Safer sex work
As more people turn to sex work amid a cost-of-living crisis, what can be done to make the industry safer? Cosmopolitan heads to the area that thought it had a solution, to find out…
It could be any neighbourhood, anywhere. Kids whizz past blocks of flats and new-build homes on bikes and scooters. Teenagers vape in the underpass and mums chat outside the newsagents. But as daylight fades and I head towards the local community centre, housed in an old church, things begin to feel a little different.
I can sense the tension, the aftermath of the past few years. This neighbourhood, Holbeck in Leeds, is home to a local council experiment. In 2014, it ‘legalised’ street sex work between certain hours, initially just for a year-long pilot. It was deemed such a success by the authorities and the Safer Leeds partnership bodies that it was allowed to continue. But almost seven years later, the scheme was stopped. What happened? Can we learn anything from Holbeck about making sex work safer at a time when more people than ever are entering the industry? And what do those who work in the industry think the solution is? I went to Leeds (and beyond) to find out…
‘It’s getting rougher and rougher. There are fewer clients, and those left try to haggle me down on price. I’m having to say yes to requests – and people – that were on my “never” list…’
I’m speaking to Ellen* who, 15 years ago – after moving to London from south-east Asia – replied to an escort-agency advert in the paper. Her main motivation, she says, was always money and, later, flexible hours to suit her children, something that until recently her work in a brothel provided. But the cost of living crisis has had a big impact on Ellen, like most others in the sex-work industry. ‘People’s boundaries are getting pushed. If there’s a lack of resource, what you’re willing to do for money shifts,’ say Maedb and Carmen, co-founders of Sexsquisite Events, a sex worker-led arts company. They explain a shrinking client pool, alongside more people entering (or re-entering) sex work, has created a perfect storm – leaving those on the inside worried for the future.
One stat suggests there are 72,800 sex workers in the UK†, but because many operate secretly, it’s impossible to know. And while there are generally two commonly depicted stereotypes (an addict on a street corner, or the ‘happy hooker’), in reality, there are endless stories in between. The term ‘sex worker’ (coined in the 70s) can cover those who strip, make sexual content or who offer full-service in-person sex (indoors or out), among other work. Not everyone likes the term, though, with some debate surrounding its use. According to the English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP), 88% of those who sell sex are women. Most are mothers and t
