Sex Worker Open University

Photographer Mathilde Bouvard, 24, was funded by the EU to take portraits of sex workers around Europe, including Leda (pictured), and record their testimonies. Photograph: Mathilde Bouvard/Mathilde Bouvard

Bouvard says she aims to 'normalise' and 'humanise' sex workers (including Andreia, pictured, in Paris) by portraying them in a variety of everyday circumstances. Photograph: Mathilde Bouvard/Mathilde Bouvard

An exhibition of Bouvard's portraits is going on show at the London Action Resources Centre in Fieldgate Street, as part of a week-long programme of events and workshops organised by the Sex Worker Open University. Photograph: Mathilde Bouvard/Mathilde Bouvard

Sex worker Maika protests in Bern. Luca Raven, a sex worker and activist, co-founded the Sex Worker Open University last year in response to the government's attempts to bring in criminal legislation affecting sex workers. Photograph: Mathilde Bouvard/Mathilde Bouvard

Karolina, a sex worker in Berlin. Raven accuses the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, and her supporters of "state feminism" in their response to sex work. He says the government is wrongly using the experiences of a minority of coerced individuals to represent the sex industry as a whole. 'Obviously we are in favour of supporting those who wish to leave the industry but they are a minority,' he says. 'Mostly we are talking about consenting adults.' Photograph: Mathilde Bouvard/Mathilde Bouvard

The Sex Worker Open University aims to demonstrate some of the positive dimensions of this choice for those who enjoy sex work -- to show that 'sex workers are full members of society, with skills'. Raven, whose clients include older men who have never outed themselves as gay and people with disabilities, claims these skills include the ability to offer healing, theraputic and non-judgmental compassion to a stranger. 'Personally,' he says, 'I love my job and I have no hang-ups about it'. Photograph: Mathilde Bouvard/Mathilde Bouvard

Events planned over the next week will also examine the risks faced by sex workers. Workshops will cover self-defence, emotional wellbeing and legal and practical tips. Photograph: Mathilde Bouvard/Mathilde Bouvard

Ariane, 30, travelled from Berlin to give a paper about the legal situation in Germany, where she says decriminalisation has improved the conditions of many sex workers. She fears the consequences of Smith's legislation being proposed in the UK. She says Bouvard's pictures 'show the complexity of sex worker life', without resorting to the usual extreme stereotypes of 'victimhood or glamour'. Photograph: Mathilde Bouvard/Mathilde Bouvard