Exclusive
Growing number of women turning to sex work amid 'colossal' rise in living costs
An increasing number of women are turning to sex work "to make ends meet".
The number of active accounts registered to women in Wales on the website AdultWork.com has risen from 260 at the beginning of 2023 to 461. The website describes itself as an "online directory for adult service providers".
Laura Watson, a spokesperson for the English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) which supports sex workers across the UK, says this is representative of a wider trend as a result of the cost of living crisis.
She said: "Since the start of the cost of living crisis we saw an increase in calls to our helpline: women, specifically, asking how to go into prostitution, asking how to get back into it - many women after having left for many years thinking about how to get back into it. So we knew that many people were turning to prostitution to fill the gap."
ITV Wales’ current affairs programme Wales This Week spoke to Victoria, not her real name, who has worked as an escort in south Wales for more than 16 years.
She said she knows some young women are entering the sex industry because they have no other choice.
"Once you’ve had that first payment, second payment, third payment, you’re hooked," she said.
"I mean, I’ve tried to walk away a few times, but I look at my kids and see what they’ve got and what they can have, and that’s enough.
"It doesn’t matter that I do the job that I do, because they’re my world."
It’s estimated that there are 5,000 sex workers in Wales and that 96% are women, according to the Office of National Statistics
Wales This Week spoke to upwards of 35 women in the sex industry in Wales, with many saying financial hardship was one of the reasons for entering or returning to the profession.
Safety First Wales, an organisation which campaigns to support the safety of sex workers in Wales, says this line of work is increasing throughout the UK due to the "colossal rise in energy bills, food and other essential expenses".
Their network reports that sex workers experience high levels of violence. However, many are hesitant to report these incidents to police, fearing that no action will be taken.
Many sex workers, including Victoria, are calling for the legalisation of sex work.
"If it [is] legalised then the police would be there to help," she said.
"Because if there is a problem, us girls, we can’t go to the police. One, we’d get arrested, two, you’d be made to feel… I couldn’t even imagine how a girl would feel going to the police and saying 'I’ve just been abused or raped'.
"They get abused, they’ve got no one to go to because they feel they are put in this bubble of 'cheap', 'dirty', 'deserved', 'you deserved that because you’re an adult worker, because you’re a sex worker'."
Dr Sam Hanks, who helped to set up Safety First Wales, has joined calls to decriminalise and de-stigmatise sex work to allow women in the industry to work safely.
According to his research, sex work is grounded in welfare issues like housing, providing for families, and supporting children.
"These [issues] are often why people become involved in sex work and often reliant on sex work to make ends meet," he said.
Struggling to find a job led Sophie, also not her real name, into sex work. She was 19 when she first started working as a "sugar baby", a type of sex work where men, known as "sugar daddies", pay a woman for romantic or sexual companionship.
"I had recently got out of a relationship which had been really controlling, and I had to quit my job because I worked with my ex-boyfriend," Sophie recalls.
"I thought it would be easy to find another job. But it just wasn’t."
After signing up to a website, Sophie quickly found a sugar daddy, but the arrangement ended up going further than she expected.
Sophie said her sugar daddy became aware of her financial situation and started to take advantage of how “vulnerable” she was.
"He was just trying to push it and see what he could get away with, and he didn’t know how to take no for an answer. I mean, it was scary.
"How it’s painted sometimes can be the danger of it, because it’s so easy to get into, so many people do it, so many people say it’s easy money.
"And at first it literally is easy money, but then you get caught in this world of sex work.
"There’s too much risk in it, from what I’ve experienced, for the financial gain."
Laura Watson, from the ECP, said poverty is increasing the likelihood of sex workers entering dangerous situations.
She said: "If you are desperate for money… the more desperate you are, the more risks you’re likely to take. It’s all to do with choice and your ability to refuse clients."
What are the current laws around sex work in Wales?
Sex work is not a devolved matter.
Currently, the acts of buying and selling sex are not in themselves illegal in England and Wales.
But there are activities that can be associated with sex work, which are offences.
According to South Wales Police this includes:
soliciting (trying to get clients) on the street or other public places, including someone in a vehicle
paying for the services of a sex worker who is forced or threatened into it
owning or managing a brothel (any premises which is used by more than one person for sex work)
pimping (someone who has control over sex workers and the money they earn)
advertising sexual services, including putting cards in phone boxes
Why are there calls to change these laws?
If a sex worker feels safer working with a friend, they would be prevented from doing so by the law.
Laura Watson, from the ECP, said that as an organisation, they also have to avoid certain interactions with sex workers to ensure they do not break the law.
She said: "Sex workers can’t give advice and help to other sex workers. And we as an organisation certainly can’t give safety advice because it would be seen as causing and inciting prostitution.
"So these are the main laws that we want to decriminalise and remove from legislation. All they do is criminalise you for being poor, and prevent you from working in a safe way.
"We want decriminalisation. To make sex workers safer you have to remove the criminalisation so that you can’t be arrested, you’re not forced into isolation, you can come forward and report violence, you can work together for safety if you want to, you can leave if you want to."
Safety First Wales believes the Welsh Government can provide increased resources to support sex workers.
Dr Sam Hanks said: "We’re looking at models that would resemble the care leavers' income that was piloted in Wales as a way that we might move forward and look at securing resources so that people can leave prostitution if they wanted to."
What does government say?
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: "We are supporting people in dealing with the cost of living – targeting help at those who need it the most and putting money back in people’s pockets. This support has been worth more than almost £5bn.
"In addition, the Welsh Government said it is providing funding for organisations that support sex workers."
The UK Government told Wales This Week that it has no plans to decriminalise activities associated with sex work.
In a statement, a spokesperson said: "This government has set out a mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade.
"We will use every lever available to stop sexual exploitation and continue to work with charities and NGOs to develop our approach."
Have other countries decriminalised sex work?
The government in New Zealand decriminalised sex work in 2003 after consulting with sex workers.
In 2022, Belgium became the first European country to follow suit.
Watch Wales This Week: Selling Sex to Survive on Thursday, 29 August, at 8.30pm on ITV Cymru Wales and online.
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