Saturday, January 10, 2009
The numbers on prostitution and sex in the UK don't add up
Tim Harford has an interesting analysis, on the BBC radio four programme, on Mathematics, the numbers that have been released on prostitution in the UK are not clear.
The radio programme is only available for a few more days, so listen to it while it is on air.
Some of the numbers are
Some of the numbers are
- 80% of Prostitutes, escorts are controlled. This is a figure Fiona Mctaggart has come up with.
- Julia O 'Connell Davidson challenges this view as she says that 80% of the sexworkers who were described by receptionists in flats, brothels or agencies were described as foreign.Does this mean that they are controlled?
- In 2006, 515 raids were carried out on brothels over 4 months in Operation Pentameter. There were 232 arrests and 84 women were rescued.
- There were 822 raids in Operation Pentameter two, and 167 women were identified. The raids suggest that less than 80% of the women were trafficked.
- There are supposed to be 80,000 prostitutes/escorts working in the UK. These numbers are based on research that was done ten years ago.
- There are supposed to be 25,000 sex slaves in the UK.
- 70% of London's off street prostitutes/escorts are foreign nationals.
Do politicians and academics choose their data to support their stance?
Labels: bbc radio 4, Escorts, London, Prostitutes, Trafficking, uk
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If you read sex related messageboards and the specofic threads regarding sex slaves and trafficked girls etc etc ..the governemnt figures are always wrong.
How do these people know the government figures are wrong?
I would say the truth lies somewhere in between the two.
I know for one thing that there are an awful lot more girls who are pimped in my area alone than anyone would care to admit.
These girls work from flats and pretend to be independent. They advertise this way, but what they are not telling you is there is always a 'Landlord' somewhere along the line.
Ladies ike you and I Nia, are in a minority I suspect.
The industry plays it down because it is bad for business!
How do these people know the government figures are wrong?
I would say the truth lies somewhere in between the two.
I know for one thing that there are an awful lot more girls who are pimped in my area alone than anyone would care to admit.
These girls work from flats and pretend to be independent. They advertise this way, but what they are not telling you is there is always a 'Landlord' somewhere along the line.
Ladies ike you and I Nia, are in a minority I suspect.
The industry plays it down because it is bad for business!
..Having said that...... I have a friend who ran a brothel in Leeds. She looked after her girls like a mother hen. She employed only British girls, and took no money from them.
She made her money from the door fee paid directly to the house, and then a small contribution for the use of the facilities from the girls.
They felt safe working in her place and I visited there many times so I know this to be true.
The police raided it. They made arrests and told lies about the details. The local newspaper were there at the time of the arrests and filmed everything.. how very convenient.
The girls were not rescued at all. They didn't need nor want to be rescued. They have all moved on elsewhere and would return to my friend in a flash if she were to open up again. This won't be happening as she has been in a lot of trouble.
I wonder how they categorise this in the stats?
More than one side to this coin I think!
She made her money from the door fee paid directly to the house, and then a small contribution for the use of the facilities from the girls.
They felt safe working in her place and I visited there many times so I know this to be true.
The police raided it. They made arrests and told lies about the details. The local newspaper were there at the time of the arrests and filmed everything.. how very convenient.
The girls were not rescued at all. They didn't need nor want to be rescued. They have all moved on elsewhere and would return to my friend in a flash if she were to open up again. This won't be happening as she has been in a lot of trouble.
I wonder how they categorise this in the stats?
More than one side to this coin I think!
The programme was very good at showing that the figures do not add up and are being misused by politicians who have their own agenda.
B xx
B xx
Well of course politician pick the data to support the legislation they propose to enact.
Sarah's letter is very interesting.
I suspect that it is really hard to draw an accurate line to say who is being trafficked and/or pimped and who is not, especially when you take into account drug addiction and drug use, including alcohol.
It may well be true that the women who are fully independent businesswomen are indeed a minority.
Sarah's letter is very interesting.
I suspect that it is really hard to draw an accurate line to say who is being trafficked and/or pimped and who is not, especially when you take into account drug addiction and drug use, including alcohol.
It may well be true that the women who are fully independent businesswomen are indeed a minority.
# posted by 
:
Wed Jan 14, 01:28:00 pm
:
Wed Jan 14, 01:28:00 pm
Hhmm. Let's see how the maths works out.
80% of 80,000 is 64,000.
84 women divides roughly is roughly 762 times into 64,000 and 297 times into 25,000. So we need to multiply the number of brothels raided (515) by 762 to get the number of brothels with controlled women or by 297 to get the number of brothels with sex slaves. That's either 392,430 brothels or 152,955 brothels. And I assume they targeted suspicious brothels, so we should round the figures up a bit. Very modestly, there must be at least 400,000 brothels in the UK. By definition, a brothel must have two ladies, so that's 800,000 prostitutes, to say nothing of the independents. If we count them in there must be at least a million prostitutes.
UK population is around 60,000,000, of whom around half will be female, and two-fifths below the age of 16 or past retirement age. 18,000,000 women. One woman in 18 is a prostitute, and if we take the age range 20-50 it's going to be an even higher proportion. Every street must be bursting with them.
Fine by me.
80% of 80,000 is 64,000.
84 women divides roughly is roughly 762 times into 64,000 and 297 times into 25,000. So we need to multiply the number of brothels raided (515) by 762 to get the number of brothels with controlled women or by 297 to get the number of brothels with sex slaves. That's either 392,430 brothels or 152,955 brothels. And I assume they targeted suspicious brothels, so we should round the figures up a bit. Very modestly, there must be at least 400,000 brothels in the UK. By definition, a brothel must have two ladies, so that's 800,000 prostitutes, to say nothing of the independents. If we count them in there must be at least a million prostitutes.
UK population is around 60,000,000, of whom around half will be female, and two-fifths below the age of 16 or past retirement age. 18,000,000 women. One woman in 18 is a prostitute, and if we take the age range 20-50 it's going to be an even higher proportion. Every street must be bursting with them.
Fine by me.
Mr Bloom,
Thank you for stopping by, and doing the math,lol.
I definitely know where to go when I am having trouble with my sums.
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Thank you for stopping by, and doing the math,lol.
I definitely know where to go when I am having trouble with my sums.
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