Prostitution is violence against women
In 2004 the Home Office carried out a consultation on street prostitution called "Paying The Price". An equivalent consultation was carried out in Scotland called "Being Outside".
"Paying The Price" reported that:
- 70% of those in street prostitution began as children or teenagers
- 85% reported physical abuse in their family
- 45% reported sexual abuse in their family
- 70% spent time in Local Authority care while children
However, people involved in prostitution come from all backgrounds, classes, races and families. Most women entered prostitution as teenagers or young women, many of them groomed by pimps and stolen from families and/or friends who love and care for them. A new working group has been set up at the Human Trafficking Centre in Sheffield to tackle the grooming and internal trafficking of children and young people.
|
"I began working as a prostitute for the money. I enjoyed the money, but I hated the men. I did not stop prostitution, because I wanted to remain independent. But I wanted to stop it, because I did not like it. After the rape I wanted to quit working, but it was my only income and the only way I knew how to make money."
Emma Humphreys. (1967 - 1998)
Writer, poet, campaigner |
Women want OUT of prostitution
In a survey with people in prostitution in 5 countries, 92% stated that they wanted to escape prostitution immediately (Farley, Baral, Kiremire, Sezgin, (1998)
Prostitution can NEVER be safe
Canadian studies show that women and girls in prostitution face a homicide rate 40 times higher than the national average (Special Committee on Pornography & Prostitution, 1985) |
Prostitution affects all women in that it encourages men to feel entitled to sexual access to women generally and to feel superior to women (Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 2000, Cotton, Farley & Baron). Prostitution therefore contributes to rape, domestic violence and sexual harassment generally.