Medical students in the United Kingdom are demanding to be protected from being fired if they engage in sex work to fund their studies.
A motion is being prepared that will be debated at the British Medical Association's (BMA) annual conference in September, that universities need to 'recognise' and 'support' students working in the sex industry, according to the Daily Mail.
The trade union student wing believes that the COVID-19 pandemic has "forced student sex workers into more risky situations".
In 2012, a leading medical journal published research that found one in 10 students knew a fellow doctor who engaged in the sex industry with 93 percent of them saying money was the prime motivation.
Laura Watson, who is a spokesperson at the English Collective of Prostitutes, said they welcomed the motion as they had seen an increase in students using prostitution.
"This is undoubtedly related to the costs of medical school, but also speaks to the scarcity of part-time jobs that students might in the past have used to supplement their income," Watson told the Daily Mail.
"Student sex workers should be supported and helped with financial alternatives, not penalised or kicked off their course."
In a contrasting view, Dr Angela Dixon, a GP and a member of the BMA, said she would vote against the motion.
"Being a sex worker is more of an accepted thing in universities because of all the 'wokery' that's been pushing this," she told the Daily Mail.
"Basically this motion seeks to normalise sex work and say this is an okay thing for women to do.
"We should not be encouraging students to get involved in sex work at all."
A spokesman for Universities UK said that their institutions encouraged "legal, healthy and safe behaviours and support students to make the right choices".
The BMA said it does not discuss motions before they are debated.
