Heartbreaking stories of 'desperate' women who have turned to selling sex online to survive during pandemic

Her plight, and the struggles of hundreds of women, is highlighted in a new report which has found a ‘powerful link’ between the poverty created by Covid-19 and women advertising to sell or exchange sex online.

Changing Lives, the organisation responsible for the outreach programme behind the eye-opening report, refer to this as ‘survival sex’ – where women are turning to selling or exchanging sex to meet immediate needs such as to buy food, secure a place to stay or provide for their children.

Hannah Dowland, development worker at Changing Lives, said: “It was clear from some of the adverts that it was the first time being involved in the sex industry.

"These are women that have lost their jobs because of the pandemic and are waiting for support such as universal credit which takes at least five weeks to come through. It’s heartbreaking.”

Focusing on 911 profiles listed on two paid adult websites and a number of free community selling pages, Netreach also found a ‘worrying number of young women and girls advertising online’ as well as safeguarding concerns including increased risk of violence, risk to safety and a loss of access to vital public services.

Laura Seebohm, Executive Director at Changing Lives, said they have found women felt they had no other options.

“It is not acceptable that women have had to engage in survival sex in order to get through the pandemic,” she said.

"The restrictions in place throughout lockdown meant more women are turning to online sites to advertise, and we are concerned that this puts them at risk of sexual exploitation and other harms.”

Another anonymous woman, who is from Sunderland, was contacted by outreach workers after posting an advert online when she didn’t have enough money for food.

She said: "[Lockdown has mean] it has been very hard finding jobs or even coping with hardly no support. I turned to [advertising to sell sex] because I got the cash to help me and the attention that people wanted me as I was very lonely.

“It did make me feel dirty, that I had to turn to this as it shouldn’t be that way. People should have more support, I was reaching for help but no one was helping me.”

Changing Lives offers practical and emotional support to women. Debra Cowey, area manager for women and children services, said: “For someone who really doesn’t want to do this it can be really traumatic for them. Each woman is very different and their needs are very different.”

Publishing the report, which was funded by Kim McGuinness, Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner and Steve White, Acting Police Crime & Victims’ Commissioner for Durham, Changing Lives has made a number of recommendations.

These include long-term funding for specialist services, increased accountability of subscription-based adult websites and free community selling pages, rapid progression of the Online Harms Bill and the introduction of a statutory duty for local authorities to understand and respond to complex circumstances which may lead women and girls to become involved in selling sex and/or targeted for sexual exploitation.

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