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 MYTH
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 REALITY
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| Street prostitution is illegal in Britain |
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Street prostitution is not illegal in Britain, though it is a criminal offence to 'solicit or loiter in a public place for the purpose of prostitution' |
| 'Punters' are dirty old men in
raincoats |
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In Sheffield the majority of punters who use female street prostitutes are white men. National research (2005) identified a typical punter as a man of around 30, married, in full time employment with no criminal convictions. |
| Street prostitutes are all drug addicted, dirty women from dysfunctional families. |
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There is no such thing as a typical female street prostitute. Like all women, they are all shapes and sizes, from all classes of society and from lots of different ethnic backgrounds. The majority of women involved in street prostitution in Sheffield though are white, between 19-28 years of age and Class A drug users. Remember drug use like domestic abuse is not exclusive to class or ethnicity. |
| All 'Pimps' are criminals who force vulnerable girls into a life of vice and take all their money. |
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Whilst some 'Pimps' are criminals, for most of the women in Sheffield, the 'Pimp' is usually their boyfriend or partner. Some of them take the money some don't. |
| Women make an informed choice to become involved in street prostitution and its easy money. |
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Most women become involved in street prostitution because of lack of choice, have been groomed, pressured and/or coerced by pimps or traffickers. It is well documented that a majority of women in street prostitution are poor, homeless and have already suffered violence and abuse throughout their life. 70% of those involved in street prostitution have a history of local authority care and 45% report experiencing sexual abuse during their childhoods (Home Office 2006). Many enter prostitution before age 18. It is the men who buy sex who are exercising free choice, and it is this "choice" to purchase vulnerable women and girls that maintains prostitution and fuels trafficking for sexual exploitation. |
| Legalisation is better for those involved in street prostitution |
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Fact: Street prostitution is harmful in and of itself: legalisation doesn’t remove that harm – it simply makes the harm legal. Legalisation or decriminalisation of prostitution does not deal with the long term psychological and physical effects of having unwanted and often violent and abusive sex numerous times a day and having to act like you enjoy it. Many women involved in prostitution report having to disconnect and "separate it off" in their heads – one of the reasons why drug and alcohol abuse is so widespread. Legalisation does not make any of the women safer, it just expands an industry in which violence against the women involved is at its most extreme.
Women involved in street prostitution put themselves at risk of:
Abuse (from public, punters, kids, partners, other working women)
Violence (including rape, gang rape, robbery from punters, public, other working women, drug dealers and sometimes murder.)
Kidnap (by punters, drug dealers, other pimps)
PLUS: Arrest and involvement in the criminal justice system, drug and alcohol use, unsafe sex, lifestyle/ social circumstances (homelessness, lack of food, clothes, warmth, shelter, can't shower, no money for anything but drugs, isolated, no friends or family networks).
Street prostitution is seen by the majority of women involved as an alternative option for obtaining money than shop-lifting/burglary etc. They won’t get sent to prison and it doesn’t hurt anyone but themselves. |
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