University of Bristol, commissioned by the Home Office and the Office of the South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner, October 2019
The University of Bristol was commissioned by the Home Office and the Office of the South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner to look in to the current ‘nature’ and ‘prevalence’ of prostitution in England and Wales, involving adults aged 18 or over. The research was carried out between May 2018 and June 2019. We were not asked to report on policy or law. Drawing on the literature and initial findings, we used the following definition:
Prostitution and/or sex work constitutes the provision of sexual or erotic acts or sexual intimacy in exchange for payment or other benefit or need.
Following a systematic search of the existing national and international evidence base, including a review of previous prevalence studies, we sought views, data and personal experiences through a 6-month public online survey, yielding almost 1200 often detailed responses with over 500 from those currently or formerly involved in selling sexual services. We also worked through NGOs and support services to identify individuals unlikely to respond to online surveys. We completed follow up in-depth email interviews with 42 individuals. We invited 155 organisations, collectives and individuals to consult on our draft finding at four regional meetings in early 2019.
Given methodological and ethical constraints, we recognise two groups whose voices are under-represented or absent within this report: (1) Migrant sex workers; (2) British and non-British individuals who are/were forcibly coerced, who are/were trafficked, who are/were sexually exploited and/or who are traumatised in relation to their experience.
In terms of ‘prevalence’, currently in England and Wales there is no source of data which allows for the production of representative population estimates for this group. Stigma, the private and hidden nature of the sex industry, complex engagement patterns and definitions of activities mean that estimating prevalence is challenging. Producing an accurate estimate would require studies to follow the guidance and recommendations on data collection jointly produced by the UNAIDS and World Health Organisation (WHO) (2010) and/or to use statistically representative samples. Focused and small-scale prevalence studies are also more likely to be accurate. The report provides guidance on such work.
In terms of ‘nature’, overall, we found that the way that sex is sold in England and Wales today is both complex and diverse. It is common for individuals to move between settings and services, for safety or to maintain income, and to engage full-time, part-time (sometimes alongside other paid work or study), intermittently or casually. Looking across our data, we identified and structured our commentary around the following:
Cross-cutting themes
Identifying sex work, identifying as a sex worker
· Social identities, inequalities and routes in
· Patterns of engagement and moving between settings/services
· Advertising, payment and third parties
· Risk, harm and managing safety
· Buyers and buying
Settings and services
· Bar-based sex work and hostess bars
· BDSM, kink and fetish
· Brothels, parlours, saunas
· Erotic and exotic dance
· Erotic massage
· Escort: independent
· Escort: agency
· Pornography, glamour, erotica
· Sex parties
· Street and outdoor sex work
· Sugar arrangements
· Telephone, text-based, TV-based, live voyeurism
· Therapeutic services
· Webcamming
Individuals selling sex in England and Wales today are varied in terms of demographics and motivation. At the same time, there are recurrent patterns of experience or identity that mark some individuals’ entry into the sex industry and/or the type of setting, service or the conditions in which they work.
We found that a substantial proportion of individuals (mainly women and trans women) are selling sex to get by financially, given different constraints in their lives around caring responsibilities, physical and mental health, lack of access to social security benefits and support services, workplace discrimination, or other reasons. Their situation is compounded by stigma and managing safety, and many find that the longer they sell sex, the harder it can be to leave completely. This moves beyond individual ‘choosing or ‘not choosing’ and recognises the structural economic and social context in which choices are narrowed: or in the case of those coerced in to selling sex, choices removed.
