Researchers Melissa Farley PhD and Howard Barkan DrPH interviewed one hundred and thirty sex workers in America, to understand the extent of violence and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) involved in prostitution. The results were harrowing:
- 83% had been threatened with a weapon
- 82% had been physically assaulted
- 68% had been raped while working in prostitution
- Of this 68%, 48% reported being raped more than 5 times
Currently in the UK, there are approximately 72,800 sex workers, of which 88% are women. These women are vulnerable to physical and sexual assault and will remain so while the stigma and confusion surrounds the trade.
The law
In England and Wales, the laws regarding ‘prostitution’ are anything but straight-forward. There is a common misconception that it is an illegal activity, however, the act of working for sex is not actually illegal – rather it is the acts around prostitution where the crimes are committed. Under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, it is an offence to cause or incite prostitution or attempt to control it for a personal gain. Soliciting sex on the street and ‘curb-crawling’ is illegal and the Sexual Offences Act 1956 also bans the running of a brothel.
Decriminalisation
Sex work is regularly described as “the world’s oldest profession” and campaigners have long been trying to decriminalise the act to provide as much safety as possible to the individuals partaking in it.
Leeds is home to the UK’s first ‘legal’ red light district. Set up in October 2014, the aim of the regulated area was to help provide support to sex workers. Superintendent Sam Millar, head of the Safer Leeds community partnership explained, “Sex work is high risk and that is not something that we should ignore. Having gone through years and years of enforcement, which hasn’t achieved the outcomes of breaking the cycle of sex work, we wanted to do something different which might help us better achieve those outcomes, to be brave and take some risks.”
West Yorkshire Police claim that sex workers now feel more inclined to report any crimes committed against them due to the new found trust established as a result of this move. In 2015, two men were found guilty of rape and jailed thanks to the victims feeling more comfortable in coming forward and disclosing the crimes to the police.
Sex workers say they are being left more vulnerable to attack because of laws that make it illegal for groups to share premises for safety and that they feel unable to report abuse. One sex worker spoke to the Victoria Derbyshire program regarding this. Suzanne (not her real name) said that the law around keeping a brother acts as an incentive for women to work on their own so that they can look to avoid prosecution.
As a result, they are left more susceptible to attacks. Suzanne stated that despite the potential threat of criminal activity, she will continue to work in a brother for her safety, “I would rather be prosecuted, than die”.
Research carried out by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found that sex workers who suffered from repressive policing were three times more likely to experience sexual or physical violence from a client and were twice as likely to have HIV or another sexually transmitted infection as those who lived in countries where sex work was tolerated.
Several high-profile individuals have also backed the calls to decriminalise sex work, such as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. When asked for his opinion, he said: “I am in favour of decriminalising the sex industry. I don’t want people to be criminalised. I want to be [in] a society where we don’t automatically criminalise people. Let’s do things a bit differently and in a bit more civilised way.”
Niki Adams, from campaign group The English Collective of Prostitutes, says that the above issues are heard on a consistent basis. “Women know that by going into sex work you’re taking a risk because there is a lot of violence, [but] at every turn our efforts to keep safe are sabotaged by the law. We have heard of many, many situations where women come forward to report violence and instead of the attackers being pursued and prosecuted by the police, sex workers get prosecuted instead. That is appalling because when that happens it’s a big deterrent for women to come forward and report violence.”
Criminal Injury Compensation Authority (CICA)
The CICA is a government-funded authority which aims to provide compensation to blameless victims of violent crimes which have been reported to the police. They have a specific section of their scheme which offers compensation for survivors of sexual assault. This includes anything from non-penetrative sexual physical act(s) to non-consensual penile penetration with awards ranging from £1,000 to £44,000 depending on the severity of the act.
The CICA also provide additional payments for claims involving sexual violence. These include the transmission of a sexually transmitted infection, pregnancy and the loss of a foetus.
When applying for compensation for crimes of sexual violence, the CICA presents a service which allows them to settle your claim quickly and with the least intrusion as possible. By utilising the scheme that they have created, they can use fixed payments based on the nature of the assault. This will not take any psychological damage or additional physical injuries into account.
If this service is chosen, the CICA will:
- Check your eligibility and ask the police to send them a report of the crime
- Write with a decision
- Not need to obtain, access or examine any of your medical records
The CICA advises that they can complete this process in around 8 weeks.
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Researchers Melissa Farley PhD and Howard Barkan DrPH interviewed one hundred and thirty sex workers in America, to understand the extent of violence and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) involved in prostitution. The results were harrowing: 83% had been threatened with a weapon 82% had been physically assaulted 68% had been raped while working in prostitution…
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