Scottish sex-work charity claim effects of cost of living crisis are ‘catastrophic’ for sex workers

A Scottish sex-work charity has said the affects of the cost of living crisis on sex workers could be ‘catastrophic’.

ScotPep is a sex-worker led charity aiming to promote the equality and safety of all people who sell sex in Scotland.

The charity was started in 1989 and since then has been campaigning to improve the rights and treatment of sex workers in Scotland.

Their campaigns manifest in many different ways, from speaking in parliament to engaging with sex workers around Scotland and doing their best to foster and engage with the Scottish sex work community.

Jordan Phillips, a ScotPep board member and PHD researcher at the University of Stirling, said:”Ever since pandemic restrictions ended we’ve been trying to get back on our feet and reconnect with the community.

“Covid really hit us hard, as it did with the sex work industry as a whole, you can’t really do proper community engagement virtually - it needs to be done on the ground so we can connect with sex workers and hear what they need.

“The current labour market doesn’t leave many sex workers with time to socialise - coming out of lockdown, some of the market has bounced back, but it’s still hard to find stable work these days.

“From speaking with other sex workers, sex work has not bounced back from the pandemic like many other industries have - while there’s certainly more work than there was in lockdown, it feels like we’ve left out to dry by the government.

“Sex workers had to continue working through the pandemic - not because they wanted to, but because they had to.”

Hopes were high for many coming out of the pandemic but for the most vulnerable members of our country, it was a lot more complicated than just getting back to work.

Commenting on how sex workers are navigating the cost of living crisis, Jordan said: “The cost of living crisis has massively impacted sex workers, who were already a marginalised group.

“Particularly impacted is sex workers agency in decisions that could seriously impact their safety and wellbeing has been affected.

“Suddenly if you have a client offering twice as much money to have unprotected sex, your ability to refuse is impacted by the precarious labour market, meaning you might not be able to make that money anywhere else.

“I was at a drop-in service for sex workers in Glasgow last week - and before Covid, these were busy flourishing community spaces - but now sex workers are finding it really difficult to engage with the local community.

“They don’t feel safe, they don’t have the time to take off work because they need to take all the booking they can, whenever they can.

“Generally speaking, a lot of sex workers don’t have financial autonomy. A lot of sex workers are single mothers just trying to provide for their families.

“On the other side of things, clients have a lot less money and can’t afford to purchase sex, meaning a smaller client pool which translates to sex workers not being able to afford to decline potentially dangerous clients.”

The cost of living crisis has already had a tangible effect on the sex work industry in Scotland - but how much worse could things get for Scottish sex workers if the cost of living continues to increase?

Jordan Phillips responds:“As the cost of living continues to increase, it’s going to become really catastrophic for certain sex workers.

“It’s widely accepted that ‘on the street’ work is the most dangerous form of sex work.

“Workers are way more vulnerable to physcial violence and sexual violence in street work, which right now is not super common in Scotland.

“The most common form of sex work in Scotland right now is indoor escorting - facilatated by adult websites.

“Currently the government is trying to shut down all the websites sex workers use to advertise their services, saying these advertising spaces shouldn’t exist and that woman are pimped on these sites, which we know isn’t true from speaking and working with sex workers.

“If these sites are shut down, sex workers will be pushed onto the street. If sex workers can’t pay their bills or find clients, they will be forced to work on the street or in dangerous spaces.

“There is no concrete labour or legal protection for sex workers in Scotland. The Scottish government views sex work as violence against women - which is demonstrably false.

“When making policy, the government never wants to speak with sex worker organisations, they don’t care what they have to say.

“Police are not experts on sex work. Politicians are not experts on sex work. Sex workers are the experts on sex work - and they are facing a form of partial criminilisation.

“While it’s technically legal to sell sex indoors, nothing is legal on the street.

“Sex workers also can not work on the same premises as other sex workers - if they do, the building becomes a ‘brothel’.

“This is such an outdated law - we know from data published by sex work organisations around the world that sex workers working in groups are the safest.

“It’s really frustrating seeing the government push for the nordic model of sex work - if they are able to legislate it - it will be catastrophically bad for sex workers in Scotland.”

New sex work laws have been discussed in parliament over the last year, although no sex worker organisations have been consulted for the working group.

ScotPep is calling for a few things to protect sex workers in the new Scottish model, including the decriminilisation of soliciting, secure housing for all, the decriminilisation of drugs, working with sex workers on legislation, and an end to the hostile environment against sex workers from public instituions like the police.