Working girls: abuse or choice in street-level sex work? A study of homeless women in Nottingham

Abstract

This paper aims to explore how abused homeless women understand their choice to sex work. In particular, there is a discussion of the motivations given by women as to why they sex worked, and it is suggested that abused homeless women can experience coercion from abusive partners in deciding to sex work. There is a challenge to the notion of 'victim' within the government's 'Prostitution Strategy' (Home Office, 2006) in specifying responses to the complex needs of sex working women. Recommendations are also made for practice in the context of the 'Strategy' when working with abused and coerced homeless women who choose to sex work. Twenty-six homeless women were interviewed - nine of whom had sex worked - and a structured, qualitative questionnaire was used in a case study design from which information was gathered about the relationship between a woman's experience of abuse and her decision to sex work