Working Lives Research Institute
The 'Migrant Workers in the UK Sex Industry' Project, which was completed in October 2009, gathered the stories of migration and work of 100 migrant women, men and transgender people working in all of the main jobs available within the sex industry and from the most relevant areas of origin (South America, Eastern Europe, EU and South East Asia). Contrary to the emphasis given in current public debates and policies about cases of trafficking and exploitation, the research evidence shows a great variety of life and work trajectories within the sex industry, which are influenced by key factors such as: social-economic background; educational aspirations and achievements; immigration status; professional and language skills; gender and sexuality; family history; and individual emotional history. Approximately 13 per cent of female interviewees felt that they had been subject to different perceptions and experiences of exploitation, ranging from extreme cases of trafficking to relatively more consensual arrangements. Only a minority, amounting approximately to 6 per cent of female interviewees, felt that they had been deceived and forced into selling sex in circumstances within which they had no share of control or consent. The presentation will explore the implications of the widening gap between the priorities and needs of migrants working in the sex industry, the emergence of moral panics in relation to their subjection to exploitation and the deployment of criminalizing policies which risk undermining their livelihoods and increasing their vulnerability to exploitation.