Normalisation of sex work

Well done The Sun and reporter

Graeme Culliford for the accuracy in their headline.

SOLD FOR SEXInside the Romanian human trafficking rings where desperate parents are selling underage daughters to be raped in UK

Today, DecrimNow have shared an open letter they have sent to Diana Johnson MP regarding her proposal to criminalise prostitution ("Nordic model") in England.

decrimnow.org.uk/open-letter-on-the-nordic-model/

This part is interesting:

"In countries that have brought in the Nordic Model, sex workers have not, as is often promised, been ‘decriminalised’. Brothel-keeping – which is defined as two or more people working together – remains a crime, forcing women to work alone or risk arrest. When police raid workplaces with the stated aim of arresting clients, it is repeatedly sex workers who are charged. This has happened in Ireland, Norway, Finland, and Sweden."

The same is also true when police raid brothels with the stated aim of "fighting trafficking" what usually happens is the sex workers themselves are charged with running a brothel.

"The report, "Behind Closed Doors: Organised Sexual Exploitation in England and Wales", found that there are at least 212 active police operations into sexual slavery and there were 1,185 referrals of potential victims of sexual exploitation last year, 94% of whom were female. However, campaigners believe the true extent of the problem is likely to be far greater.

Who is being exploited?

The vulnerable women are thought to be 85% non-UK nationals, with the majority from eastern Europe and the largest nationality group among potential victims thought to be Romanians. Romanians are also the largest nationality group thought to be among the suspects, followed by Britons."

www.refinery29.com/en-gb/2018/05/199857/pop-up-brothels

"SOLD FOR SEX Inside the Romanian human trafficking rings where desperate parents are selling underage daughters to be raped in UK"

go.mumsnet.com/?xs=1&id=470X1554755&url=www.thesun.co.uk/news/13492095/romania-human-trafficking-uk-gangs-sex-trade/ -

"Detectives stormed a brothel 500 metres away from Croydon police station after receiving information that trafficked women were being held there against their will.
The raid in Park Lane came after a sex worker was taped claiming she had been trafficked and was being forced to work as a prostitute - right under the noses of police."

www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/1986119.exclusive-sex-slaves-by-police-station/

Just to add, the report from the Helpline really is eye opening stuff to what is going on in modern slavery in this country. This is the latest report:-

www.modernslaveryhelpline.org/uploads/20210407114600907.pdf

"Lockdown brings alarming rise in modern slavery...

Cases of sexual exploitation, which includes people held captive in brothels and coerced into prostitution, rose by a quarter in 2020 compared with the previous year. Nearly a quarter of cases involved children."

It's from the Modern Slavery and Exploitation Helpline annual assessment.

I've just read the reports covering the years 2017-2020 (those are the only ones available online).

There really doesn't seem to have been an "alarming rise" at all. The numbers they give tend to bounce up and down from year to year.

They give headline figures for "potential victims" ie people who may be victims of slavery.

The figures they give for the number of potential victims identified to them each year as a result of sexual exploitation are:-

2017 - 774
2018 - 517
2019 - 421
2020 - 481

So, yes, the number is higher than 2019 but certainly less than 2018 or 2017.

It's interesting to compare this with numbers for non-sexual exploitation (eg labour exploitation). Here, the equivalent figures are:-

2017 - 3,540
2018 - 5,258
2019 - 3,195
2020 - 1,889

There has been a massive fall in the reporting of labour exploitation in 2020, presumably due to covid.

All figures taken from the report you linked to for the years 2017-2020

It's seen a sharp increase in lockdown and had been increasing in the last 5 years:

One of my apprehensions about lockdown is that the overwhelming burden of caring for house and children has created further exploitation opportunities that affect very vulnerable groups of people so as those affected by the rulings on 'no recourse to public funds' whose relationships break down etc.

"Lockdown brings alarming rise in modern slavery...

Cases of sexual exploitation, which includes people held captive in brothels and coerced into prostitution, rose by a quarter in 2020 compared with the previous year. Nearly a quarter of cases involved children."

www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/lockdown-brings-alarming-rise-in-modern-slavery/ar-BB1fhOrK

It's from the Modern Slavery and Exploitation Helpline annual assessment.

It's seen a sharp increase in lockdown and had been increasing in the last 5 years:

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/articles/modernslaveryintheuk/march2020

Just read that according to new data, cases of sexual exploitation (in the UK) including people held captive in brothels and coerced into prostitution rose by a quarter in 2020 and nearly a quarter of the cases involved children.

If it's true it's a terrible mindset and if as you say , it's not true how terrible must your work be to have to tell yourself that to make it palatable.

One party is revelling in exploiting the other

MissBarbary just to be clear, the women I knew talked a good game about "expoiting" the men involved. I don't believe for a second that any of them really believed it. It was a way of explaining to themselves how they could survive doing it. It didn't work.

The women I knew were smart, and talked a good game about "exploiting" the men that paid to watch them

That's a good point- why would we as a society want to encourage or normalise a commercial activity which has the aim, indeed its success is dependent on, exploiting the other party.

Please be clear I'm not in any way suggesting we should have any sympathy for the men but it's not a very healthy mindset to start conducting your means of livelihood. One party is revelling in exploiting the other and the other , in all probability, revelling in the fact he can exploit the woman by paying her not very much to perform an act most women wouldn't do.

Of course exploitation exists in commercial contracts but society should be aiming to remove exploitation, not make it the bedrock of the transaction.

Your second paragraph resonates with what I have listened to, it is rare to meet the woman in the sex industry who doesn't self medicate to varying degrees.

The sex industry is so empowering and so full of those willing to do it they need to traffick people in against their will. As someone else once said where are all the traffiked computer programmers and accountants? Why do we never hear about that?

"It actually is quite simple. It's all prostitution and no matter how desperately you try to tart it up, prettify it, hide the reality or normalise it women will never be equal with men as long as prostitution is considered acceptable."

Yes. I don't always agree with you but I am right with you on this issue and agree that women will never be truly free while prostitution (and porn imo) exist.

Even no-contact practices, like OnlyFans (if it stays online, which some don't) results in harm to the women involved.

Back in the Jurassic era, I knew a bunch of young women who did what then was known as "peep shows", where men would spy on women but not touch them (that cost a lot extra). The women I knew were smart, and talked a good game about "exploiting" the men that paid to watch them, and they vowed to do it just long enough to, eg, raise a rent deposit on a flat, but they never saved anything. They all, to a woman, used the money they earned to cheer themselves up - drugs, taxis, booze. (This is at a time when a taxi was an unimaginable luxury.) I saw it damage them, and they saw it too - but only after they stopped doing it.

I don't mind.
It's a mixture of 'Jessica' and 'Stanley', after two of my (late) pets who were known as 'Jess' and 'Stan'. Not my real name.

The PankhurstConnection: Thanks for the link. I may watch the programme if I can face it and am in the mood. Things like that do trigger intrusive thoughts sometimes, I'm easy spooked.

[quote RabbitOfCaerbannog]There's way more of that sort of sex work going on I'm afraid. All prostitution puts women at risk of health problems, stds, gynaecological problems, mental health deterioration. It puts women into contact with criminal elements, traffickers etc but you're right that there are other sides to it...

"Confusing love and sex: how the care system creates a context for grooming and child prostitution"

nordicmodelnow.org/2021/03/20/confusing-love-and-sex-how-the-care-system-creates-a-context-for-grooming-and-child-prostitution/

"I conducted 250 interviews in 40 countries, interviewed 50 survivors of the sex trade, and almost all of them told me the same story: don’t believe the ‘happy hooker’ myth you see on TV. In almost every case it’s actually slavery."

www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-sex-worker-myth[/quote]
I have also interviewed women working in the sex industry although many years ago now, well before Only Fans or even cam girls - the 'lower risk' end at that time was phone sex handlers and I second the information expressed in the quote above. It was very clear to me that the 'happy hooker' trope is frequently a coping strategy for those trapped in the sex industry of those who left it not one was positive about it (or, for that matter, about men) and admitted that had I asked while they were doing it they would have told me it was fine and their choice. Once out of it they were able to see that they had been protecting themselves with that idea. Even those who told me it was ok at the time (those who hadn't yet left the industry) conceded that they would rather be doing something else.

Anecdotal of course as it comes from interviews but I interviewed a lot of women some younger than I found comfortable who have stayed in my mind.

Sorry jesstan, I typed your name incorrrectly.

Looks grim to me. 'Working the streets' is terribly dangerous; I think punters approaching school kids illustrates the danger very well.

If you are interested Jess Stan, there is a documentary series on the women in Holbeck. It can be upsetting but worth watching the reality and yes, it is grim. I don't know how anyone could watch this and continue abusing these women.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04045rz

I think some people are very good at entering into a fantasy and acting it out convincingly, EmbarrassingAdmissions. They might even enjoy doing that without actually enjoying the performance in a sexual way.

Jolly hard work though. I imagine someone has to have a talent for it. Most of us couldn't do it.

There was a thread somewhere on MN about Punters (?) - a website where the clients rate the women. A lot of the adverse comments were about a lack of perceived enthusiasm or engagement. So, it might not be enough to have some degree of talent. (tbh, I'm not sure if there is talent or if it's stimulating enough that the purchasing party is carrying out what a transgressive transaction for many people.)

There's way more of that sort of sex work going on I'm afraid. All prostitution puts women at risk of health problems, stds, gynaecological problems, mental health deterioration. It puts women into contact with criminal elements, traffickers etc but you're right that there are other sides to it...

"Confusing love and sex: how the care system creates a context for grooming and child prostitution"

nordicmodelnow.org/2021/03/20/confusing-love-and-sex-how-the-care-system-creates-a-context-for-grooming-and-child-prostitution/

"I conducted 250 interviews in 40 countries, interviewed 50 survivors of the sex trade, and almost all of them told me the same story: don’t believe the ‘happy hooker’ myth you see on TV. In almost every case it’s actually slavery."

www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-sex-worker-myth

I think it's not as simple as sex work = terrible / women being exploited. It' a lot more nuanced than that and there's a world of difference between a woman high on heroin giving a blow job for £20 and other forms of sex work.