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Private Benjamins

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Private Benjamins is an independent, ethical, free platform and private members’ directory. It is free in every way separate to a mire of profiteering that exists as a direct result of the criminalisation of the Sex Work industry. From rental accommodation fees to fees charged by advertising sites there continue to exist levels of exploitation that would not exist in a free, decriminalised, open market-place.

As a platform, Private Benjamins exists to tackle injustice and the abuse of Sex Workers’ human rights promoted through the criminalisation and stigmatising of Sex Work. It came into being as a specific response to the abuse of Sex Workers brought about by the so-called Nordic Model. The Nordic Model was designed to appear to decriminalise Sex Workers while actually starving them into submission by criminalising virtually all aspects of their work.

The Nordic Model has exposed Sex Workers to increased risks of violence and financial hardship without a viable exit strategy offered to those affected by how poverty can be a form of coercive abuse.

Human Trafficking is a crime against humanity and affects many industries worldwide. While never conflating human trafficking with consensual adult sex work, we at Private Benjamins and all who use our site are committed to working to ensure our platform is not used by traffickers or those who limit the freedom of others.

Vermont Lawmakers Introduce Sex Work Decriminalization Bill

How Sex Worker Activism Influenced The Decriminalisation Of Sex Work In NSW, Australia

Decriminalising Sex Work In New Zealand: Its History And Impact

A Change In Irish Law Was Meant To Help Sex Workers. So Why Are They Being Jailed?

Why Sex Work Should be Decriminalized: Human Rights Watch

WOMEN OVERLOOKED: IRISH SEX WORKERS

The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act of 2017 has already been decried by sex workers in Ireland for further endangering sex workers, an already vulnerable element of society.

Eliana Jordan: Magazine Editor

“Everybody in Ireland knows a sex worker. Everybody does”, Adeline Berry tells me over the phone on a brisk, early autumn afternoon. Raindrops slide down my window, but for the hour that I am speaking to Berry, I wouldn’t have noticed if a car had skidded through my front room. She does not mince words.

Berry is a trans and intersex person who has earned a living as a sex worker for most of her life. She was born in Ireland but left back in 1992 – back when it was still illegal to be gay – for America.

“I grew up in a Catholic house of secrets and shame, and I refused from a very early age to be that way”, Berry says.

She points out the prevalence of sex work in a country still plodding along to the tune of the Catholic Church, an institution which has persisted in its condemnation of any form of conspicuous sexuality. Magdalene-funded NGOs have kept the institution’s foot in the government’s door – and its influence on legislation related to sex work has been nothing short of pernicious.

Berry and her wife moved back to Ireland from America several years ago, and Berry was swiftly confronted again by Ireland’s stigmatisation of sexuality. I called Berry to discuss the recent review of part four of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act of 2017, a legislation that has, rather covertly, taken a sledge hammer to the lives of sex workers across Ireland, such as Berry.