Oscar winner Mikey Madison has been criticised for ‘recognising and honouring’ so-called sex work.
Madison made the comments in her acceptance speech after being named ‘Best Actress’ for her role as a prostitute and stripper in the movie Anora, during which she also paid tribute to the “sex work community” and pledged to continue to support and be an ally to them.
Anora, which won five awards, is classified as only suitable for over-18s by the British Board of Film Classification and includes graphic nudity, severe profanity, and multiple scenes of people depicted taking illegal drugs.
Harmful
Lila Grace Rose, a campaigner against prostitution and human trafficking, commented: “‘Sex work’ isn’t ‘work’. It’s destructive and evil.
“It preys on vulnerable young girls and boys. It is not empowering or liberating. It fuels trafficking and abuse.”
“I want to honor the sex worker community”
Shameful.
“Sex work” isn’t “work.”
It’s destructive and evil.
It preys on vulnerable young girls and boys.
It is not empowering or liberating.
It fuels trafficking and abuse. pic.twitter.com/4qATsHXNcH
— Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) March 4, 2025
She also said: “Pornography and prostitution aren’t things to celebrate—they are social cancers that need to end, not be honored at the Oscars.”
‘Inherently unsafe’
In Scotland, former SNP minister Ash Regan is seeking to better protect vulnerable women and girls by overhauling Scotland’s prostitution laws.
Regan, now the Alba MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, is seeking colleagues’ support for her proposed Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland) Bill, which would criminalise the purchase of sex and provide support to help women exit prostitution.
Launching her Bill last year, the MSP said: “Prostitution is inherently unsafe. There is no way to make being raped as a job safe and then put a veneer on it by calling it sex work.”
She added: “For far too long, society has normalised the buying and selling of sex, overlooking the exploitation that lies behind it.”
Eradication
The approach advocated by Regan, commonly known as the ‘Nordic Model’ after first being adopted by Sweden, aims to reduce the demand for prostitution, but it has been criticised for encouraging sex trafficking by decriminalising the ‘supply’ side.
The Christian Institute’s Deputy Director Simon Calvert previously thanked the MSP for tackling “this dark form of exploitation” and helping women to “leave prostitution for good”, but called for “a rethink of the proposal to make it legal to solicit for sex”.
However, he went to explain: “Our ambition should be as complete an eradication of the harm and moral ill of prostitution as is within the Scottish Parliament’s power”.
Mr Calvert also told The Mail on Sunday: “We shouldn’t listen to groups that describe this abusive system as a form of work. The so-called ‘sex worker’ organisations often include those who profit from this exploitation.”
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