Most organisations working on sexual exploitation respond to the symptoms. They support survivors, prosecute offenders, improve safeguarding. All of it vital. All of it necessary.
But none of it asks the harder question: what keeps producing this harm in the first place?
The harm is structural, not accidental
The commercial sex industry promises empowerment and delivers exploitation. It promises freedom and delivers manipulation. The harm isn't a glitch in an otherwise legitimate business. It's the business model.
That's why harm reduction alone will never be enough. It assumes the harms are accidental deviations from something that basically works. We argue the opposite: the harms are built into the commercial logic itself.
What working upstream means
We go after what causes the harm: the cultural and commercial systems that profit from exploitation.
This is slower, harder, and less immediately visible than treating symptoms. It's also the only thing that changes the picture for the next generation rather than the current caseload.
This is what every campaign, report and coalition we build is for.