Saturday, March 01, 2008
Funding to help London escorts,sex workers start a new life
Newly targeted funds of £800,000 were today awarded by London Councils to groups assisting women exit the associated violence and abuse of prostitution and looking into the root causes of the problem.Eaves Housing for Women is set to receive the bulk of the funding, £443,200 over four years, to investigate and tackle the root causes and pathways into trafficking and prostitution across all the London boroughs.The scheme will also help provide outreach services, advice, training, and access to supported housing for women seeking to escape from a life of prostitution.
It will be available in: Brent; Bromley; Camden; Croydon; Ealing; Enfield; Greenwich; Hackney; Hammersmith & Fulham; Haringey; Islington; Kensington & Chelsea; Lambeth; Lewisham; Newham; Southwark; Tower Hamlets; Waltham Forest; Wandsworth; Westminster.
Chairman of London Councils Grants Committee, Councillor Paul McCannah, said: “These specially targeted grants will help readdress the balance of representation and support of some of the most excluded women in the capital.“The fund will provide direct services to support and empower women to help themselves and enable innovative investigations into causes and routes into prostitution and trafficking."We hope this will provide many London women the opportunity to turn their negative experiences around by offering them a supportive environment and routes into fulfilling lifestyles and occupations.”
This is useful for the women out there who need assistance. For those of you who have not read it already the paper by Teela Sanders on becoming an ex sex worker is a good read.
It will be available in: Brent; Bromley; Camden; Croydon; Ealing; Enfield; Greenwich; Hackney; Hammersmith & Fulham; Haringey; Islington; Kensington & Chelsea; Lambeth; Lewisham; Newham; Southwark; Tower Hamlets; Waltham Forest; Wandsworth; Westminster.
Chairman of London Councils Grants Committee, Councillor Paul McCannah, said: “These specially targeted grants will help readdress the balance of representation and support of some of the most excluded women in the capital.“The fund will provide direct services to support and empower women to help themselves and enable innovative investigations into causes and routes into prostitution and trafficking."We hope this will provide many London women the opportunity to turn their negative experiences around by offering them a supportive environment and routes into fulfilling lifestyles and occupations.”
This is useful for the women out there who need assistance. For those of you who have not read it already the paper by Teela Sanders on becoming an ex sex worker is a good read.
Labels: 24.dash.com, Escorts, London, News, Prostitutes, Resources for Prostitutes, Sexworkers, Teela Sanders
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
English classes for foreign sexworkers in London
Alice is a member of the International sex workers union. She is among a group of women that have helped set up english language classes for foreign sexworkers and escorts in London.
Some of these escorts need to tell their clients that they do not do bareback,
owo, or A whatever the case may be.
I am fascinated by sex tourists, and how they communicate with the women they meet.
An ability to speak english seems to be important for some men in London, or the UK who use escorts. I know that it is important for me to understand what my clients are saying, and to be able to communicate with them.
Labels: Escorts, guardian, International sex workers union, News, Prostitutes, Resources for Prostitutes, Sexworkers
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Escorts in Toronto turn on the Hookercam
Some escorts in Toronto are tightening their security measures, after two recent murders. Security is essential for every escort out there. They have had to resort to a system called Capture and Send.
Sex worker Shemale Dee was one of those who felt the need to act to protect herself and others. "I was a good friend of Cassandra's. We had known her for about 13 years and basically because of what has happened just recently, and having always been concerned with safety myself, I approached some software, security and systems people," she says. "I told them about the business we are in and how we do business and everything else, and wanted to do some brainstorming with them about the most ideal, easiest-to-use, easiest-to-implement system that would offer the biggest stick, the most amount of security."
What Dee and those computer people came up with is a system they call Capture and Send, which uses a camera that fits into the peephole on the door to an apartment to take a picture of clients before they come into the apartment and sends it to the owner's computer and to remote locations (friends' computers or a central image-vault service) as an encrypted file for storage. The files are stored off-site so that clients who may get out of line cannot just steal a computer to destroy the evidence; they're encrypted with a code so that only the sex worker and whomever she gives it to (a lawyer, a family member) can access the photographs. If nothing goes wrong, clients should have no serious concerns about the future of the image because it is, after all, just a picture of them standing in a hallway.
"So there's a lot of thought in the process. When I go to the door, let's say for example, buddy comes to the door and I want to let him in. I've sent the images to a dozen friends and on my door I have a little warning saying 'premises under surveillance.' So they know ahead of time what they're dealing with. And when I go to the door, I crack open the door -- I still have a steel bar that doesn't allow anyone to push their way past me -- so I'm still within my safe territory, and if they say 'Hey, I have a problem with the whole security issue,' then I say 'I'm sorry I can't do business with you.' And that's still from the safe side of the door. If I decide to let them in, and he decides to get a little testy and out of line, I'm able to tell him 'Hey, you've been warned at the door, and you can see that a security system is in effect and your picture has been sent to a dozen of my friends before you even came in here. So I suggest you leave' -- 99.9 per cent of the people in that situation would likely leave. I'm convinced that if Cassandra had had this system and she had said that to her attacker, he would have probably left."
Dee has been operating the system in her own home for a month, and says it's working well and that none of her clients has complained about it. She's marketing it to others in the business for $1,000.
Sardonicus, who used to work as a driver for escorts before setting up his website, is founding an organization called the Toronto Escort Alliance Marketing Service (TEAMS), which he says will provide several safety features for women in addition to helping them advertise their services, such as a business line that cannot be traced to the worker's home address and can be forwarded to their cell or home phone. One service he'll provide for no charge to any independent prostitute is something he calls "call safe": "They can call the hotline and provide the information of where they're going, how long they're going to be, when they plan to come out. We'll then call them out of that call -- which gives the impression they have someone watching out for them, and if we haven't heard from them by the appointed time we will follow up and exercise due diligence and bring in the authorities if need be. If we can't get a hold of that girl, we're calling the cops," he says.
Other safety measures that should be standard practice for prostitutes are being reinforced in the wake of the violence. Those working in incall agency apartments are advised never to work alone. (Lien Pham worked in such an apartment and under normal circumstances would have had a co-worker in the apartment with her. Her break with routine proved fatal.) Those working outcalls should always tell someone they trust the location and phone number of where they're going, who they're going to see and how long they expect to be there. All sex workers are advised to screen their clients, to be sure to get a working phone number and to verify that the number they've been given is listed to who the client says he is.
In addition, sex workers' organizations run by current and former prostitutes such as Maggie's and SWAT provide bad date lists and other safety information, and TERB provides an electronic bulletin board where workers can post messages and share information.
Quotes from Turn on the hookercam by Edward Keenan of Eye weekly.
None of Dee's clients have complained about this. If I were in her shoes, I would be wary of any clients who had a problem with it. I have CCTV at my incall location, and would not work without it.
Labels: Escorts, Eyeweekly.com, News, Prostitutes, Resources for Prostitutes, security, The Escort Industry
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Snagging prostitutes and stinging clients in Edmonton
When police do an undercover operation to catch clients,johns, or punters it is called a sting. When they do an undercover operation to catch prostitutes it is called a snag. Once the prostitutes are snagged they are brought to project snug which is designed to get prostitutes off the street, and give them a new life.
It adds a whole new meaning to the word snug.
Labels: Edmonton journal, News, Prostitutes, Resources for Prostitutes
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Pilot scheme in Ipswich
A pilot scheme is to be launched in Ipswich, for the street workers in response to the murders.
They will also be given an exiting package.
Street workers are to be given bespoke counselling and help to find alternative lifestyles as part of a tough anti-prostitution strategy that is being piloted by the Home Office.
Prostitutes will be told to take part in the programme or risk a harsh regime involving prosecution and Asbos. Officials are also focusing on kerb crawlers who keep the trade afloat; they are being tracked via CCTV and identified from registration plate recognition technology.
All prostitutes will be the subject of a "case conference" so that a strategy can be drawn up which is relevant to their circumstances. Each will be given an "exiting package", or phased programme showing the transition they might make.
A Home Office spokeswoman said: "The key objective is to challenge the street-based market in the town, focusing on prevention, tackling demand, routes out, and ensuring justice."
But street workers fear the approach could drive women off the streets and into unfamiliar towns or force them to take risks by working alone and unmonitored.
The English Collective of Prostitutes has launched a "safety-first coalition" calling for decriminalisation. "The Ipswich approach will simply drive the prostitution underground," a spokeswoman said.
Quotes from Anti-Prostitution strategy to offer counselling or court, by Diane Taylor and Hugh Muir of the Guardian Newspaper.
It will be interesting to see how successful the counselling is. My understanding of involuntary counselling, is that there is not much behaviour change. The women have few options counselling or court.
Labels: guardian, Ipswich Murders, News, Prostitutes, Resources for Prostitutes, Streetworkers
