The Liverpool Echo has an article detailing how increasing numbers of students attending the city’s university are turning to prostitution. With the increase in university tuition fees some students are seeing escorting as a quick and easy way to make money, (http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/liverpool-students-selling-sex-pay-6687922).
My book, Samantha tells the fictional story of how a young woman is forced into prostitution in the city of Liverpool. Can Sam’s love for Peter, a man she meets in a Liverpool night club, save her or will she end her days in the murky waters of Liverpool’s Albert Docks?
It should be stressed that the article in the Liverpool Echo deals with women who have entered the sex industry without coercion, although some commentators believe that economic circumstances (a lack of resources and opportunities) do constitute economic coercion (I.E. most people entering prostitution have no other alternative).
For Samantha please visit http://www.amazon.com/Samantha-K-Morris-ebook/dp/B00BL3CNHI
K Morris - Poet 
The increase in students turning to prostitution isn’t limited to Liverpool. Canadian students are also turning to prostitution to deal with high student debt. E.g., http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/UVic+students+flock+sugar+baby+website/7862840/story.html and http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/facts-and-arguments/with-no-career-prospects-and-a-pile-of-student-debt-i-thought-prostitution-was-the-easy-way-out/article17214776/. The woman in this article was lucky that the worse complaint she has is clients who don’t pay. International students, paying nearly double the tuition fees at Canadian universities and often being unable to work legally in Canada are particularly vulnerable to being coerced into the sex trade. I’m glad somebody finally wrote a novel about this topic.
Thanks for your comments and the links Connie. You are right, it isn’t just in Liverpool that students are turning to prostitution. In this article the number of students entering the sex industry is addressed, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3005437/Sex-industry-targeting-cash-strapped-students-social-media-offering-800-night-work-lap-dancers-escorts-web-cam-performers.html. Kevin Enter your comment here…
It’s not just in Liverpool that students are turning to prostitution. Rising tuition fees has also led to an increase in Canada who turn to prostitution to pay their debts. Students who do so put themselves at great risk but often feel they have no other options. Often they defend and even glamorise their choice, making it seem an appealing option to other students. The sad truth is, it only takes one Robert Pickton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Pickton) to put an end to their dreams.
Thanks for your thoughtful comments Connie. I know that in Canada the government has introduced the so-called Nordic or Swedish model of prostitution reform under which those who pay for sex are criminilised while prostitutes are not. The theory underlying the Nordic Model is, as I am sure you know, that it is clients (mainly men) who create the demand and by imposing legal sanctions the demand will dry up or, at the very least significantly reduce making prostitution unattractive to those tempted to enter it. Others, including many sex worker’s organisations argue that the legislation will make the lives of prostitutes more dangerous as it will push sex work further underground. I would be interested to know where you stand on the debate. Best. Kevin
Yes, there has been much debate here about implementing the Nordic model and how it affects sex workers. Unlike “escorts,” who are required to be licensed (although not “technically” as sex workers) and provide information to the police as persons likely to disappear or to be at risk, students and freelancers are already at risk with or without this law because many of them work solo or, probably worse, for a pimp. Will it dry up the demand? Bah-ha-ha. I have to agree with the sex worker’s organisations on this one. It won’t likely reduce prostitution, but it will drive it further underground. Clients–mostly men, as you say–will simply make it more difficult to identify themselves.
Thanks for your comment Connie. I didn’t know that escorts have to be licensed in Canada, I’ve learned something new. Here in the UK some escorts and agencies actually pay tax but there are, I think many more freelancers who don’t. There does seem to be a consensus that escorts are much safer than street workers, although Rachel Moran (a former prostitute) disputes this. Kevin
Here escort agencies are supposed to pay taxes, but I doubt they report all of their income, which is in cash. The problem with many escort agencies is that many of them are more like a pimp than a professional agency. They are supposed to have bodyguards and such, but all of that costs money that they’d rather not spend. Also, I’ve always wondered what the bodyguards are supposed to do… They could be charged if they do anything other than intimidate.
Thanks for your comment Connie. I will watch with interest how the prohibition on the purchase of sex in Canada plays out. There are calls within the UK for similar legislation. The All Party Parliamentary Group on Prostitution has produced a report advocating the Nordic Model and the European Parliament has done the same. These calls are rejected by the English Collective of Prostitutes and also by those who contend that the state should be wary of intruding into what consenting adults do in private. The latter group argue the government should concentrate resources on combatting trafficking for sexual purposes and other forms of coerced prostitution rather than pursuing a “catch all” strategy. This debate will, I feel sure run and run. Thanks again. Kevin
In 1967, Pierre Trudeau said, in reference to the decriminalisation of homosexuality, “There’s no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation… what’s done in private between adults doesn’t concern the Criminal Code.” I wonder how he would view this debate?(http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/politics/rights-freedoms/trudeaus-omnibus-bill-challenging-canadian-taboos/theres-no-place-for-the-state-in-the-bedrooms-of-the-nation.html) I wonder how he would view this debate?
An interesting question. Thanks for the link. I will take a look. I have read some articles which argue there is a difference in that paid sex is not truly consensual (the prostitute would not have provided sexual favours where it not for the handing over of cash). One commenter on a forum went so far as to claim that payment for sex is a form of bribery. This raises difficult questions, for example if a man buys his partner an expensive pair of shoes and she then provides sex in return is this not in some manner prostitution? I don’t think it is prostitution in the classic sense but if the lady is with the man purely bedue to the size of his wallett then she is, arguably engaged in a form of prostitution or, at the very least sugar dating. The response of many Feminists to Trudo’s statement is that there is a big difference between non-paid-for sex (whether gay or straight) and that which entails payment. The former is no concern of the state while the latter is. Kevin
Some good points. Sex itself, though, can be used as a form of bribery.
I agree with you. I wrote a short story about this very subject which can be found here, http://newauthoronline.com/2014/03/11/the-handbag/.
Hypocrisy lives! ;-D
Indeed there is a long and honourable (sorry I mean dishonourable)! tradition of hypocrisy …
Obviously men can also have “girlfriends” who they are with not out of love but purely owing to the financial benefit which the men derive from the relationship.