Jenny Pearce describes a major research project into the experiences of young women who are being sexually exploited.
Many young people at risk of sexual exploitation by adults remain isolated from support. This is despite the existence of innovative projects aimed at protecting children from being encouraged into prostitution.
Findings from a two-year action research project highlight the many needs of young people at risk of, or experiencing, sexual exploitation (see below).
There has been increasing awareness of the issues facing young people being groomed for prostitution. Although the majority of children known to be at risk are female, young men are also affected. The national guidelines for safeguarding children involved in prostitution have provided the framework for social work, education, police, Connexions workers and voluntary organisations to work together to meet the needs of these marginalised and socially excluded young people.1,2
This work firmly places the young people concerned as victims of abuse, rather than as perpetrators of offences related to prostitution. However, some of the most alienated and excluded young people can still remain hidden from helpful or informed contact with suitably trained and informed service providers.
The research aimed to contact some of these young women and record their accounts of issues involved. Conflicts within families, in residential care, running away, temporary homelessness, abduction and rape, previous and current experiences of violence and abuse, truancy, school exclusion, problems with the use of alcohol and drugs and with sexual health were some of the major issues raised by the young women’s stories. The research suggests different categories of risk, ranging from young women who are at risk of sexual exploitation, to those who talk of "swapping sex" for accommodation, money, drugs or other favours in kind, through to those who call themselves prostitutes. The young women’s language often obscures the implicit nature of abuse taking place in their lives. For example, many refer to older men who are grooming them for sexual exploitation as their "boyfriends" with whom they are in love. This hides the fact that the young women are often manipulated through the pretence of love and through violence and fear. Workers face the task of viewing the women as adolescents developing towards adulthood, while also responding to them as children in need of protection.
The early warning signs shown by young women vulnerable to this abuse are difficult for many service providers to recognise or respond to. For example, young women who speak of running and "disappearing" from home or care, of developing sexual relationships with older men, or getting into unknown men’s cars at random, are often alienated from, or in conflict with, adults who can provide care and support. Once the young women lose productive contact with their school or carers, their vulnerability to sexual exploitation is compounded. In these cases, a "boyfriend" finds it easy to encourage a dependence upon him. In the research this was invariably coupled with young women’s increasing dependency on alcohol and drugs. The government’s updated strategy on providing drug prevention and treatment services includes a welcome focus on the needs of young people.3 However, many local services have historically focused their work towards adults and may need additional support and training to develop child-centered outreach services that can engage with the young people for whom drug use is an integral part of the sexual exploitation perpetrated by abusive adults.
The stories of young women who spoke of selling sex on the street showed that they experienced increasing alienation from mainstream services. The young women in these situations are dealing with a full range of problems, including being in trouble with the police, cocaine and heroin dependency, regular sexual health problems and homelessness. Often because of the level of need, the young women’s chaotic lifestyles mean that they often find it difficult, if not impossible, to keep appointments at set times with services that may be able to help them. Struggling with the reality of a history of abusive relationships with adults, they also find it difficult to trust professionals who are trying to engage them. For these reasons, they find street-based outreach services to be the most useful. These services provide temporary respite, often with a free condom service, coffee and chat with outreach workers trained to offer advice on harm minimisation, legal rights and sexual health. The outreach services are best when supported by project-based drop-in facilities. When young women know that there are one or two days per week when a project worker is on-site for them to provide advice and support, as well as for practical resources such as washing and cooking facilities, they call by on an increasingly regular basis.
There is a need for enhanced training in awareness of the early warning signs of sexual exploitation. Inter-agency work between key professionals, including youth and Connexions workers, is important to ensure that co-ordinated and consistent efforts are sustained to meet the needs of the young people concerned. Finally, for those selling sex, dedicated outreach services supported by a drop-in facility that offers practical resources such as washing and food, as well as personal support, sexual health and legal advice are needed. While maintaining a focus on protecting young people, workers should also be supported in efforts to gather evidence against abusers. Effective interagency work between police and voluntary and statutory agencies has resulted in cases being brought against abusers.4
This research is part of a larger picture of increasing awareness across the UK of the issues involved, examples of good practice and effective work being evident in a number of localities. It is important that this work continues to be shared and discussed by all those dealing with socially excluded and marginalised young people.
- For further details of the research findings, to be launched in May 2003, and of information on a national working group on young people involved in sexual exploitation and prostitution contact Jenny Pearce at J.Pearce@mdx.ac.uk
1 Department of Health, Safeguarding Children Involved in Prostitution: Supplementary Guidance to Working Together to Safeguard Children. Department of Health, Home Office, Department for Education and Employment, National Assembly for Wales, 2000
2 For a comprehensive review of the guidelines see S Swann, V Balding, Safeguarding Children Involved in Prostitution: Guidance Review, 2002 www.doh.gov.uk/acpc/safeguardingchildrenreview.pdf
3 Updated Drugs strategy, Tackling Drugs Together to build a better Britain 1998, updated 2002 See www.drugs.gov.uk
4 T Brain, T Duffin T, S Anderson and P Parchment, Child Prostitution: a Report on the ACPO Guidelines and Pilot Studies in Wolverhampton and Nottinghamshire Gloucestershire Constabulary, Police Research Series, Home Office, 1998
Jenny Pearce is principal lecturer at the School of Health and Social Sciences, Middlesex University.
Report recommendations
About the research project
The project was funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Middlesex University, and developed in partnership with the NSPCC. A total of 55 young women aged 18 years and under from a northern city and a London borough described what had happened to them and why, as well as identifying services they wanted to support them.
