Prostitution - the facts - The Sex Trade

This article is 6 years old. Click here to view the latest articles for this topic.

‘Hell de Jour’

75% of women involved in prostitution started as children.
74% of women cite poverty as the primary motivator for entering prostitution (Melrose 2002).
Up to 70% of women in prostitution spent time in care, 45% report sexual abuse and 85% physical abuse within their families (Home Office 2006).
Up to 95% of women in prostitution are problematic drug users, including around 78% heroin users and rising numbers of crack cocaine addicts (Home Office 2004a).
More than half of UK women in prostitution have been raped and/or seriously sexually assaulted. At least three quarters have been physically assaulted (Home Office 2004b).
68% of women in prostitution meet the criteria for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in the same range as torture victims and combat veterans undergoing treatment (Ramsey et al. 1993).
Four out of five women working in London brothels are thought to be foreign natio