Scottish prostitutes' have spoken about the harsh realities of having sex with men for money in two ground-breaking new films.
The women, named only as Stephanie and Katy, braved the cameras to discuss how they feel like the 'dirt of the earth' and have been 'degraded' by men paying them for sex.
The films have been released on YouTube by two charities which aims to explode a myth the industry is glamorous.
In the first film, Stephanie revealed she has been attacked by men, adding that 'a lot of people seem to think we’re the dirt of the earth."
She said: "But we’re not, we’re just there because we need to be. We’ve not got the money so it’s definitely not a choice.”
Stephanie’s story is one of two presented in new films by Zero Tolerance and the Glasgow-based Women’s Support Project which aim to show that prostitution is not a choice, and draw attention to the need for services to support women who want to exit.
The films aim to end the myth that work in the sex industry can be a glamorous or exciting lifestyle decision, or that prostitution is a matter of choice.
Stephanie states that she never felt like she chose to be a prostitute. She had studied for four years to be a social worker and was struggling to support her daughter on three jobs and it seemed the only option. “People think it’s easy money,” she says, “but it definitely isn’t. I’ve been attacked four times, raped twice. But I think I’ve actually been quite lucky. A lot of the girls have had a lot worse than I’ve had.”
Nevertheless Stephanie says she thinks she is lucky – a lot of her friends have experienced much worse. As spokesperson from Edinburgh-based outreach project Streetwork supports this: “We've seen in the past, the horror stories where the women have been murdered or attacked or abused. We see it on a fortnightly basis that there's an incident with a women who has been shouted in the street abuse, has been struck by something, has been raped and even murdered. Under no circumstances is it safe.”
Nine out of ten girls want to exit prostitution. Among them is Katy, also interviewed for the video, who wanted to be a midwife and got into sex work thinking she would do it for a few nights. Now, after years of working as a prostitute, she declares it “the biggest mistake of my life”. It’s not easy it’s not glamorous, it’s hard, it’s horrible, it’s degrading, it’s dangerous.”
Katy also reveals the impact on her personal life: “When you’re finished it’s like you’ve just done that for £30, £40. It’s just degrading. It’s just horrible, thinking what you’ve just had to do. I haven’t had sex with my boyfriend for ages, because of this, because I don’t feel I can go out and do that and come home and have sex with my boyfriend.
The Women’s Support Project and Zero Tolerance, are among a number of organisations calling for the Scottish Government to introduce legislation to criminalise the buying of sex in all settings, so as to reduce demand and prevent exploitation.
Launching the films, Laura Tomson at Zero Tolerance said “Katy and Stephanie’s stories undermine the all-too-prevalent view that prostitution is easy money, or even enjoyable work. Because sex is usually sold in a context of deprivation or abuse few women in prostitution have the opportunity to share their experiences. We all owe it to Katy and Stephanie to take their stories seriously and see buying sex for what it is – exploitation and an abuse of power.”
This is not a choice, this is exploitation, is the message of the project. As Jan Macleod of Women’s Support Project puts it: “The people that have the choice are the men, who are freely choosing to abuse these women. You’d either have to come right out and say that I’m happy to have a group of second class women being used and abused in whether it’s prostitution, pornography or adult entertainment… Or you need to categorise it as a form of exploitation and harm.”
Katy’s Story and Stephanie’s Story can be accessed via the Women’s Support Project Youtube channel.
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