More than one chance!
Young people involved in prostitution speak out
Julie Taylor-Browne
Artwork from Life Matters a unique arts initiative to develop and
celebrate the creative talents of young people supported by NCH.
For more information on Life Matters visit the webste at
www.nch.org.uk/lifematters.
ECPAT UK
The Stableyard, Broomgrove Road, London SW9 9TL
Telephone: 020 7501 8927
Fax: 020 7738 4110
www.ecpat.org.uk
Produced by NCH 11/2002. 5140
Acknowledgements
Contents
The research team would like to thank:
Foreword
ii
The Home Office for contributing funding for the research
and for this report;
Introduction
iii
How we became involved in prostitution
1
The Steering Group: Ann Collier (Home Office), Paul Ekblom
(Home Office), Helen Veitch and Carron Somerset (ECPAT
UK), Jacqui McCluskey (NCH), Tink Palmer (Barnardo’s),
Chris Atkinson (NSPCC), Jo Manning and Mark Lee (The
Children’s Society);
What it’s like
3
Why we stay
6
Some of our dreams…
8
What we need
10
All of the projects that put in a lot of time and effort into
helping us carry out the research;
Our messages
17
All of the interviewees for their time, their honesty and their
commitment;
Conclusion and Recommendations
22
A final word…
26
Julie Taylor-Browne, Anna Downie, Fiona Broadfoot, Lyndsey
Broadhead, Millie McKetty-Campbell. October 2002
This report is dedicated to the memory of Anne van Meeuwen.
About the author
Julie Taylor-Browne is the director of Kanzeon Consulting,
a specialist consultancy in sexual violence and child abuse.
Kanzeon Consulting works with the voluntary sector, local
government, statutory agencies and central government in
implementing effective strategies and multi-agency working
in this area.
Paul Taylor is a professional artist, lecturer and freelance
cartoonist. His cartoons are regularly used by the National
Anti-Vivisection Society (NAVS).
i
Foreword
Introduction
‘Everyone deserves more than one chance’, as quoted by one of the young
people interviewed in this research, is a call to listen to young people
involved in prostitution and to help create more of these ‘chances’.
This report outlines their views, in their own words. It is compelling
reading which inspires action. The stories are not dissimilar to those told
by young people involved in prostitution in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
ECPAT campaigns for the rights of these young people world-wide and
has worked with young people from Manila, Manhatten and Madagascar
who are campaigning for their own rights as ‘survivors’. How can those of
us in the UK who, however indirectly, work for these young people,
legitimately claim to do so if we are not involving young people in the
development of the very policy and practice that affects their lives?
ECPAT hopes that this research project will be the first step towards
facilitating the participation of children and young people abused through
prostitution in the decisions that affect their lives, so that they will have
both a voice and the means to create more ‘chances’ for their peers.
Helen Veitch
ECPAT UK (End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking)
This report is a result of a joint research project between ECPAT UK, The
Children’s Society, NSPCC, NCH, Barnardo’s, and supported by funding
from the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate.
The quotes in this report are from interviews carried out in 2001 with 47
young people from all over England who had been or are presently
involved in prostitution, and older women who had been involved in
prostitution when they were younger. We gained access to the sample
through specialist projects, most of them run by the children’s charities.
We used two youth researchers aged under 25 to interview the same age
group or younger. We wanted to know what had made these young people
so vulnerable to exploitation and also what their experiences were of the
various services they encountered. We also wanted to know how far young
people wanted to participate in telling agencies what they needed and
wanted. This report is laid out along the lines of the questions we asked
the young people; how they came to be involved in prostitution, the
problems they faced and their dreams, the pressures which stopped them
exiting, what they needed and their messages to government, to service
providers and to society. This report tells their stories in their words.
It is clear from this report that young people have plenty to say. Much of
it is very uncomfortable to hear, but if we are to improve services and to
offer genuine help not only do we have to listen, but we have to find new
ways to reach young people at risk and to keep asking.
The full report from this project can be accessed via: www.ecpat.org.uk
ii
iii
How we became involved in prostitution
…family problems
Belinda: My dad’s been dead nearly three years, me mum and step-dad
got together pretty fast, five months after me dad died and got married
five minutes after that and kicked me out so I’ve been out of me house
over two year.
Sinead: I don’t get on with my mum. I had a baby at 15 and Social
Services took her off me because my mum uses heroin. And I asked to
be put into foster care with my daughter, but they didn’t see me as fit
enough to look after her. So I don’t get on with my mum. I don’t see
my dad.
…arguments
Maggie: I ran away from home about six times, because of arguments at
home with me parents. I went to a friend and just stayed there. I wish it
had worked out at home because when I went to that friend’s house they
were on booze and that.
Elizabeth: Well, just one day I had no money, I had run away from home
actually and it was a weekend… and it was then I decided to do it. I were
11 then…
…abuse
Michelle: I would rather sleep on the streets than go back to my stepdad… he used to sexually assault me.
Eve: Before I left home I went through a really bad time and then I got
chucked out of my house and told to live with my dad but he was that
violent, he was a drug dealer and gave me all sorts of drugs and
everything.
1
How we became involved in prostitution
What it’s like
…friends
Hilary: I just ran away from home. Couldn’t sign on and you can’t get
a job at 13. I was sleeping here, there and everywhere, and one day
I bumped into this girl. I hardly knew her, got speaking to her, she took
me back to hers, we were having a laugh and a joke and I stayed there for
a couple of weeks and I couldn’t understand, I was hold on, she goes out
with no money and comes back with money! What’s happening here sort
of thing? Is she robbing somebody? Because I’d never heard of
prostitution.
Elizabeth: Well I’ve got a friend who I’d grown up with. It wasn’t her fault
but she was going out and she didn’t like going on her own, so I went
with her and I was only 11 then, but she didn’t want me to do anything,
just to be with her and then I just saw how easy it was and I just picked
it up and I knew what to do.
…drugs
Sinead: I was 18 when I met him, and he was just telling me to start with
the drugs, the heroin, have a little bit, and then I formed a heroin habit,
and he said to me you’ve got to start making money. So he put me on the
beat… every single day I was out on the beat, earning money for his crack,
his heroin and my heroin. That’s how it started, but he got violent.
Charlotte: I was only thirteen and he treated me like a queen. He told me
he loved me, he made me depend on him. He made me believe that if he
wanted to he could turn the sky black or he could make the sun shine or
he could make it rain, he could do anything for me at all and he made me
believe it. I made the mistake of telling him that I’d been abused, you
know, and that things were bad at home and stuff because he like he
reached into that and he drew it out of me and like pulled on strings.
2
Sylvie: I make about £130 a night, it all goes on drugs, and food. If I’m
lucky yeah, I’ve got a couple of quid left over for food.
Sinead: I didn’t get to keep any of the money, he used to just give me like
a £10 bag, a little bit of crack. He used to put me back on the beat at 4 or
5 o’clock in the morning after he’d spent all that money, I used to have to
go out 3 times a night, it was horrible. But I was too scared to say no to
him, he would have killed me, there were lots of knives involved and
everything so … I just kept doing it and doing it.
…sleeping rough
Penny: I was 14 or 15 I was using (drugs), but not like heavily. And the
house were full of people using and I was using crack too much and
when it came to call back time I couldn’t pay. So I thought about it long
and hard and I always felt sorry for those lasses out there and then I
thought I could do it and the first time I went out I was stood there for
about 5 minutes and came back in again because it was awful. And then
I went out again. I ended up going out about 3 times before I actually had
the bottle to get in a car.
Martine: I wanted the drugs and it were just, I’d gone out and done it
but after I’d had it, after I’d had me drugs I sat down and thought about
it and thought I can’t do this. But I still carried on. I said to myself it’s a
one off, I’ll do it once or twice and it just got worse and worse until I were
doing it every day.
…boyfriends and pimps
… I just kept doing it
and doing it
Natalie: After a while I started injecting so I started getting track marks
and then couldn’t work in flats and agencies anymore because they’d
notice the track marks. And I started working the street and three or four
months into working the street, I started staying in various different crack
houses and since then I’ve been homeless. I’m sleeping rough in a car at
the moment because the squat we were staying in, the council came and
boarded it up. I’ve been sleeping rough for about three years…
Jessica: I got evicted because, you know, when I got on the drugs I
wouldn’t answer the door to nobody, kept me doors closed, kept me
curtains closed. All these bills and forms were coming through me door…
Michelle: I’m staying in a flat with somebody, I’ve got to sort them out
with drugs because they’ve got a drugs habit. So I have to share my stuff
with them. And they take advantage, because they’ve got one over on you
because you’ve got nowhere to stay and when you’ve got nowhere to stay
they just take a loan of you.
…losing touch
Eve: Being involved in prostitution has affected my family; I’ve lost touch
with family and everything. My kids have gone into care…
Michelle: I don’t really do anything for fun; I sleep when I’m not working.
I don’t really think about it because I’m working all night and sleeping all
day. I don’t even eat.
Carole: When you’re on drugs you don’t speak to or see anybody other
than drug addicts, you haven’t got time. You lost contact with all the
friends you had. You’ve got loads of people you know and loads of
friends. They’re just all drug addicts. You’ve got a full time job just getting
your heroin.
3
What it’s like
…being scared
What it’s like
Sally: I got left in Epping Forest, hit over the head with a spanner and left
in that forest; I had another one rape me as well, that was actually in one
of the hotels…that messed my head up.
Charlotte: I decided to leave prostitution when I got attacked by a punter.
He raped me, he buggered me. Every pain that any man had ever done to
me all my life had been done to me in one night by him. He took away
every little confidence that I could ever possibly ever have. He gave me a
disease, he ruined me, he poisoned my insides, he almost prevented me
having children. He made me go through the humiliation of sitting in a
courtroom and telling the courtroom exactly what he did. Every little detail
I had to go through.
Belinda: You just close your eyes and think of something totally different.
You think of the money you are going to get afterwards and when you’re
going to go score. That’s all you think about and where your next bag’s
coming from, your next rock pile, whatever. You just think about that the
whole way through.
…health
Michelle: I used to be a barmaid; I used to work in a pub before I was on
drugs. I was quite a healthy person, proper job and everything. You
wouldn’t think it like, to look at me. Now I’m fucked up.
Natalie: Being involved in prostitution has made me go downhill rapidly
in the last 2 years. Since I’ve been on the street I’ve been in and out of
hospital, abscesses, infections, I nearly lost my leg, I’ve lost fingers.
It’s just basically got out of control, you know and I’m sat here today,
a real mess.
…self-esteem
Frances: I just think you lose your identity. You become a prostitute and
you no longer feel like a human being.
Elizabeth: It made me turn more to drugs, because that’s what I needed
because everybody knew what I was doing and to most people it was the
most disgusting thing to do….
Lorraine: Drugs and prostitution is one of the main reasons I don’t see
my family. I’m too ashamed really to go and see my family.
Sally: I lost contact with the friends who I had known for years. Instead
I kind of stuck around with a certain group who I didn’t have to explain
myself to really. Even when you go to a hairdresser’s it’s like they always
ask you ‘oh what do you do?’ It’s always that taboo, you know, you’re a
prostitute but you are living a lie too. Not something really to be proud
of, is it? Just in the last week I was at the market, I saw one of my best
friends in school. I was dying to shout but I couldn’t, I didn’t want to
because I was ashamed. If they don’t really know anything about drug
addiction they will just turn their nose up, that’s what I’m scared of…
…punters/abusers
Serena: They’ll say and how old are you? I say, like 16, oh I want a 13-yearold or a 12-year-old and they’ll go and they’ll get them and the girls will be
on the street crying. I mean some of them are really disgusting, …they all
make me feel sick.
Elizabeth: Some days weren’t so clever, you got men who I was scared of,
or they were drunk or some who wanted me to sit in the back seat and
pretend I was their daughter.
Jessica: With me regulars I were all right but when they were, you know,
just strangers. Ones that I’d just done once or twice or three times I were,
I were always shaking and nervous because it were, is this the one that’s
gonna kill me…
4
5
Why we stay
Why we stay
…friends and associates
Maggie: All my friends are involved in prostitution….
…way of life
Reese: At that time I thought it was the other people who were involved
in the same thing as me that were proper, true friends, but now I realise
that we were all in the same boat, nobody asked you any questions – why
are you doing this, why are you doing that – and everybody accepted each
other as we’re all on the same level, and now I realise we weren’t friends,
we were just working companions or smoking companions or drugs.
They were all involved in prostitution; I didn’t have a normal friendship
with anybody.
…drugs
Reese: It was all I knew and I thought it was right and it just became
a way of life, and I was petrified of leading a normal life.
Sinead: It’s changed my whole way of looking at life. I see myself as
a prostitute now, that’s what I do, because I’m so used to it, I’ve been
doing it for three years.
Lucy: Once you’ve worked all day you look how much money you’ve got
and you forget about it and you do it the next day and the next day and
then the next day….
Kerry: I made about a grand a week. I spent it all on drugs. And pills and
stuff like that, that’s it.
Michelle: I was saving it. I saved a lot of money to try and save enough
money to try and stop, and I’ve spent it all. I spent it all on drugs. Now
I’m working every night because I have to because of my habit. Before
I was just working about two nights a week and that. Now it’s like every
night, it’s horrible. Because I’ve always got to make sure my heroin’s
there for when I wake up.
Siobhan: It has just been the drugs that have kept me working. I have tried
to leave prostitution, but I just feel that I’m going round in a big bloody
circle. It’s hard, you know, trying to quit drugs and, like when you’ve got no
money and I’m bloody bad and dying on bloody deathbed type thing. And
it’s the easiest way to get money so you go stand out for twenty minutes,
half an hour, pick somebody up and collect twenty, thirty quid….
Pamela: Since I left home I’ve never had to ask anybody for anything and
I think it’s sort of like a habit. That if you’re short, you slap on some
lipstick, do your hair, and out you go, as long as you’ve got your train fare
to wherever you want to go you can come back with money.
….no choice
Carole: I don’t enjoy working. I just like the money and I can’t do
anything else.
Maggie: I stopped going to school three years ago, because I was doing
prostitution. I haven’t got any qualifications.
Donna: I just left (school) because of my boyfriend; I wanted to be with him
all the time really. I was only young and silly really. I wish I’d never left.
...pimps/coercers
Frances: For my second pimp there was no way I could finish work
without having at least two hundred pounds every day. I got cigarettes
and condoms and nothing else. I didn’t have a penny of it. He chose my
clothes, he chose my knickers, he chose my food, he told me when to eat,
when to sleep, when to work, when to go home, when to speak. I just
could not do anything without his permission.
Sally: I was just totally battered and that mental torture he put me
through I was scared of him, I was totally scared of him and it’s from that
I used to stand there day and night, wouldn’t dare talk to nobody, just
made the money, gave him money.
Lucy: It’s the way I was battered, cooped up in a flat like an animal, I was
lonely. I did try to leave him but he’d beat me before when I tried to, you
know, finish it. So….
6
7
Some of our dreams…
Some of our dreams…
Pamela: I’m doing an Art course at the moment. Hopefully, my youngest
goes to nursery school in September and the September after – I want to
start college full time. My main ambition was always to do accountancy
and bookkeeping…
Joanne: I want to be bringing up my baby to be a lot happier than I was
and to have the life I didn’t. Work wise I don’t know, I’m doing stuff with
this advocacy at the minute, I’ve done a course and so hopefully I could
be carrying that through. They keep trying to get me to volunteer here, (at
the support project) so you never know.
Siobhan: My dreams? Just to be happy and content I think. Even if you
haven’t got the material things as long as you’re happy and content that’s
the main thing.
Martin: I mainly want to go into immunology. I’ve got a long way to go
but my initial degree should take three years, a one year Master’s and
three year PhD after that.
Martine: I’d like to be a professional hairdresser with me own shop and
I’ve forgotten all about drugs, about working on the streets.
Serena: Me and me boyfriend have got a diploma in pub management so
I’d love to have our own pub and run that. I’d love to have kids. I don’t
think I can though… because I was taking drugs and that…
Cherie: I’d like to be doing elderly care work working in a nursing home.
Sally: I want a career, well hopefully I’m aiming for a career, just to be
happy, to be happy with my son having a good education, growing up
nice, and that’s all, money isn’t important. I would be able to have a nice
permanent job and to settle down basically. I’ve always fancied being a vet
for some reason.
Donna: I’d like to be working with kids. That’s what I studied in college,
nursery nurse, childcare, yeah, one day.
Natalie: I’d just like a key to me own front door, just reality you know, just
normal things, like going to jumble sales, perhaps some little part time
job you know. It’s all I ever dream of at times….the key to the front door
so I can go in, chuck myself on the settee, put the telly on, just close out
the world outside.
Abby: When I get off the methadone, I’m going to save some money up
and just go abroad, I’ve never had a holiday, I’ve never been nowhere.
Then come back home and go to college. I want to be a counsellor or a
social worker. I want to help people who have been in my situation. It is
good to know that someone does care, because you do feel on your own.
I want to be able to sit in that room and they know that when I leave I’ll
be thinking, right let me help her and I won’t go out and forget about her
and move onto the next person.
Sinead: I want to be off drugs, have a job and a nice house. I’ve always
wanted to be a nurse. A proper job. Support for my daughter’s education
and my own nice house, my own nice car and probably another kid
or two.
8
9
What we need
What we need
…someone to turn to
Charlotte: Well, just having somebody there would have helped me to
leave, somebody to help me get out and put me somewhere safe and
could prevent it happening, you know, where nobody would know me,
where I could start a new life, you know, get my life back on track and
that. There never was anybody there.
…education, training and
careers advice
Elizabeth: When I got to 15 or 16 they started doing home tutoring here at
the project.
Abby: The Risky Business project doesn’t judge me and there’s a place for
me and I know that no matter what I say it won’t go no further. We can all
sit together and talk and we can all do things, it’s really good. It is very
good to know that somebody is there for you.
…non-judgmental support
and friendship
Hilary: It was the friendly atmosphere, it was the way Carol approached
you, with a don’t care attitude. In other words, just because you take
drugs, just because you drink, just because you do prostitution for a living
you are still a human being. You’d get a big hug when you’d walk in which
is what some of those girls out there have never had, somebody that
really cares, not somebody that says I love you and do this for me and do
that, somebody that they know really, really cares.
Penny: They don’t say "well you shouldn’t be doing that", it’s none of that
you know. They listen to you and try and help and see different ways of
looking at things and everything. And they are right chuffed if you succeed
as well. Genuine as well.
10
Martine: I go to college three days a week and I go to school two days a
week. Where I am now it’s not so bad because there are girls there that
have been through the same as me and they know how I feel.
Hilary: Where they’re going right with the Protect (project) is they are
showing the young girls they are capable of something else – not just
standing on a street corner. I can write now which I’ve never been able to
do before because somebody came in to teach us English and Maths.
There was a homework group and I do computers, self-defence groups,
aromatherapy, you name it, if you want to learn then Protect will get
people in to learn you from the colleges, the local colleges.
…alternatives
Sally: It’s difficult to leave because of the money, and I think sometimes
because you go around with girls who work. I’ve had friends who’ve come
out of it, but like you still hang around with that circle sometimes and like
you hear them say oh so and so did it and you think oh I’ll go back there.
When you stop you have to move away, do something different because
you just get trapped back into it again.
Miranda: I went on quite a few like trips out, I went out camping a lot,
I did Duke of Edinburgh award while I was still involved in prostitution,
through Streetreach. I stomped about in sheep shit for fifteen miles. Got
blisters on my feet. Nightmare!
11
What we need
What we need
Carole: These people don’t come off drugs and away from prostitution
because they’ve nothing else to swap it for. You’ve got to give them
something to swap. But, if somebody’s not got anything else to go to, not
even a roof to put over their head at the end of the night. When the
injection in your arm is the only thing that’s gonna make you sleep when
you’re out in the cold and the snow when you’re sleeping rough, why are
you gonna give up?
…safe accommodation
and protection
Sylvie: A big improvement is needed with the housing. Especially for the
young girls. I mean there are so many young girls out there, really young.
I mean some of them are only 17 and 16 out there, I mean I know I’m
only 23 but to see those 16 year olds. Standing on the corner you’d tell
them if you’ve got nowhere to sleep, she sleeps on the corner and then
she ends up getting taken over by some drug dealer.
Hilary: We’ve had a couple that were as young as 12. They’re meeting
them outside kids’ homes and I’ve been in a kids’ home and from the
time somebody says to you “Yes, meet me, I’ll give you a lift, I’ll take you
somewhere where you haven’t got to go back there”, you aren’t going to
say to the person “well what kind of a man are you?” You’re jumping in
that car, anything to get away from that place.
Donna: I left my boyfriend and went to Southend to stay with my brother.
I got off the drugs. My boyfriend found out where I was and he came to
my brother’s house and kicked down the door. And put me back on them,
back on drugs.
Charlotte: I was fifteen. I made statements and everything, but I just kept
getting threatened. Threatened by him, threatened by his friends. Words
constantly going in my head – if you tell anyone you’re going to die. I
didn’t have nowhere at all where I felt safe…nobody was there, nobody at
all. Like when it started happening and stuff and the coppers told my
mum and dad, “Oh, it’s a no-go area and this, that and the other, we
can’t go in to get her. If we see her we can pick her up but we are not
going to put our own lives at risk by going in there to get her.”
Michelle: Housing (services)… They won’t listen to you, they just like to
give you night shelter and that’s no good because we work all night
anyway and night shelter… You have to leave it in the morning.
12
13
What we need
…counselling
What we need
Reese: At that time I thought it was all alright, I didn’t realise that it was
doing any wrong and that they were taking advantage. I thought well at
least somebody wants me for at least five or ten minutes and I felt all
right about it, but then afterwards I realised that it was wrong and that
they just used and abused me and emotionally, psychologically and
physically it’s changed me completely…ruined my life.
…ongoing support and
aftercare
Frances: I found it very difficult to change my life, because of the damage
that had been done to me. It was very hard to like myself again, it was
very hard to stop the nightmares and the flashbacks. Because when you
are told for years that you’re shit and you’re beaten and you’re abused
you don’t feel like you’re worthy, it takes your soul. Fortunately I’ve had
good therapy, I’ve had good support and I’ve been able to work through
that. I had to go out and bang on doors for it, I had to go to my doctor
and literally beg to go for counselling, I didn’t get it easily.
…targeted drugs services
Reese: Being involved in prostitution has affected my life, it’s
psychologically and physically scarred me, but you have to put that
behind you and get on with your life and make the best of what you’ve
got. Sometimes I think that I’m strong and sometimes I think that I’m
not, but there just isn’t enough room in my life any more for working or
for taking drugs. I still go to Genesis now and have counselling…
Genesis now is more a social thing rather than coming to go to clinic or
helping you get away from a pimp or going to drug clinic places, it’s
more social, you know, I’ll have a coffee or something, you’ve built up
that friendship and that trust between you.
Nelly: I’ve been coming to Streetreach now for like about seven years,
something like that and I think I’ll probably still come until they offer
me a job here!
Kerry: They don’t do nothing with you. They just give you loads of
appointments and they know that you can’t keep them because of your
lifestyle so how can you keep them?
Zara: It seems like you know when I go and get me script, they just give
me my script and until the next time you go there is no support there.
You know, it seems really weird, you just go and get your script, there’s no
support there, there’s nobody…
Abby: Drugs services didn’t help at all. They told me that if I wanted detox
then I would have to wait 10-12 weeks for a key worker and it were like I’ll
be a full blown smackhead by then. I’d have robbed everything that
walked.
Jessica: I finally managed to leave prostitution after me detox. Even
though I were only on it 11 months I used to cry near enough every night
thinking dear God I wish I could get off it. I wish I could get off it…
…joined-up help
Jessica: Everybody deserves more than one chance at the end of the day.
It’s not their fault that they’re into drugs and they come off it and they
get dragged back into it, it’s not that easy. They need help to get off of it
and stay off of it. Because you’re all right – you’re coming off it and
then they just throw you into the world and you’ve got all these
problems, all these debts.
Natalie: I think they should sort of have initiatives just like for working
girls. They should try and house us to get us off the street, because the
quicker we’re off the street the less we are going to be working. Because
I’ve got nowhere to go and nowhere to stay I just keep working. There
should be more detox services that would be quicker to get in because
it’s difficult. I think they should have a special unit for working girls like
me, where they offer assistance with housing, benefits, sexual health.
14
15
What we need
Our messages
Cherie: They’re really good with you here (support project). It’s a
residential this weekend, which will keep me off the streets and will keep
me off the drugs – things like that. The SECOS workers, yesterday when I
moved in to this place she actually took me shopping and bought stuff
for me. They’re lovely; they’re dead helpful. I can talk to them about
anything you want. They provide everything. If they can’t, they’ll find
someone that does.
…we deserve a chance
Sally: It was very hard to change my life and give up prostitution.
It took years, years and years.
Bryony: If this project wasn’t here I don’t know where I’d be today.
I reckon if it weren’t here I’d still be doing it…
Hilary: One thing I would love to see and that’s more people opening
their eyes, and not just looking at a working girl and going, yuch! filth,
turn a blind eye. Give that girl a chance, talk to that girl. Forget that word,
forget that filth, give the person who’s doing it a chance. Doesn’t matter
what chance you’re giving them, whether it be work, whether it be college,
whether it’s back at school, give that person a chance without the
sarcasm and that will make a difference.
Martine: Streetreach? It’s a real good place, I mean. It’s a place where you
can come to get summat to eat, you can talk to people if you’ve got stuff
on your mind. You can get a shower and stuff like that. You can get clean
needles and that saves you from having to share.
Reese: Leading the life that I lived before when I was working on the
streets and taking drugs and losing custody of my kids. I lost touch with
my family and I burned all those bridges. Now I have rebuilt all that trust
and bit by bit all my family, my cousins and everything, have come back
and seen how much progress I’ve made and they’ve commented and it’s
felt really nice that I’ve got them back and I thought I’d never have it back,
and now that I’ve got it back it’s good.
…listen to us
Joanne: I think they need to sort their attitudes out and try and be more
understanding, just like to have a bit more respect and give people time
so they can talk. If the police come in like they do, rushing in with their
attitudes, the girls won’t sit down and talk to them. But if they gave the
girls a bit more time to help them then maybe they’d do a lot better.
Serena: They never used to say do you wanna go in a kid’s home or owt?
They just used to put us in it and we had to do it, we had no choice. And
that’s why I used to be so rebellious and that, because, if they’d sat us
down and said, do you want to do this, and they’d found out what we
wanted, but they didn’t, and they just used to put us places and do things
with us. And, they go about it all wrong, they do.
Eve: I just used to wish someone would take me under their wing.
I contacted Social Services and I tried to get them to help but they just
took me straight home. I don’t think they really listen anyway.
16
17
Our messages
…we can help
Our messages
Charlotte: I do a lot of work for Bradford Health Promotion Unit. I do
talks to schoolteachers and nurses and around what’s happened to me. I
also do a lot of peer education work for sixteen year olds and go to
schools.
…changes in policy and
practice
Jessica: We should be part of the decision-making. We’re certainly capable
of doing that but I think society tends to think you lose your brains or
something when you become a prostitute.
Eve: Well, it’s the drug bit first you’ve got to solve, isn’t it, because that’s
the reason why most of the girls are out there working. They’re on drugs.
You’ve got to get rid of the dealers, stop them from taking the drugs and
that will stop them from working because they are all addicts out there.
Miranda: I think they are all a bunch of dirty bastards who should know
better. Nine out of ten of them were married; probably eight out of ten
had got kids. I think it’s wrong. My views are a lot stronger now. I do feel
that it is wrong that they are going picking young girls up, especially the
ones that want really young ones. I’ve actually reported two people to the
police and one of them is coming up in court soon.
Miranda: I think a youth panel is a really good thing because what young
adults want and older adults want are two different things. I think that
they should be able to help young people through arts and crafts, as well,
because I know from my own experience I find it hard to talk to people,
but I find it easier to write it.
Jane: I have noticed in the evening, it’s always girls they (the police) go
for and not the punters, it’s just not fair. I think they should be watching
over the prostitutes cause there are some funny men out there.
Abby: I would talk to other young people – that would be ace. I know that
I’m not the only one. It would be good to see that someone else has gone
through it. It’s a winner. I can do it.
...the law
Charlotte: I’ve had no support from the police, like when I was involved
with my pimp and when he took me away from home. I feel, you know,
still to this day that they just left me there; they left me to suffer that fate.
If maybe they’d just supported rather than making me out to be a
criminal and locking me up for something that I didn’t even want to do
anyway… Why didn’t they help me, you know, why didn’t they do
something about it there and then?
Frances: I do think that definitely never legalise it because it’s an abuse of
women and children. There’s nothing nice, nothing empowering, nothing
glamorous about prostitution, it destroys you, it destroys your soul, it’s
an awful way of life. I’ve met lots and lots of women while I worked as a
prostitute and since I’ve left prostitution because of the support that I do
and never once have I met a confident, happy, contented hooker, I’ve just
met very devastated and damaged people and drug-addicted people. And
people get out and can rebuild their lives, you know, and be happy, but
when you’re in it it’s a very sad and lonely world.
18
19
Our messages
…prevention
Our messages
Miranda: I don’t think it should be legalised, but I think it should be
decriminalised and made safer. The other thing is they need to look in
to social services and the Children’s Act because it is well out of date,
it is twelve years out of date and things have changed a hell of a lot. And
I think they should stop it happening to other people what’s happened
to me.
Charlotte: I’ve been convicted for prostitution, I can never be a social worker
and I can’t do any work with children under five. I have to declare my
convictions for prostitution. I don’t see why anybody else should have to
know about me being a prostitute or my convictions for prostitution, why
should they? It’s nothing to do with them; it’s my business.
…more resources needed for
specialist projects
Eve: I think there should be more centres like Streetreach helping us, you
know, to go out, giving out condoms and stuff like that, making it safer. I
think that’s the main thing for the government, it happens, you can’t stop
it from happening, so just to do things to make it safer.
Abby: The Risky Business Project have to come out, they do outreach
don’t they. It would be nice to have a building so everyone can all sit there
and see each other and have a laugh.
Belinda: I think they should fund it more for places like this. I mean they
could do this place up properly, you know what I mean? Get one room for
computers and that with the Internet and everything. That would really help.
Carole: Somebody (is needed) that goes in and says "I stole from my
mother, I beat my own mother up, I beat my girlfriend, I took my
children’s piggy bank money. That is what drugs do to you". That’s what
they need. It needs to be hard-core. I’ve seen loads of stuff like drama
that they’ve been doing since I was a child and did it stop anybody? I was
taking drugs at twelve. They didn’t give me a drugs talk at school until I
was thirteen. It’s far too late sometimes. A lot of these kids now are
picking up their first drink when they’re twelve, ten. There’s kids of my
kid’s age with joints in their hands now, they’re smoking at seven and
eight because they’re picking the stumps up out of the bloody ashtray or
pinching the parents’. It’s all about going to these children before they
start, not afterwards. And, instead of somebody in a nice suit and tie that
goes in and says, right, these are drugs, these are bad. Send in one of the
ex-druggies to tell them what it did to them. Send somebody in that’s only
got one leg because they injected into the groin for so long they had to
have their leg amputated.
Charlotte: Get people who it’s happened to. They are not victims – they
are survivors of this. Send a message out there to other people that it
happens. We need to educate and train people on the issues around
prostitution and under-age prostitution, sexual abuse that goes on in
families and the fact that men can actually take young girls away from
their families and groom them to be prostitutes and women who are sold
for sex. It can be so damaging, it can affect you in so many ways that it
needs to be addressed with the issues, everything needs to be talked
about openly, you know, issues on sexual health has to include stuff
around prostitution.
Hilary: You’ve got to do something about the drugs because that is the
baseline now… And that’s why the police have got no proof when a guy is
putting a girl at work. Before they had the physical bruises constantly,
nowadays they don’t need to give them bruises. It’s getting them into a
habit. The girls think they’re going out for the habit that they’ve got. Half
the money that they do doesn’t buy a quarter of what they get but
because they’re so hooked now they don’t see that, so when they come
and say lock him up, look what he’s doing to you, “but he’s not, I’ve got
to go out there for my habit”. They can’t see the true reason why they are
out there, because they’re one step ahead all the time.
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21
Conclusion and Recommendations
Conclusion and Recommendations
Those interviewed for this report, along with many other young people,
clearly had or still have multiple challenges that need to be met before
they are able to escape from sexual exploitation and find a safer, healthier
and happier way to live. Statutory agencies, it appears, are failing to meet
these needs. In this study, young people report that not only are agencies
dealing with only part of the problems, they are failing to make
appropriate referrals, to follow up on the outcome of their actions and to
provide any ongoing support and advice. More alarming still is that a
clear pattern emerges from the interviews that should have triggered
effective early intervention and help. Truanting and running away from
home are both signs that a young person is at risk and in need of help.
Furthermore these indicators and the young people themselves are
frequently known to the statutory agencies, which ought to enable
referrals and positive interventions to take place. This report shows that:
•
•
•
Policies need to be developed and resourced at government level by
the Department for Education Skills (DfES), Department of Health
(DoH) and Home Office, which then need to be implemented and
monitored at a national level by the Association of Chief Police Officers
(ACPO) and the Association of Directors of Social Services (ADSS).
At a local level Area Child Protection Committees (ACPCs) have the
responsibility for ensuring and monitoring that appropriate services are
available, accessible and accessed. ACPCs need to ensure that specific,
and effective, multi-agency teams are set up to address child sexual
exploitation in areas where it is a problem. The issue and the ways set
up to address it, needs to be included in Children Service Plans.
The voluntary sector plays a key role in accessing and facilitating
young people in accessing statutory service. This role needs to be
recognised and funded by the statutory sector.
The young people and older women we interviewed for this report
identified the following priorities:
Prevention and education
Many of those interviewed for this study, believe that prevention work
around drugs and prostitution is the key. They want to be involved in
prevention activities and to tell vulnerable young people about the risks
and the realities. Peer education has been judged to be an effective
medium for delivering this message. Some of this work can be delivered
through PHSE classes, other target groups are young people in the looked
after system, in youth clubs, through voluntary sector projects and
through mentoring schemes.
Early intervention
There is a strong link between running away and sexual exploitation,
whether as a means of survival (for food or accommodation) or through
coercion by adults or peers. It is essential for agencies to work together
by targeting services and identifying vulnerable children through running
away behaviour. There should be a network of services for children who
run away, which includes:
•
a systematic and recorded interview to assess the reasons
for running away;
•
•
•
•
mediation services;
family group work;
respite care; and
a strategic response to those running from the local authority looked
after system.
Early intervention through schools is key to identifying and tackling
this problem. There must be a rigorous investigation into the underlying
causes of truancy and exclusion, followed by multi-agency work to
re-integrate young people into the education system. More resources need
to be put into identifying and convicting the abusers/pimps /punters.
Key agencies: police, social services, schools, education welfare officers, local
voluntary sector projects.
Multi-agency working is really important to prevent children falling
through the net. Police and social services need to develop joint
strategies alongside education, health and the voluntary sector to provide
a dedicated response and service to children at risk. In order for there
to be early identification and intervention there should be training and
awareness raising amongst relevant agencies. This can be delivered by
a combination of voluntary sector projects working in this area, young
people themselves or those who are older and have exited. Part of this
should address the need to listen to children’s views – even when they
are still very young they still have a voice that needs to be heard. Many
of those interviewed for this project felt that they were not listened to
or taken seriously.
Key agencies: ACPCs, schools, police, social services, drug services, Primary
Care Trusts (PCTs), housing departments, Registered Social Landlords (RSLs),
probation services, voluntary sector agencies.
Key agencies: local education authorities, schools, the youth service, local
voluntary sector agencies, ConneXions.
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23
Conclusion and Recommendations
Conclusion and Recommendations
Drug services
Consistent with other research, this report has also identified the
prevalence of serious drug addiction in this group of young people. Ideas
suggested by the respondents and the steering group include:
•
•
there needs to be a specialised fast track drug service;
•
provision needs to be made for child care to enable this group to be
able to tackle their drug addictions;
•
there is a need for flexible services – these young people often have
a chaotic lifestyle, and may not be able to attend clinics and
appointments as currently set up;
•
specialist accommodation is required which takes into account drug
addiction problems;
•
resources desperately need to be allocated to this area.
residential drug rehabilitation services need to support young people
– currently only one place in the country takes those aged under 16;
Key agencies: PCTs, ACPCs, voluntary sector services.
Support for exiting and recovery
The respondents in this study revealed to us the extent of the problems
they had to overcome to exit prostitution and stay out of it. These include:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
financial difficulties;
•
•
lack of family support; and,
drug addiction;
single parenthood;
lack of qualifications and training;
housing problems;
existing social networks;
address some of these difficulties. In addition, they offer advocacy and
access to a number of statutory and private sector agencies that can help
address the other problems suffered by the young people. Key
opportunities offered by these projects have included fun activities such
as social outings, Duke of Edinburgh schemes, voluntary work, education
and training and other areas aimed at the reintegration of the young
person from a marginal to more mainstream way of life. However, many
of these services have very limited resources and accommodation and are
only able to open at very specific times. It is imperative that the work of
these services, which perform a key role in engaging young people and
brokering their access to services while offering emotional support, is
recognised. Many of the young people felt unable to exit prostitution until
they found someone supportive to turn to. They need safe, alternative
accommodation, and support in managing the transitions they face as
they get off drugs and try to re-enter a normal way of life.
Key agencies: voluntary sector services, ConneXions, police, mental health
services, social services, employment services, Benefits Agency, housing services
and RSLs, Citizens Advice Bureau, education services.
Strategic development and delivery of services involving
young people
The final key area is the setting up of implementation and monitoring
fora. The experience of this research is that young people are able and
willing to participate in the design and delivery of these services. If set up
correctly, participation could both empower and enhance the skills of
young people and offer a genuine way forward out of a life where they
have been unheard, disempowered and marginalized. The young people
involved also expressed their willingness to participate in a campaign to
draw attention to some of the issues in this report.
Key agencies: ACPCs, and all agencies mentioned above.
criminal convictions that prevented them taking on relatively
low skilled work such as childcare;
abusive partners/pimps/boyfriends.
On top of these difficulties, young people are also likely to be suffering
from extreme low self-esteem, depression and other mental health
problems, rooted in difficult childhoods and the abuse suffered
through prostitution.
This report has shown the key role that voluntary sector projects are able
to play in offering non-judgmental friendship and support that can
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25
A final word…
A final word…
The author, the steering group and the researchers for this report all hope
that this document can make a difference in some way. They were all
impressed by the courage, humour and determination of the people
interviewed, many of whom were in very difficult situations. Helping
young people to escape from prostitution can be a difficult task, but,
undoubtedly, it can be done as many have testified to us. A combination
of appropriate services, non-judgmental support and encouragement and
a willingness to listen can all combine to give young people a chance to
make the huge changes needed in their lives.
A huge thank you to all those quoted in this report, and apologies to
everyone else we weren’t able to fit in! (Names have been changed).
26
Abby,
involved in prostitution at 18,
interviewed when 20;
Belinda,
involved in prostitution at 15,
interviewed when 16;
Bryony,
involved in prostitution at 14,
interviewed when 21;
Carole,
involved in prostitution at 20,
interviewed when 27;
Charlotte,
involved in prostitution at 13,
interviewed when 23;
Cherie,
involved in prostitution at 16,
interviewed when 17;
Donna,
involved in prostitution at 21,
interviewed when 23;
Elizabeth,
involved in prostitution at 11,
interviewed when 20;
Eve,
involved in prostitution at 13,
interviewed when 24;
Frances,
involved in prostitution at 14,
interviewed when 32;
Hilary,
involved in prostitution at 13,
interviewed when 38;
Jane,
involved in prostitution at 18,
interviewed when 24;
Jessica,
involved in prostitution at 20,
interviewed when 24;
Joanne,
involved in prostitution at 14,
interviewed when 20;
Kerry,
involved in prostitution at 12,
interviewed when 21;
Lorraine,
involved in prostitution at 14,
interviewed when 22;
Lucy,
involved in prostitution at 16,
interviewed when 18;
Maggie,
involved in prostitution at 13,
interviewed when 17;
Martin,
involved in prostitution at 16,
interviewed when 20;
Martine,
involved in prostitution at 14,
interviewed when 15;
Michelle,
involved in prostitution at 13,
interviewed when 21;
Miranda,
involved in prostitution at 15,
interviewed when 20;
Natalie,
involved in prostitution at 21,
interviewed when 24;
Nelly,
involved in prostitution at 14,
interviewed when 29;
Pamela,
involved in prostitution at 15,
interviewed when 32;
Penny,
involved in prostitution at 15,
interviewed when 28;
Reese,
involved in prostitution at 14,
interviewed when 27;
Sally,
involved in prostitution at 18,
interviewed when 32;
Serena,
involved in prostitution at 14,
interviewed when 19;
Sinead,
involved in prostitution at 18,
interviewed when 21;
Sylvie,
involved in prostitution at 19,
interviewed when 21;
Zara,
involved in prostitution at 17,
interviewed when 24.
27