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Revealed: the truth about brothels

A survey into London's off-street sex industry has exposed just how widespread it is - and documents in disturbing detail the plight of the women trapped in it.

Julie Bindel
The Guardian
Wednesday, Sept 10, 2008

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/sep/10/women.socialexclusion

When Frank rang a brothel in Enfield, he could hear a baby crying in the background. When Alan called one in Southwark, he could make out the sound of a child asking for his tea. And when Mick called another to inquire about their services, he was told that he could have a "dirty Oriental bitch who will do stag nights, anal, and the rest."

The men were undertaking research for Big Brothel: a Survey of the Off-Street Sex Industry in London, the most comprehensive study ever conducted into brothels in the UK. The project, which gathered information from 921 brothels in the capital, was commissioned by the Poppy Project, the only British organisation that offers support for women trafficked into prostitution.

My co-author Helen Atkins and I recruited male friends and colleagues to help with the research, and warned them that the work might be upsetting. They were to telephone brothels, posing as potential punters, with a list of questions including "What nationalities are on offer tonight?", "Do the girls do anal?", "How about oral without a condom?", and "What age are they?" We wanted to look at what really goes on in brothels - how much control the women really have; whether there is evidence of trafficking; if local councils are giving licences for saunas and massage parlours when it is clear that they are brothels; and how the sex industry is growing and evolving.

During 120 hours of telephone calls, we established the following: at least 1,933 women are currently at work in London's brothels; ages range from 18 to 55 (with a number of premises offering "very, very young girls"); prices for full sex start at £15, and go up to £250; and more than a third of the brothels offer unprotected sex - including, in some cases, anal penetration. The lowest price quoted for anal sex was £15. "Come along and bring your mates," said one brothel owner. "We have a Greek girl who is very, very young." While kissing used to be off-limits for women selling sex, it can now be bought for an extra tenner.

Of the brothels researched, 85% operate in residential areas. Almost two-thirds are located in flats and more than one-fifth are in a house. Wherever you are in the city, the likelihood is that buying and selling women is going on under your nose.

Our researchers contacted only brothels that advertised in local newspapers - not those that advertise on websites or on cards in telephone boxes. Because of this we only uncovered the tiniest corner of the trade. But we still encountered brothels in every London borough, with Enfield (a typical residential area of north London) having a minimum of 54, and Westminster at least 71. We estimated that the brothels we surveyed made anything from £86m to £209.5m in total per year through newspaper advertisements alone.

Although it is a criminal offence to advertise prostitution services, the law is not enforced, and this "blind eye" approach serves the pimps and punters well.

Researchers also interviewed women who have worked in London brothels, and all reported having felt degraded and violated while selling sex. This tallies with previous research: one large US study on prostitution and violence found that 82% of women had been physically assaulted since entering the trade, with many having been raped. More than 80% were homeless, and a majority, on and off-street, were addicted to illegal drugs and/or alcohol. UK research published in 2000 found that prostitutes routinely face sexual and physical violence from pimps and punters, but have little or no "workplace" protection.

One of the women we spoke to was Naomi, who, like many prostitutes, has a history of childhood sexual abuse. When she ran away from home, she met a man who pimped her - first into hostess clubs, then from a private flat. "It's an unsettling, unhealthy experience seeing 20 guys a day," she says, "and you don't know what the next person will be like".

A common assumption is that brothels are safer than the street, and while it seems that women are more likely to be murdered if they are working on the streets, the prevalence of rape and other attacks from pimps and punters is also high in brothels. "The men have up to an hour to do what they like to you," says Janet, who was pimped into a Leeds brothel when she was 15, "whereas at least on the street you can always try to run away."

Rachel told us about the reality of how much money the women make, as well as the inherent danger in the off-street trade. "Flats are set up to be a rip-off, to be truthful with you, because you're not going to make money for yourself." Rachel made about £200 a day, but after paying card boys, rent, the maid, and her "protector" (pimp), she came out with next to nothing. "And you're not guaranteed security at the end of the day."

Alice brought it home to us just how accepted and normalised prostitution has
become. "You sit in a basque, in a window with your red light on. When you get a client you close your curtains and turn your red light off. That starts from eight in the morning."

The minister for women, Harriet Harman, is determined to curb the massive trade in women's bodies. Last week she released findings from a Mori poll of more than 1,000 British adults on attitudes to paying for sex. It found that the vast majority of both men and women polled would think it "unacceptable" if a partner paid for sex; the majority would support a law that criminalised paying for sex; and around half would back a law that decreased the number of women being trafficked into the UK.

As our researchers discovered, brothels market women merely as merchandise. Frank was offered "two for the price of one" if he visited during "happy hour" (any time before 5pm). One brothel owner offered to send two women to the punter's home for a £50 delivery charge; another offered free oral sex without a condom if more than £50 was spent; and at one suburban sauna, first-time buyers were offered a voucher which entitled them to 50% off the next visit.

We primed the telephone researchers to look for evidence of trafficking. There was plenty. Brothels offered women of 77 different nationalities and ethnicities, including many from known-source countries for trafficking. One researcher was told by a brothel owner, "For no condom and anal, call tomorrow. Eastern Europeans promised later in the week."

One punter I interviewed for another research project told me that in choosing a woman, "I made a list in my mind. I told myself that I'll be with different races eg Japanese, Indian, Chinese. Once I have been with them I tick them off the list."

Many people are unhappy that this research has been done at all. The pro-legalisation lobby do not seem to want the horrors of what goes on in brothels exposed, preferring to present such places as being similar to an office environment; simple, clean, consensual workplaces. Punters are also unhappy about public exposure of brothels. One frequent customer at a Soho brothel told me, "I don't know why people have to research prostitution - the army shoots innocent people, fast food poisons people; no one wants to research them. It's the only job that has no downside. It only brings pleasure to the customer."

Some of the male researchers had previously been liberal about prostitution. Frank had thought that legalisation would be beneficial to the women, and Mick believed that some would be happy earning good money. By the end of the project, all the men considered prostitution to be a violent and abusive industry, and perceived the punters as harmful misogynists. Nigel said that after weeks of talking about sex to third parties in a cold, clinical way he realised that the women were being used as nothing more than a product. "The idea of sex started to be devalued and demeaned, its sanctity lost," he says. Tony was shocked at the number of brothels. "They're on high streets, down alleyways and in suburban two-up two-downs."

Unless we think about sustainable and substantive solutions that will eventually eradicate prostitution, it will continue to grow at an alarming rate - research published last year found that in just 10 years, the number of men paying for sex in the UK almost doubled.

What Big Brothel shows is that commercial sex is becoming as normalised as stopping off for a McDonald's. There are two key ways that the UK can respond. We can legalise the trade, make the women pay taxes, and declare the pimps to be legitimate businessmen. Where brothels have been legalised- in Amsterdam, for instance - the illegal sector continues to flourish. Since brothels were legalised in Melbourne, Australia, more than 20 years ago, the number of unlicensed brothels has trebled. Few prostitutes will pay tax, as the act of registering their trade is too stigmatised, and their lives are often too chaotic. There is no evidence that legalisation keeps women safe, but there is plenty that shows it results in an increase in demand for the sex trade. In Australia, $11.3bn was spent on prostitutes and strippers last year, and the trade is growing at approximately 8% a year.

The other option is to bring in a law that makes paying for sex illegal, while helping to educate the public that prostitution is not a victimless crime. This has worked in Sweden, where such a law was introduced nine years ago, and 80% of Swedes now support it. Trafficking into the country is now lower than in any other EU nation. This is the approach that government ministers Harriet Harman and Vera Baird support.

Most men do not pay for sex. Those who do need educating about the harm that prostitution causes to women and society in general. Some will only stop if they are frightened of the consequences, such as one charmer who told me, "If she isn't crying but says no, I keep on. I only stop if she is really crying."

Others are able to justify to themselves what they do, simply because it is not against the law. When I asked why he pays for sex, one regular punter told me: "It's like going for a drink. You are not doing anything illegal." At the moment, he is right. Let's hope the government has the courage to change that.

Run Date: 07/15/07
By Nicholas Birch, Women's Enews correspondent
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/3240/context/cover/

Two former prostitutes are running for seats in Turkey's July 22 election to raise awareness about the stigma sex workers face in the nation's Muslim culture. With little chance for political victory, they say their goal is to change society instead.

ISTANBUL, Turkey (WOMENSENEWS)--Raped by her uncle when she was 9 and sold into prostitution by a man who had promised to marry her, Ayse Tukrukcu remembers her first day at a state-controlled brothel in the southern Turkish city of Mersin like it was yesterday.

"There was a song--'Is This Justice, World' by Hakki Bulut--playing in the shop opposite the big metal gate and a line of men waiting," she says. "I asked the policeman at the door where I was, but he just laughed and pushed me in. My world collapsed."

It's been more than a decade since she paid off the $12,000 price she was sold for. Now, in an effort to draw attention to the plight of Turkey's 3,000 state-registered prostitutes, she's running as an independent candidate in parliamentary elections on July 22.

"They talk about domestic violence, but it was the state that beat us up," she says, in the stuffy, shabby office that is serving as her Istanbul headquarters.

Frequently breaking down in tears, she goes on to talk about 18-hour working days in the brothel, social security payments withheld, even murder.

"Serpil, mother of three; Fatma from Diyarbakir; Hatice from Izmir; all three were killed while I was inside and their deaths passed off as overdoses," she says. That was the rule for disobedience, she explains: first, a beating, then rape, then murder.

"We're not here simply to get attention," Tukrukcu says. "We're here so that people know the truth about all these things."

Running for political office from the margins, Tukrukcu is one of thousands of candidates in an election that has been defined by a national debate over Turkey's delicate balance between its staunchly secular state and popular support for a conservative government that has its roots in political Islam. Analysts expect that women will double their ranks and win about 10 percent of the seats and the Justice and Development Party will maintain control of parliament. Its first task following the election will be to select a president, and the prospect of a government fully dominated by the Islamic faction has heightened political tensions over the past two months.

'Labeled for Life'

For Saliha Ermez, who escaped in 2002 from another state-run brothel in southern Turkey and is now standing alongside Ayse Tukrukcu as an independent candidate, the worst thing about having worked as a registered prostitute in Turkey is that you're labeled for life.

She's not just talking about those ex-prostitutes who fall afoul of this predominantly Muslim country's conservative morals, sacked from new jobs when their former identity became clear. She's talking about the way her daughter's hopes of becoming a police officer collapsed when her mother's record was revealed in a background investigation.

"I haven't seen her for two years and I don't know where she is," Ermez says. "All I know is that she refers to me as 'that woman' and vows to kill me if she meets me."

Hunched over his desk in a tiny office near the historic center of Istanbul, criminal lawyer Abdurrahman Tanriverdi confirms her story.

A statute passed in 1930 requires prostitutes working in official brothels to register with the police. Though the records are theoretically secret, they can be used in cases of national security, such as investigating the identities of people joining the security forces.

"It's a disgraceful piece of legislation, really, unconstitutional, illegal, inhuman," Tanriverdi says. "Above all, it breaches the fundamental principle of penal law: the criminal alone should be punished for the crime."

Since 1995, he says, he's represented nearly a dozen former prostitutes--including Ayse Tukrukcu--trying to get rid of their police records. Not one case has been successful. While he's as adamant as ever that the statute needs to be excised from Turkish law, he's not optimistic.

Islamic Party Led Reforms

The obstacle to change is not necessarily the Islamic government. Since coming to power in 2002, the Justice and Development Party has pushed through some of the most significant legal reforms benefiting women in the 84-year history of the Turkish Republic. In 2004, a constitutional amendment guaranteed equality between men and women. That year also saw major reforms to the nation's penal code that criminalized marital rape and sexual harassment in the workplace, and stiffened penalties for honor killings. The government also launched programs to address domestic violence and improve access to education for girls.

The problem, as is so often the case in Turkey, lies in a legislation that is opaque and frequently ignored by state officials contemptuous of the rule of law.

Hayrettin Bulan, campaign manager for Tukrukcu's and Ermez's election bids, is more positive.

"The people we're aiming to represent are working too hard to survive from day to day to get involved in politics," he says. "Yet complaining from the sidelines isn't enough; you need a political platform."

Founder of Turkey's first-ever shelter for men in difficulty, as well as the shelter where Tukrukcu and Ermez are now living, Bulan has been campaigning for the rights of street children, drug addicts, prisoners and prostitutes for over a decade now. He's a past master at getting headlines.

In 1997, he locked himself into a cage for 24 hours to protest at prisoners' living conditions. For years, he had his weekly program on a local television station about social issues in his home city of Konya.

"We picked Istanbul for the simple reason that all the press is here. Saliha Ermez is running in the same electoral district as (Turkish Prime Minister) Tayyip Erdogan."

Running with the slogan "neither left, right or center but underneath," the campaign has attracted a surprising amount of attention from the Turkish press. "My vote's for you, Ayse Tukrukcu," Engin Ardic, a popular columnist for the mass daily Aksam wrote on June 11.
Public Support, but Not Votes

While both candidates admit they have almost no chance of winning the 60,000 votes needed for a parliamentary seat, they say they've been overwhelmed by the support they've received by ordinary people on the street.

Baskin Oran, a dissident university professor who is also standing as an independent candidate, says that five years ago Tukrukcu's and Ermez's campaigns would have never happened without the reforms spurred by Turkey's bid to join the European Union. "People who before were too frightened to speak out are beginning to make their voices heard," he says, "and there are people out there willing to listen."

There are skeptics, though.

A doctor who runs a health and information center for prostitutes in Istanbul, Muhtar Cokar sympathizes with the story Ermez tells about her daughter and has heard it from other prostitutes. But he thinks the two candidates' emphasis on state-employed prostitutes, and their implication that prostitution should be banned, is an unrealistic approach to the fundamental problems of prostitution in Turkey.

"In Istanbul, there are 126 registered prostitutes and 30,000 unregistered prostitutes," he says. "The kind of brothels that these women worked in are disappearing in Turkey because no party wants to open them."

They don't want to give financial support to projects aimed at protecting prostitutes either, he says, and that risks causing major problems as the prostitution trade is carried on without official oversight.

A freelance reporter, Nicholas Birch has been working in Turkey and the surrounding region for five years.

"Nothing is going to deter me from masturbation, and prostitution is an extention of that.”

Friday, March 23: Opening Conference Event

Saturday, March 24: Pornography and Pop Culture: Reframing Theory

Sunday March 25: Pornography and Pop Culture: Rethinking Activism