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 from previous convictions.
The Home Office is planning to change the laws on prostitution. It is currently illegal for more than one woman to work as a prostitute in a house. Soon, three will be allowed to work together - but there will still be strict penalties for men who pimp off prostitutes.
The change won't help the street workers. They are on the bottom rung of the ladder. At the top is the romanticised notion of the high-class hooker who has a select clientele who visit by appointment. Women in this group are more likely to have chosen this work; some of them say they are content to do it.
Next down are those who work in brothels and massage parlours; it's safer than the streets, though many are girls trafficked from eastern Europe and are working against their will.
At the bottom of the pile, subject to the greatest abuse and exploitation, are the streetwalkers. So-called 'tolerance zones' - where police allow prostitutes to pick up men who kerb-crawl in their cars (itself an offence |
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| A pimp provides the love that has proved elusive to the women - then replaces it with violence |
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since 2001) - have done little to liberate thestreet prostitutes from the idea that they are so worthless. They are the least protected of all from violence: 60 have been murdered in the past decade, many more raped and beaten.
Some of them live on council estates, sharing a flat with a boyfriend or pimp; others are homeless. What they need in the short-term is the arrest of the Ipswich killer. In the longer term they need education and qualifications; drug-rehabilitation programmes that allow them to keep their children with them (rare in the UK); improved police protection and continual support until they can sustain a decently paid job.
Without that, all they have is their bodies and the streets. And a steady stream of men willing to pay for a few minutes of cheap sex.
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News & Comment: News & Politics
