thailand, Pattaya

Septamber 2, 2026

When the USS Abraham Lincoln was expected to dock  in Pattaya, Thailand, earlier this month after 286 days at sea, its planned visit quickly made headlines. Before the carrier docked, Thai authorities met with the U.S. Navy security team to discuss rules for sailors visiting Pattaya, including Thailand’s laws against prostitution. Police increased patrols and conducted raids that resulted in 40 to 50 people being detained for suspected prostitution. With about 5,000 sailors and Marines coming ashore, much of the coverage focused on Pattaya’s reputation as a “sex-tourism destination.”

The attention reflects the old trope and fear that the arrival of thousands of military personnel will increase exploitation, but that assumption conflates trafficking and consensual adult sex work. Trafficking, coercion, violence, and the sexual exploitation of children are not the same thing as consensual sex between adults — and conflating the two puts everyone at increased risk. Crackdowns and raids are traumatic to survivors and sex workers alike. Repressive policing around sex work pushes consensual sex workers further underground, makes people less likely to report violence or seek health care, and makes it harder for outreach workers and authorities to build the trust needed to identify people who need help.

This is not a new pattern. In fact, the connection between the U.S. military, fears about prostitution, and efforts to control women and sex workers has a long history. During World War I, the U.S. government adopted what became known as the “American Plan.” The program was created in an effort to protect soldiers from sexually transmitted infections (STIs) by targeting women suspected of prostitution. Women could be arrested, forcibly examined for STIs, and detained, sometimes even when they tested negative. More than 30,000 women were detained and examined under the federal program, which not only harmed individual women, but established the idea that women who engaged in sex work were a threat who needed to be controlled. The federal program ended, but similar laws and practices continued in states for decades.

More than a century later, the evidence of criminalization and stigmatization causing devastating harm around the world and in Thailand is ample. A 2026 study of 1,511 sex workers across seven provinces in Thailand found that 41.3% had experienced at least one human-rights violation in the previous year, including stigma, discrimination, gender-based violence, or incarceration. The researchers found that these conditions were associated with reduced access to HIV testing and STI screening and concluded that punitive legal environments and stigma undermine HIV prevention.

The news and sensationalism around the USS Lincoln visit are a reminder that stigma has devastating consequences. Protecting people from trafficking and exploitation requires addressing the issues, including poverty, discrimination, and lack of immigration status that make people vulnerable to exploitation. Criminalization only compounds these vulnerabilities and when lawmakers conflate human trafficking with consensual adult sex work, innocent people are arrested and prosecuted, victims face barriers to services, and exploitation proliferates in the black market.

Source portal decriminalizesex.work

Hong Kong sex work exhibition explores violence and bodily autonomy in an underground industry

China, Hong Kong

September 12, 2026

Boxes of condoms, AI-generated photos of sex workers, and a computer opened up to a part-time girlfriends website sit inside Heath, an event space in Tsim Sha Tsui.

The venue is perhaps a fitting one for A Body of One’s Own, an exhibition spotlighting the history of sex work in Hong Kong. Located in the basement of Chungking Mansions, it was once home to a string of nightclubs.

The two-week exhibition is organised by three NGOs that support the city’s sex workers – Action for Reach Out, Teen’s Key, and Midnight Blue.

Wong Ka-ying, an artist and writer who curated the showcase, said the exhibition aimed not only to show pride in sex work, but also to explore themes such as violence, choice, and bodily autonomy.

“Sex work is [one of] the oldest industries in the world, with over 3,000 years of history, yet the stigma around it remains pervasive,” Wong said in Cantonese during a media preview last Friday.

“But why, today, when human civilization has advanced so much, is our understanding and perspective on sex work still so narrow?” she said. “These are the questions we want to ask.”

Wong will also lead exhibition tours this weekend, with English and Cantonese sessions available.

Running until September 27, the exhibition will also feature events including a life drawing session, sharings by sex workers, and a theatre workshop.

Source portal hongkongfp.com

Sex Worker Pride

USA

September 14, 2026

Sex Worker Pride Day is held annually on September 14. While sex workers have a handful of holidays scattered throughout the calendar year, Sex Worker Pride is unequivocally the most joyful of them. Akin to LGBTQ+ Pride celebrations, the day is an opportunity for sex workers and their allies to celebrate community, visibility, resilience, and the movement for sex workers’ rights.

Across the Northeast, a wide array of events were held in celebration of the day. In Boston, DSW’s partners at Boston Sex Worker and Allies Collective (BSWAC) held a Sex Worker Pride party featuring pole classes, performances, and a sign-making session. Also in Boston, Red Light Disco organized the city’s first-ever Sex Worker Pride March, bringing the celebration into the streets.

In New York, Old Pros hosted the launch party for its Sex Work Map and Guide to History in collaboration with the Sex Tech Lab and the Gender and Sexuality Studies Institute. The project highlights the rich and often overlooked history of sex work and sex worker organizing across the country.

DecrimNY, the New York coalition responsible for successfully advocating for the repeal of the state’s “Walking While Trans” law, collaborated with Kink Out Events to host Whore Prom, an evening dedicated to celebrating sex workers, community, and movement building. DSW Legal Director Melissa Broudo attended the New York celebrations, joining advocates, organizers, and community members in marking Sex Worker Pride.

Sex Worker Pride offers an important reminder that the movement for sex workers’ rights is about more than fighting harmful laws and stigma. It is also about celebrating sex workers, honoring the communities they have built, and creating spaces rooted in joy, connection, and pride.

Source portal decriminalizesex.work