Women who sell or exchange sex find their safety constantly challenged not only by the violent behaviours of punters and pimps, but also by the abuse they may encounter from partners, family and friends, as well as the stigma that remains in our society. This is why having to consider the risk and fear of harm - and taking steps to minimise these - is an integral part of their lives.

Following on from our housing bulletin, this month the focus is on safety. Specifically, how abuse and violence manifest in all aspects of the lives of women who sell or exchange sex and the impact on their wellbeing. In this issue you will find an interview with a support worker from Another Way, insights on abuse and violence toward women who sell sex and a wealth of safety information and research for both workers and women.

We hope you find this bulletin helpful and that it opens up reflections on how best to support women to access the services they need.

The CSE Aware Resource Worker

It is well-known that women involved in the ‘sex industry’ are at heightened risk of physical, emotional and sexual abuse; and many may have a prior history of abuse, including childhood abuse, domestic abuse and sexual violence.

The risks that women face when selling or exchanging sex and the trauma they may carry can impact on their needs, the level of support required and whether they access support. Read on to find out the issues affecting the safety of women who sell or exchange sex.

These resources were developed for women involved in selling or exchanging sex. You can share them with women so they can consider safety planning and/or read them yourself to consider how to support women to create their own safety plans:

• Encompass: Safety planning leaflet - available in Polish & Romanian.
  
  
• Think safety when exchanging sex - Vice Versa safety tips
  
  
• Ugly Mugs -  app to report buyers/ client’s behaviour
  
  
• Client eye - app to report buyers/ client’s behaviour
  
  
• Safety tips for sex workers
  
  
• The Esther Project safety tips
  
  
• Beyond the Gaze - Safety and privacy for online sex workers
  

• CLiCK bitesize - online safety
  A training resource exploring the safety needs of women involved in the 'sex industry'. Includes PowerPoint slides and training notes.
• CLiCK Cast Episode 3: Online safety
  This podcast episode by CLiCK Scotland discusses how selling/exchanging sex online, women's safety concerns and what the law says. See show notes.
• Encompass Focus On... briefings
  ​These briefings are based on the snapshot of Encompass services and the needs presented by the 150 women they support. Each leaflet includes a section relevant to safety. They can be found under the 'CSE briefings 2022' section.
• Assisting Trafficked Women - best practice principles​
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• Working Girls: Abuse or Choice in Street-Level Sex Work? A Study of Homeless Women in Nottingham​
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• Violence against sex workers in the UK​​
  
  
• Umbrella Lane Needs Assessment - Summary September 2020
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• ‘I feel trapped’ - WISE Women report on public sexual harassment

27 July, 11:30am - 1pm

Our second CSE Aware event will complement this bulletin, offering an introduction to the safety and support needs of women involved in selling or exchanging sex in Scotland, as well as examples of good practice when responding to those needs. There will be a mix of presentations and speaker inputs along with the opportunity for attendees to participate through polls, questions and case studies.

THEATRE PLAY: Salamander 

This year's Edinburgh Fringe will feature a play which tells the story of the brutal murder of Sheila Anderson, a woman involved in street prostitution, in 1983 and how this lead to the introduction of the first Prostitution Liaison Officer in Edinburgh.

Read more

A crucial element of responding to trauma, and one which very often is missing, is the wellbeing of staff. The Scottish National Trauma Training Framework recognises that workers’ past experience of abuse and trauma can impact on their capacity to respond to people affected by trauma.

This statement becomes even more relevant when we see that there is a high level of adverse childhood experiences among the Scottish population. The 2019 Scottish Health Survey showed that 71% of adults reported having experienced at least one adverse childhood experience, the most common being verbal abuse (47 %), physical abuse (28%) and domestic violence (24%).

In other words, the chances that staff within services may carry traumatic experiences of abuse from childhood, not to mention situations like domestic abuse and sexual violence during adult life, are very high. This is why healing from trauma is as vital for workers as it is to the people they support. This doesn’t mean that people who carry trauma are less capable of being a supportive worker. Indeed, we all carry some level of trauma to a greater or lesser extent. Yet it is essential that any trauma-informed service, and indeed any organisation, has adequate training, supervision and support in place for its staff.  

When these support mechanisms are lacking or inefficient, the trauma reactions of staff can increase. Like we have seen throughout the pandemic, more staff will experience burnout, compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress, and vicarious trauma.

One of such mechanisms is “support and supervision,” which as we saw in our previous bulletin, is often the first thing that goes when staff workload increases. We want to reflect and talk more about what good support and supervision is and what workers feel would be effective and we would really love your help with this: please use the section below to tell us three things that you think are key in good s + s. On our next bulletin we will discuss the key principles of effective support and supervision and share some of your anonymised responses.

Follow the link or scan the QR code to tell us 3 words that for you describe what would be good and effective support and supervision at work.