The coronavirus has thrown millions of people into crisis. For sex workers, forced by criminalisation, stigma and discrimination to live in the shadows, that crisis is more hidden.
Sex workers are denied the rights and entitlements other workers may have and are forced to choose between earning an income and risking ours and our loved ones health.
We must have access to emergency money and worker status. See our full statement here and action alert to raise these issues with your MP.
By Karolina Piras, Freelance Journalist Credit: Mina Karenina (USW) Karolina Piras was awarded ‘Best Human Rights Story’ by EachOther’s judges at the annual Student Publication Awards this month for this article which was first published by Sane Magazine. The views expressed in the article belong to the author and do not necessarily represent the views of […]
DOWNLOAD PDF: Survey of sex workers’ access to Covid-19 support in the UKIntroductionContextThis survey aims to examine the impact of Covid-19 on the everyday lives of sex workers in the UK. On 22 March 2020, the UK entered its first Covid-19 lockdown. Sex workers stopped working and had no income. Many women were immediately pushed […]
See article below from Berkshire Live. Also reported (with local figures) in Buckinghamshire, Cheshire, Hampshire, Leicestershite, Somerset, Surrey, Teesside, Yorkshire. Covid lockdown rules were broken to visit prostitutes in Berkshire Social distancing guidance and a ban on mingling with strangers didn’t stop some people from leaving home to visit prostitutes By Richard Ault Despite much […]
Some women have taken up sex work for the first time because of money worries, while others who had left the trade have returnedSex workers across the UK are facing increased violence and hardship as a result of lockdowns and coronavirus restrictions, charities and support organisations have warned.They say sex workers are in more dire […]
Not all sex-workers are being exploited for many it is their only way out of ‘desperate poverty’. Buzz reporter Lauren Joy finds out more.The English Collective of Prostitutes says there is a growing number of women being forced into sex work during the pandemic posing risks to their health.The organisation which began in 1975, campaigns […]
Exclusive: ‘Cruel austerity measures are pushing us into prostitution and trapping us in it,’ says campaignerMaya Oppenheim Women’s Correspondent @mayaoppenheimIncreasing numbers of women are turning to sex work for the first time as the pandemic pushes them into “desperate poverty”, campaigners warned.Leading organisations which support sex workers said there has been a substantial rise in women doing sex work […]
Image: English Collective of ProstitutesAusterity cuts, the introduction of the harsh Universal Credit scheme and the Hostile Environment has driven more people to sex work to meet their basic needs. Despite this, sex work remains a criminalised profession that is not recognised as legitimate work. The pandemic further exposes the injustice caused to sex workers […]
Women are worried about eviction and risking their health by working because they cannot survive any other way – they urgently need Government supportBy Niki AdamsI got a text from Jilly a couple of days ago. “I had a stripping job on Saturday and was forced to do it as broke and I had to do […]
In our new normal, staying at least a metre away from other people is mandatory pretty much everywhere you go. But for the UK’s 70,000 sex workers, following these rules could mean going hungry or homeless. Sex workers in the UK have largely been shut out from government schemes to protect those unable to work due […]
The second national lockdown is going to push sex workers “even deeper into crisis”, according to a campaign group.The English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) has called for state support for workers in the coronavirus pandemic.It said people were having to choose between risking their health by working or seeing their family go hungry.Cari – not […]