Reference as: Phipps, A (2013) 'Violence against sex workers', in Lesley McMillan and Nancy Lombard, eds., Violence Against Women (Research Highlights in Social Work Series), pp87-102. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Violence against sex workers in the UK Alison Phipps In 2008, truck driver Steve Wright was found guilty of the murders of five street sex workers: Gemma Adams, Anneli Alderton, Paula Clennell, Tania Nicol and Annette Nicholls. All were drug users between the ages of 19 and 29. Wright dumped their remains in isolated spots around the town of Ipswich during a six-and-a-half-week period in 2006 (Malkin 2008). In 2010, PhD student Stephen Griffiths, who termed himself the ‘crossbow cannibal’, was convicted of the murders of street sex workers Shelley Armitage, Suzanne Blamires and Susan Rushworth, after body parts were found floating in the river Aire. The women, all drug users aged between 31 and 43, had disappeared over a period of just under a year (Carter 2010, Press Association 2010). The £300-an-hour call girl blogger Belle de Jour, revealed in 2009 to be Bristol research scientist Dr Brooke Magnanti, may appear to be working in a different industry to these women. However, in an interview with the Times in 2009, Magnanti described herself as ‘very lucky’ because she had not experienced violence. ‘You need to be aware of your surroundings: if it goes wrong, how can I get out of this room; how can I get into a taxi; how can I brush someone off if I need to?’ (Knight, 2009). In 2003 as Belle, she had written about an encounter with a fellow call girl in a public toilet. I turned round to see A crouched on the floor, sobbing. I almost didn't stop. But something about the fragile bow of her heaving shoulders made it impossible to walk away. "Are you okay?" I whispered, kneeling beside her. 1 It all came out in fits and starts - first man trouble, then family problems, then a recent surgery gone wrong, then the reason for the surgery. It turned out A was the victim of a particularly notorious rape several years ago. It was the anniversary of the incident. "That was you?" I whispered. She nodded. "I'm so, so sorry." The incident was reported in some papers as an attack in which the victim escaped, but all the girls knew the truth. No one gets away from a man with a hammer. Although sex work is a multifaceted industry with a diverse workforce, a central feature is the risk, or experience, of violence. Sex workers are a resourceful group, who as individuals and communities have developed a complex set of coping and safety strategies. These do not often bring them into contact with statutory services: but social workers in these and third sector organisations who are aware of the issues and can operate without judgment may be able to offer support. Introduction In the last 30 years demand for commercial sex has soared in Western countries. Sex is now a multi-billion dollar industry, thriving alongside efforts by governments and police forces to regulate or obliterate it (Bernstein, 2001). This explosion of demand sits within the social and economic context of late capitalism, with its merging of public and private, extension of the service sector and commodification of experiences, including sexual ones (Bernstein 2001; Brents and Hausbeck 2007). It also reflects a general trend for commercial specialisation, encompassing text, image and video pornography, live sex shows, strip and lap-dancing clubs, telephone and cyber-sex companies, escort agencies, independent sex workers and organised sex tourism. Parts of this industry, such as soft pornography, lap-dancing clubs and high-class escorts are becoming more mainstream, with the ITV drama Secret Diary of a Call Girl, based on Belle de Jour’s blog, averaging 1,242,125 viewers per episode for its first series and currently in planning for its fourth (Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board, 2007). However, other sectors such as street prostitution remain marginal and stigmatised, with workers suffering from low wages and poor conditions (Brents and Hausbeck 2007, p.427-428). 2 This chapter looks at violence against sex workers participating in prostitution, who engage in sexual acts with another person or persons as part of a commercial transaction. This industry is divided into indoor and outdoor markets, outdoor workers soliciting on the street while indoor workers provide services in brothels/massage parlours/saunas, hotels or private homes.i There is no reliable data on the number of sex workers or their clients in the UK, since these populations remain largely underground. However, researchers working for the UK Network of Sex Work Projects estimate that there may be over 100,000 prostituted people (mostly women) in the UK (Cusick et al 2009). 70 percent of sex work is carried out indoors, a sector which is growing rapidly via the Internet (Kinnell 2008, p.110; Sanders 2006, pp.92-94). Sex workers are concentrated in towns and cities, and tend to reflect the ethnic composition of these areas. Women working in the sex industry normally enter it before they are 21 years of age, and many report childhood abuse or periods spent in care (Home Office, 2004). However, there are differences between street and indoor workers: women who work in indoor markets are less likely to be from socially excluded backgrounds, and it is common for them to have been involved in mainstream work and to have professional credentials. Indoor workers are also less likely to report chronic/acute illnesses and more likely to be registered with a GP, and have limited levels of drug use compared to the high levels of street workers (Sanders 2007). The average user of sexual services in the UK is male, around 30 years old, employed full time, married, and with no criminal convictions (Home Office, 2004). Studies internationally have highlighted the similarities between users of sex workers and so-called ‘ordinary’ men (Monto 2004, p.168), and paying for sexual services is rapidly becoming normalised. The National Survey of Sexual Attitudes conducted in 2001 found that 4.3 percent of British men admitted having paid for sex in the past five years (Home Office 2004, p.17). Throughout the UK, the exchange of sexual services for money is not illegal. However, associated activities including street soliciting, advertising in telephone boxes, kerb crawling, pimping and brothel-keeping are criminal offences.ii In the 2000s, there was widespread debate about whether England and Wales should follow the example set by countries such as the 3 Netherlands and New Zealand and institute more permissive laws. However, ideas for initiatives such as tolerance zones for street prostitution (previously implemented in Scotland) and legalising small brothels were eventually abandoned by the New Labour government in favour of a tighter legal framework criminalising demand and attempting to deal with exploitation. In 2009, provisions in the Policing and Crime Act (applying to England, Wales and Northern Ireland) made it illegal for a client to pay for services from a sex worker who had been subject to force, even if the client thought they were freely consenting. The act also introduced tougher police powers in relation to kerb-crawling (making it illegal for the first time in Northern Ireland) and solicitation, and new powers to close brothels (UK Parliament, 2009). In Scotland, kerb crawling was outlawed in 2007, by the Prostitution (Public Places) (Scotland) Act (Scottish Parliament, 2007; McMillan, 2010): similarly, this Act was passed after a failed debate around introducing a more liberal legislative structure. Following the 2010 ‘crossbow cannibal’ case, British Prime Minister David Cameron promised a review of prostitution legislation (Edwards and Whitehead 2010). However, at the time of writing this review was not under way and it was unclear what direction any discussion might take. Prevalence of violence against sex workers In general, it is highly likely that sex workers will experience violence. This can take a variety of forms ranging from harassment to robbery, physical assault, rape and murder. These acts may be perpetrated in both public and private spheres, by clients, pimps, other sex workers, intimate partners, police, or members of local communities (Benson 1998 cited in Sanders 2004; Campbell et al 1996 cited in Sanders 2004; Hubbard 1998a; May et al 2000; Sanders 2004). Street sex workers are thought to be at very high risk, particularly of more extreme forms of violence (Busch et al 2002; Jeal and Salisbury 2004b; Penfold et al 2004; Sanders 2008a). In a 2001 study of three British cities, it was found that 81 percent of street workers had experienced violence (Church et al 2001). A 1999 study of 193 street workers found that 68 per cent had experienced physical assault (Ward et al 1999), and in 2004, a study of 125 street workers in five cities found that three-quarters had experienced physical violence (Hester and Westmarland 2004). A 2004 study of 71 street workers in Bristol (Jeal and Salisbury 2004a) 4 found that rape and physical violence using weapons such as guns, machetes and chainsaws had been experienced by 73 percent. Between the early 1990s and early 2000s, at least 60 sex workers were known to have been murdered in the UK, most working on the street (Penfold et al 2004, p.366), and it has been estimated that street sex workers are twelve times more likely to die from violence at work than other women (Sanders and Campbell 2007, p.2).iii The high risk of violence faced by street sex workers is often attributed to the drug-saturated nature of these markets and the general levels of violence this creates, as well as the need for ‘survival sex’ with clients who may not have been adequately vetted (Sanders 2004, 2007).