Inside UK’s new prostitution hotspot with girls pressured into ‘survival intercourse’
A charity supporting sex workers in Bristol said it has seen a huge rise in women using its services over the past two years. There are fears they are being exploited by gangs
Authorities have said women across the city have been forced into ‘survival sex’
Police fear growing numbers of women in a UK city are being forced into prostitution as “survival sex”.
A charity supporting street sex workers in Bristol reported it had seen an almost 76% rise in women using its services over the past two years. According to its latest figures, the organisation One25 said as many as 140 women selling sex are supported through their outreach project on any given night.
Bristol residents have frequently voted the city as the best place to live in the UK despite it containing numerous areas known for sex work including Fishponds, St Pauls and Castle Park.
It is believed that many of the women are being forced into sex work and are being exploited by organised criminal gangs. The gangs often coerce the women into becoming addicts and then shackle them to a dealer who supplies them with heroin and crack cocaine. These dealers often act as the victims’ bosses.
Student Connor Gayford, 22, has spoken of the scenes in Bristol and revealed he was shocked by the amount of women roaming the streets looking for sex work, reports the Sun. He said: “I was shocked the number of women working on the streets has risen so much, it’s kind of crazy, but I’m not surprised it happens in Castle Park as all sorts of stuff goes on here.
“This is a no-go area for me at night, because there are lots of muggings and stabbings, it’s not a safe place to be at night.”
A new project has been recently launched between sex workers and police. The project strives to help authorities catch child predators by helping them identify children at risk of exploitation and remove underage girls off the streets.
Dubbed Night Light, the project was set up after a network of abusers were found to be repeatedly trafficking and sexually exploiting a group of children in the areas of Bristol via sex work.
Through the Night Life project, women were able to give information on a registered sex offender wanted on suspicion of the rape of a child. This tip led to his the arrest of the registered sex offender and the discovery of cable ties and plastic sheeting at his residence.
Despite these sex workers being raped, abused and exploited they have still been able to provide police with information surrounding dangerous men. This information has led to convictions and has helped safeguard many women in the Bristol area.
Avon and Somerset Police’s lead for sex work, Inspector Tom Tooth, said: “We share the concerns of our partners regarding the increase in women seeking support for involvement in street sex working. We recognise the women are almost exclusively engaged in ‘survival sex’, and as such they are some of the most vulnerable and exploitable people in our communities.”
He added: “Following the National Police Chief’s Council’s direction, our approach to on-street sex work is to collaborate with partners and the women themselves to prioritise harm reduction and safeguarding strategies. We focus our efforts on liaison and engagement with this often stigmatised and isolated group of women to understand the threats and risks they are exposed to.
“We can then identify and disrupt those who cause them the most harm, focussing on the wider category of ‘exploiters’, rather than exclusively on those who purchase sexual services. Following recent academic research on the topic, and local partnership data, we understand that women engaged in on-street sex work often suffer multiple forms of exploitation, including being robbed, assaulted, harassed, and coerced into sex work.”
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