Prostitution is increasing because of austerity. A 60% increase in street prostitution recorded in Doncaster is primarily attributed to destitution caused by benefit sanctions,.with charities saying: “Women are being forced to sell sex for £5 because of benefit sanctions.” Sheffield reports a 166% increase (2014) while charity workers in Hull report: “ . . . women who are literally starving and they are out there to feed themselves.”
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 […]
Sophie K Rosa @sophiekrosaParliament has passed a controversial bill proposing the UK adopts the ‘Nordic model’ for its laws on sex work. The bill, brought by Labour MP Diana Johnson on Wednesday, is opposed by sex workers and groups including Amnesty International, harm-reduction charity Release and Women Against Rape, who argue that the legal model it proposes is driven […]
Compelling speech by Lyn Brown MP against a dangerous Ten-Minute Rule motion which would criminalise sex workers’ clients, saying it “will put women at greater risk”. Identifying “poverty and inequality” as root causes of sex work, she cites research about rising destitution in UK. For more info see our briefing for MPs against the motion […]
‘We will be forced back onto the backstreet alleys and made as vulnerable overnight as women were in Victorian days. We won’t be able to feed our kids,’ says sex worker Maya Oppenheim Women’s Correspondent @mayaoppenheim A Labour MP has been fiercely criticised for proposing legislation which would criminalise buying sex as campaigners warn the bill […]
Women are worried about eviction and risking their health by working because they cannot survive any other way – they urgently need Government support By Niki Adams I 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 […]
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 […]