How Covid-19 is Affecting UK's Sex Workers

Enforced lockdown measures, alongside a lack of government financial support, has resulted in a penniless, homeless livelihood for many sex workers.

Despite the clear threat Coronavirus is posing to the human body, proving fatal in many cases, sex workers are still forced, out of pure necessity, to continue their work. The lack of support many sex workers are receiving from Boris Johnson's Universal Credit means that sex workers have to take matters into their own hands and continue to see clients in order to put food on the table for their kids or avoid homelessness. This was the case for Sasha*, a sex worker in dire circumstances because of the lack of government support during the pandemic. She is a mother of two and usually works in a Lewisham parlour earning between £40-£70 a day. Now there are no clients and no wage being made. She has applied for Universal Credit but says that is will not cover her rent: 

"I have tried so hard to put some money by, but every week every penny gets used for one emergency or another so I have no savings," she said. "As the bills come in I stack them up on a shelf and try to forget about them. I spend my whole day anxious. There is no let-up. I have the worry of the children, the worry of my mother who is old and on her own, the worry of my sister who has mental problems. I feel like I am living by a thread-I am exhausted and scared for our future."

Her comments are demonstrative of the real struggles many women are facing right now. To get a better sense of the loss financially that the pandemic has on Victoria, another sex worker spoke to the BBC and said her earnings had "gone from £2000 to £200." This is a huge loss and offers insight into the great losses that many other sex workers are facing right now. Cases like Sasha's and Victoria's show the difficulties sex workers are facing in managing their daily tasks of buying groceries, paying house bills or affording supplies for their children. On top of having to be wary of the spread of the virus in public, sex workers have the added pressure of finding ways to getting through the days. Some sex workers have been unable to do exactly this, where the pressure and lack of support has pushed some sex workers to the limit- becoming victims of suicide. Helen Croft, executive director of Streetlight, a charity that helps sex workers, said she has seen a spike in suicide cases. Speaking to The Guardian, Croft said that:

"For drug users in prostitution, it has tipped some over the edge because they are utterly desperate and cannot get access to drugs...this situation is dire, it is desperate and the longer it goes on the more difficult it becomes." 

While many of us have had the luxury of enjoying time at home, our bills, mortgages and jobs covered by Johnson's Job Retention Scheme or Universal credit, the struggles that sex workers are facing in our current socio-political climate is a reminder that Johnson is still not doing enough. In order to help sex workers like Sasha survive the pandemic and ensure that sex workers aren't endangering themselves by being forced to work out of necessity, Johnson needs to offer more money as Universal Credit; offer exclusive schooling for their children or invest more for therapy and counselling so that sex workers don't feel so entrapped that suicide becomes an option. Sex workers are first and foremost people and deserve to be getting the same level of protection and care from the government that so many of us are receiving. 

* Names have been changed for protection.