A vigil will be held in Glasgow to mark International Day to End Violence against Sex Workers.
Organised by Umbrella Lane, a peer-led charity working to improve the health and safety of people involved in sex work in Scotland, the vigil will memorialise the lives lost to violence within the community.
More than 60 sex workers are expected to attend.
Umbrella Lane founder and director Dr Anastacia Ryan told The Herald: “Most of the time sex workers don’t want to testify because of fear of stigma or judgement.”
It is estimated that there are around 1,500 sex workers working in Scotland, including lap dancers, strippers and web-cam workers, as well as full-service sex workers.
Exact numbers who have experienced violence or harassment are not known as many won’t report incidents to the police.
Dr Ryan said: “Many people who do experience violence won’t report it so aren’t being included in the statistics. Or if they do report they don’t say they’re currently working.”
Umbrella Lane has an online following of around 350 sex workers who engage with them daily and welcomes around 30 to 40 people to their hub every week. Services offered include sexual health testing and violence reporting.
As a sex worker-led service, Dr Ryan says, they are trusted not to stigmatise those who access their services. She said: “The stigma and discrimination faced by sex workers puts them in vulnerable positions with predatory people who are targeting them, knowing they can often do that with impunity because they won’t be reported.
“The only way sex workers can legally work is completely on their own.
“For us, the priority is that the law is changed so that sex workers can work together for safety and for their accounts of violence to be taken seriously by the police and by the courts.”
Sex work is legal in Scotland but soliciting or running a brothel is illegal. Workers operating in pairs for safety are at risk of prosecution for brothel keeping.
Dr Ryan said: “We talk about a full decriminalisation framework which means workers will work together for safety but also that third-parties are not criminalised so sex workers that want to work for a manager could do so.”
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “If you have been a victim of violence, we would encourage you to report. We will listen and we will investigate and the focus of that investigation will be the offender.”
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