The women doing sex work to make ends meet

As night desc

ends

on the capital, a different world comes to life: the world of sex

work

and we have been given exceptional access to those who are forced to sell sex on our streets just to

make

ends

meet

, but in

doing

so, the most vulnerable

women

become the most vulnerable. at risk Hello dear Charmaine truel the streets of south London helping homeless

women

many selling sex we are nearby Jeff call me if you need me do you know her well enough? Is she new on the streets? No, probably about two years ago. We've known that your women never tend to stay in the same dream for that long because it's not safe for them and why wouldn't it be safe because they're women and they tend to be targeted by men, if I'm honest.

Of the women you talk to if they suffered any kind of violence, yes, yes, I would say probably 100 of them it's a dangerous world, we basically take notes of who we've seen and what kind of follow-up

work

we need to do with them. And what is their situation at this moment? They also distribute bags with snacks and sexual health products. For us, condoms are a way to help them have safe sex without reaching the workers. They know it as the red light district and they say that there are many sex workers. They'll be around here, as well as pimps and drug dealers, and they'll all stay in a certain area because they don't need phones, they can find each other pretty quickly, and just as we leave the busiest area, we'll go down a bit.

Side streets, which is where workers say a lot of men come to pick up women, it's not always easy to spot the women and some don't want to get involved or are too high on drugs to talk, but after dropping off a customer, this worker sexual wants to do it. talk about these bags that they give too, this helps, yes, it helps because they put little pieces of food in there with some tissues, some wipes, condoms, which is very important when you are working because you need to stay clean because if not we don't have condoms, we we are putting ourselves at high risk, but this is a high risk job.

How safe do you feel here? I've been at this since I was 14, so I'm very used to it. They have attacked me a lot. I've been raped so many times so many times so I'm not afraid because drugs don't

make

me feel afraid, they hide my fear, does that make sense? So when I'm here, drugs make me not care, but that's still not a good way to be because when I really don't care I'm putting myself at greater risk. I have put myself in very dangerous situations. Do you feel like the police are out there helping you stay safe?

I trust the police. I trust them, but I don't because they are not consistent enough. They used to have an undercover vice squad and they're no longer here when they were away. I felt safe and now more girls are getting attacked the Metropolitan Police says it no longer has a vice squad, but says it has changed towards a vulnerability model that analyzes human trafficking and exploitation says it knows that attacks on Sex workers are significantly underreported, but she says officers treat anyone who reports a crime with respect and dignity and without judgment. After she arranges a

meet

ing with the team later in the week, Stella and Charmaine leave to find to other people who can help.

They say they are seeing more women on the streets selling sex. There have been many new women. You're not really familiar with this for you as a worker here, you know, helping people see more women out on the streets, what's that like for you? Obviously this is our job, so yes, that's why we're here, but it's also alarming because if there is here, we know things are getting worse, she says the cost of living and rising rents are a factor important and the landlords who own these properties, the rent is usually very high and the landlord can repossess these properties at any time and I just can't keep up with the bill exactly, do you have any place?

There are women here of all ages, these girls are between 20 and 40 years old, so where are you going to stay in the preparation? Oh, how pretty, yes, apart from age, they all want the same thing. It helps, but with the budget cut and the cost of living rising, how can this complex and deep-rooted problem really be addressed?