Sex work is work that centres on a service of a sexual nature that is provided for a fee. Despite the recent revision of criminal laws, there are at least fifteen thousand Sex Workers inn Israel today. Most of them are women providing services that include prostitution, striptease, erotic massage, BDSM, pornography among others. They work in both regulated institutions as well as privately. For many sex workers, entering the field is a choice of the best among their options, yet a combination of severe stigma and institutionalised persecution creates difficulties and dangers for many sex workers. Therefore, Argaman does not encourage sex work, rather we empower practitioners in the field to claim their rights and make their own choices.

Over the years, more and more field research and comparative studies show that the criminalization of the sex industry has failed in all areas – not only in its naive attempt to “eradicate” the industry but also by failing to guarantee indicators for the sex worker’s quality of life: personal security, health, and socioeconomic mobility. Even when the indictment does not focus on the sex worker herself, it still treats her as an accomplice to crime, pushing her into the underworld, worsening the social stigma towards her, exposing her to violence and police extortion, and distancing her from the law, welfare and health services.

Decriminalisation is the policy most supported by large Health and Human Rights Organisations such as Human Rights Watch (HRW), Amnesty International, the World Health Organization (WHO), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the United Nations AIDS Agency, worldwide LGBTI Organisations and of course, the Red Umbrella Organisations established by sex workers themselves. Argaman believes that stigmatisation, criminalisation and policing are not the way to empower marginalised populations. Sex Workers include single mothers, trans women, immigrants, and woman and men from various disadvantaged groups, whose incrimination deprives them of resources and reduces the few options they have left, making it even more difficult to leave the industry when they decide it is time. Argaman strives to change policy in a way that will increase alternative possibilities and accessibility to resources such as professional training, social assistance, health exams, welfare, justice, and guidance in case of sexual assault.