Glasgow’s approach
to Prostitution and
Trafficking
Ann Hamilton
General Manager
Comprehensive view
Violence against women
 Link with other forms of exploitation
– Indoor prostitution
– Pornography/sex shops
– Table dancing
– Trafficking
 National and international context

Council’s approach to
prostitution
Social inclusion/equality issue
 Concern for women, families and
communities
 Strategic
 Long term programme of action
 Resource allocation
 Commitment to challenging attitudes
 Optimistic, enlightened and ambitious

Impact on women
 Physical
harm
 Emotional and psychological harm
 Stigma and shame
 Isolated and scared
 Rejected by family/community
 Vulnerable to targeting/blackmail
 Post traumatic stress
What we know –street
prostitution
1,000-1400 women
 98% serious iv drug users
 Experience of abuse, poverty,
homelessness
 Lost care of children
 Activity in City Centre, East End and
recently South Side
 60 women receiving £150 a day, men
spending £3276,000 per year

What we know - Indoor
prostitution
264,000 men spending at least £6.6
million per year – saunas, flats
 Sex industry activity expanding –stag
parties, pornography, lap dancing, limos,
escorts, ‘take aways’, ‘specialist services’
 Growth in demand for groups of men
 Demand for unprotected sex
 Demand for foreign women

Glasgow ‘sauna’ website
“Established in 1967”
 “The top parlour in Glasgow”
 “Security and peace of mind are critical
which is why every staff member is
bonded”
 “35 ladies at any given time, ensuring you
a fabulous variety from day to day”
 “Choose from Spanish, Italian, Thai, black,
white, Russian plus lots, lots more!”

(2001)
Why Women Are Trafficked
 5-7
million people a year are moved
for “profit”
 Annually 600,000-800,000 people,
mostly women and children are
trafficked across international
borders
 2nd
largest and fastest growing
criminal industry (tied with illegal
arms dealing), creating an approx $9
billion annual turnover
 Most recent UK research indicates
that between 142 and 1420 women
have been trafficked for prostitution
into the country
Council action on Trafficking
 Address
issue of trafficking through
joint working
 Appoint Counter Trafficking Officers
 Council objections to sauna and table
dancing licence applications
 Provide individually designed
packages of support to women
The Inter Agency Working
Group
Multi Agency strategic forum
 Membership includes - Development and
Regeneration Services, Social Work
Services, Strathclyde Police, NHS Greater
Glasgow, Scottish Refugee Council,
International Organisation for Migration,
Scottish Executive, Women’s Voluntary
Sector, Immigration Services, Glasgow
Asylum Seekers Project.
 Meets bi monthly

Service for women involved in
indoor prostitution
Health and medical service
 Counter Trafficking Officer provides
general social work support to all
attendees
 Access to safe accommodation,
support/counselling, subsistence, legal
advice
 Gathering of information re indoor
prostitution
 Emergency contact
 Building staff capacity

3 Stage Trauma Model



Establish Safety – this initial stage focuses on
ensuring that women have access to safe
accommodation, income maximisation, medical
care, and are able to take care of themselves e.g.
ensuring women are eating and sleeping properly
Remembrance and Mourning – this secondary
stage enables women to work through the impact
and trauma of their experiences
Reconnection – this final stage enables women
to explore their future by, for example, accessing
meaningful employment and/or education.
Men
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‘I would not recommend this place. Most of the girls are
foreign- Albanians or whatever, and so obviously do not
enjoy what they do. A bit rough.’
‘Prostitute murders get a lot of media attention in
Scotland, so if you must kill a whore go somewhere else
to do it’
‘I put the collar round her neck and dragged her round on
all fours. She started to cry, but told me later it was
because she was so turned on by it. Why not try her
lads!!!!!’
‘I felt the condom fall off but I just went for it big time’
She was ‘keen to get things over quickly. This is strictly
business and make no mistake’
‘Out of her face with drink and could barely speak a word
of English’
Women
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‘What gives anyone the right to speak for women in
prostitution by saying we should be seen as workers like
anyone else. This is not work, it is abuse and it is soul
destroying’
‘It was hell working for that bastard. Every day we would
be insulted by clients, but he would tell us we were lucky
not to have to work with the slags on the street. We didn’t
feel lucky’
‘I became a drug addict because my husband knocked me
around. At first I drank, but then they took my kids from
me, so I started on heroin. A friend who worked the streets
suggested I did the same. It was so easy to start, but feels
impossible to stop. I’ve got nothing.’