THE rise of the “sex work is real work” discourse has erased the inherent violence and harm that women involved in prostitution experience on a daily basis. 

Seeing Mikey Madison at the Oscars recently on accepting her award for Best Actress in Anora take a moment to “recognise and honour the sex work community” couldn’t be further away from the reality we see and hear about. 

The TUC conference this week debated whether to support decriminalisation of prostitution. Women desperate to get the right support to leave the industry, desperate to see a future are being sidelined by the pro-sex work lobby. There are limited options for women who want to exit prostitution (research indicates nine out of 10 women want to do so) and if by some miracle there is a specialist support service in their area, it usually doesn’t include exiting support. 

The Welsh government acknowledges prostitution as a form of violence against women and girls in its landmark Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015. However, Wales’s largest cities are awash with on street prostitution. 

Across Wales women and girls are engaged in selling sex behind closed doors, being let down by a society that has groomed them into believing that selling sex is empowering, financially rewarding and a valid form of work. But also let down by a government that ticks a box in its legislation but does nothing in reality for the women so desperate for a different life. The interwoven factors that pull women and girls into prostitution are well known. An abusive childhood, a childhood in care, domestic abuse, addiction, homelessness, poverty. Not so empowering, eh?

Women’s rights charity FiLiA wants to make effective and lasting change, so we created the Women First team. A team of experts on prostitution and crucially our experts include women who have exited the sex industry. The voices of those with direct experience of prostitution are vital to us getting our work right. 

The Case for Change: Exiting Prostitution Toolkit is a Women First initiative that provides guidance and support to local authorities looking to improve their offer to women in prostitution and offers an opportunity to work more effectively and end prostitution in an area. 

The toolkit involves undertaking an audit in three areas: Access to Services, Understanding of Practitioners and Experience of Women.  A full day’s training is included and a bespoke report on completion outlining recommendations and guidance on implementation. Support for its implementation is also given if needed. 

In Wales I have already worked with one of our local authority areas to implement the toolkit. I spent a year working alongside a range of professionals including social services, probation, drugs and alcohol, police, health and the women’s sector. It is important to understand that women involved in prostitution will already be visiting services and it is crucial that they are identified as early as possible. They are the women among us. We already know them. 
    
The overwhelming majority of professionals interviewed believed that prostitution did not happen in their area. They hadn’t seen it so believed it was not there. Women selling sex will usually go to great lengths to hide their activity. The shame and stigma these women feel is too overwhelming for them to ask for support so professionals must learn to ask the right questions. Something we can teach them to do. 

The training is not simply to increase the knowledge and understanding of the participants but to improve how they deliver an effective service. This is where services are failing women. Let’s make this clear, this is not the workers’ fault. The workers wanted to do the right thing, but they can only deliver a service that they are trained to do. This is where we can make a difference.

The Case for Change: Exiting Prostitution Toolkit can dramatically change the way an area supports its women and girls by facing the issue head on and by utilising the expertise already there. It can make a life-changing difference to the women and girls so desperate for compassionate and support.

If you’d like to know more about the toolkit, then please contact us at: Sally@filia.org.uk

Ali Morris is Women First Team and Wales VAWG lead for FiLiA (www.filia.org.uk).