Powerful and disturbing piece from sex trade survivor, Michelle Kelly, about the harassment she has received online from sex industry lobbyists. Read More
Surviving the Sex Trade Trolls
‘Even in what I would consider comparatively good circumstances, prostitution was bad’
“My foray into prostitution started at age 17, when I signed up on the “Seeking Arrangement” website…” Read More
The Incest to Prostitution Pipeline
Recording and transcript of a powerful and compelling talk given by Sarah, a prostitution survivor, at Reclaim The Night in Perth, Australia. Read More
‘Exiting sex work is easier said than done’
“The way out isn’t quite so easy as the way in and the longer you stay on the fringes of society, the harder it becomes to bridge those gaps.” Read More
‘I was groomed into sex work by an ex’
“I was groomed into sex work by an ex; it started simple. Small, like drops of water into a bucket…” Read More
‘If I had known the truth about what awaited me in that brothel, I would never have been there’
In this brilliant article based on her own experiences, Tara articulates the reality of life in a UK brothel. Essential reading. Read More
‘Prostitution and the pornography that supports it destroy women. Why is that so hard to understand?’
“It’s impossible to assess the damage while you are in it because then, you would not do it. So obviously, you lie to yourself and everyone else…” Read More
InVISIBLE by Andrea Heinz
Andrea Heinz wrote this moving poem soon after exiting seven years in the commercial sex trade. Read More
‘We do not want to be sex workers. It’s not fun and it’s so damaging!’
My story started when I met my first proper boyfriend. The one to whom I lost my virginity. He had very odd sexual fantasies that I complied with because I had never really known love… Read More
‘I live with the trauma of being in the sex trade from 16-25 years old but also with the fact that I involved other women’
Powerful and moving pieces sent to us through our Share Your Story page, which provides a space for women to tell of their experiences in their own words. Read More
‘When the client pays for those minutes, your body is his and he will do what he wants…’
I did not choose as a child to be a prostitute and then as an adult I had no other opportunities and then I was in a foreign country and since I was a putanna I had to continue even if it was not what I dreamed of being… Read More
Confusing love and sex: how the care system creates a context for grooming and child prostitution
In this searing article based on her own experiences, ‘Alice’ brilliantly articulates the disturbing reality of girls growing up in the failing British ‘care’ system and why they make such easy prey for pimps. Essential reading. Read More
Prostitution policy: The Nordic Model or full decriminalization?
This page provides access to the recording and transcript of our ‘Prostitution policy: The Nordic Model or full decriminalization? What do sex trade survivors say?’ webinar that was held on 24 January 2021.
The theme of the webinar was the debate about the Sexual Exploitation Bill that Dame Diana Johnson recently tabled in the UK Parliament. If passed, this would establish a Nordic Model approach to prostitution legislation and policy in England and Wales. Read More
‘Any girl, and most boys, growing up in care become targets for the sexual predation of adult men’
‘Alice’ sent this harrowing testimony about growing up in a UK children’s home through our Share Your Story page.
“A lot of the time surviving in the care system prepares girls for prostitution later. We all allowed degrees of sexual access to adult men for basics like food or clothing. Even beyond that most girls acquiesce to men’s sexual demands in return for things that make you feel like a ‘normal’ young teenager, but aren’t necessities…” Read More
Swedish sex trade survivors back international campaign for the Nordic Model
This article, by a group of people who have experienced prostitution in Sweden, explains why they formed the organisation #intedinhora (#notyourwhore) and why they back the Nordic Model approach to prostitution policy.
“We see prostitution as neither work nor sex, but as an oppression built upon oppression based on gender, race, class and/or age. We believe this, not despite our own experiences of being in the sex industry, but because of them.” Read More
‘My father started sexually abusing me before I was two years old…’
“I’m a survivor of familial sex trafficking. My father started sexually abusing me before I was even two years old and by age six, he was selling me to strangers for sex. This went on until I was about 16 years old.
He threatened my younger brother and me, saying he would kill our mother if we ever told anyone what he was doing… Read More
‘Sex buyers, pimps and traffickers are delusional, narcissistic murderers of innocence’
A woman who wants to remain anonymous sent this powerful piece about her experiences in, and understanding of, prostitution through our Share Your Story page. This provides a space for women to tell of their experiences of the sex trade in their own words.
“Sex buyers, pimps and traffickers are delusional, narcissistic murderers of innocence that malevolently groom, then prey upon, people who are often victims of child molestation and sexual assault. These vulnerable people also tend to struggle with substance abuse, mental illness and most of all, financial insecurity… Read More
‘Gagged and bound, I’m led down the steps into the basement…’
‘Sarah’ sent this harrowing and powerful piece about her experiences in prostitution through our Share Your Story page.
“Gagged and bound, I’m led down the steps into the basement. A group of men stand there and my legs begin to buckle beneath me. Surely, I’m not to be offered up to all of them? I’m horrified and afraid. But the question has already been answered in my mind and I know that my life will be changed forever… Read More
Three Dangerous Myths About Webcamming, Debunked
There are many popular myths about cam girls. The men who pay them often believe cam girls are lazy, superficial, money-hungry [insert gendered slur of your choice here]. A lot of women think the work will be sexually empowering, or at the very least, innocuous.
However, I once worked as a cam girl and got to find out first-hand what being one was actually like. I learned that all the myths about webcamming are not only false and misleading but dangerous. Here is the truth behind three of the biggest myths… Read More
Hidden in plain sight
This is a transcript of Rebecca Mott’s talk at the ‘Experience of Prostitution’ webinar on 27 September 2020.
“I was prostituted from the age of 14 until my early 20s. I will speak to what it is to be prostituted; to the conditions for the prostituted and the breaking down of their humanity.
To understand prostitution, we need to see deeper than the generalised language of it being a bad thing. Instead, I will speak about the mental and physical trauma of the prostituted…
Read More
‘I WANT to have a real job and feel like a real person, NOT a used rag’
These powerful and moving pieces were sent to us through our Share Your Story page, which provides a space for women to tell of their experiences of the sex trade in their own words.
“I’m in the US. I have been prostituting for years off and on. I’ve been arrested four times. I have no job skills… Read More
Ireland must invest in services to help people exit prostitution
This piece was sent in anonymously through our Share Your Story page, which provides a space for women to tell of their experiences of the sex trade in their own words.
“I am a 43 year-old Irish woman who was actively involved in prostitution for five years from 2008 to 2013. My involvement in the sex trade came about as a result of my chronic addiction to heroin. I was not a victim of trafficking, nor was I being controlled by a pimp… Read More
‘I had no support or way out’
Stacy sent this account of her life in the sex trade, and after, through our Share Your Story page, where women can enter their experiences of the sex trade anonymously and in their own words.
“I prostituted for more than seven years and endured lots of physical, sexual, mental and spiritual abuse from both my pimp and the johns. I became an alcoholic and drug addict to ease the pain. Selling sex was never OK for me but I was in fear and had no support or way out.” Read More
‘Made to feel like nothing, made to feel worse than nothing, like she was just disposable’
A woman, who wants to remain anonymous, sent us this #MeToo account of her life in prostitution through our Share Your Story page. This provides a space for women to tell their stories in their own words.
“Imagine going to the cops because you have been severely raped/beaten/robbed and they laugh at you because you are a whore and you got what you deserved…” Read More
‘I believe legalised prostitution strengthens and emboldens misogynistic attitudes in men’
‘Siobhan’ sent us this #MeToo account of her experiences in the legal sex trade in New Zealand and Australia through our Share Your Story page. This provides a space for women to tell their stories in their own words.
“These deliberate attempts by punters to mess with my head have affected me much, much more than the multitude of times I was physically and sexually assaulted in prostitution. I still ruminate about the veiled insults they made about my worth, my looks and my character… I thought I had low self-esteem at 17, but prostitution has absolutely destroyed it.” Read More
‘I am a child impacted by the sex trade! I am a child impacted by paid rape!’
Imagine being a trapped in a world where sex is money and your body is an item for someone else’s pleasure. Now imagine being trapped in that world as a young mother with a tiny baby you would give anything for to see have a better life – only to have that baby removed from your care while you’re left unsupported to just “deal with it.”
That woman you’re imagining was my mum.
That tiny innocent baby was me… Read More
‘His hands are on me, my skin is screaming. Every touch burns.’
“He’s here.
A faceless, nameless, terrifying man. He could be anyone really.
I’m trying to hear the music but I can’t. His hands are on me, my skin is screaming at him. Every touch burns.
His lips touch, and ask, and demand, and smile. It’s not a happy smile, it’s a smile of contentment, an “I own you” smile. I’m not here. I can’t be here.” Read More
The cost of Western Europe’s rampant prostitution: the genocide of Romanian women
“I have decided to try this avenue and post here, not my story, not the story of a relative, not even the story of a friend, but the story of a whole country, my country – Romania. It is a gruesome story – in fact, ‘story’ is a misnomer. It is a gruesome reality. Of course, you are well aware of it, but I’ll tell it nonetheless.
“Here in Romania, we’re at the end of our wits and we, as common people, are doing everything we can on our part and I can only hope I can contribute by telling it here in the hopes of making a dent, at least…” Read More
I was an altruistic surrogate and am now against ALL surrogacy
In this article, a woman who was herself an altruistic surrogate for some friends writes about her experiences, which led to post-traumatic stress disorder, and why she is now against all forms of surrogacy.
“Women should not be encouraged to endanger their emotional and physical health and safety for other people’s ‘need’ to have babies. Women matter. Women should not be encouraged to put ourselves second, and to risk our lives for other people.” Read More
Thursday afternoon at the brothel
This is a diary entry from way back when Huschke wasn’t yet called Huschke, and was sitting around in the brothel as Svenja or Charlotte or whoever.
“Enough of this. I could not do another client today, it would hurt too much. To own up to this, to open myself to this, feels lethal. It does free me somehow, but the fear of Monday is back, where I mustn’t be this vulnerable any more, where I must push aside my knowledge that this is abuse, if I don’t want another murder to be perpetrated against my soul.”
Read More