Racism: an additional barrier for women exiting sexual exploitation
We are so thankful for Rosie Hopley who delivered a fantastic training session to our team on racism in the context of sexual exploitation. Rosie Hopley is the founder and former CEO of Beloved, a charity that offers support to women working in the indoor sex industry and is now involved in training and equipping churches on racial reconciliation. Here are a few of our takeaways from the session:
The intertwine of racism and prostitution is complex.
Housing, qualifications, physical and mental health, criminalisation and money are barriers to exiting sexual exploitation. Institutional racism exacerbates all of these barriers
Barriers in accessing housing:
· Over 25% of working people of colour spend over 1/3 of their income on housing compared with 10% of white working adults. A lack of housing is both a pathway into the industry and a barrier to women stopping selling sex.
Barriers in accessing education and employment:
· Research published by Beyond the Streets in January 2022 highlighted that 63% of women selling sex required employment and education support. Enabling women to access training lowers their chances of entering the sex industry in the first place and increases their chances of being able to exit. Institutional racism in our education and employment systems makes overcoming these barriers even more challenging for women of colour.
Barriers in our Criminal Justice System:
· The Government recognises that 'there is evidence that BAME and foreign national women can have distinctly different experiences or outcomes at some stages of the Criminal Justice System in comparison to other offenders'. For women of colour who are caught up in the Criminal Justice System because they have been criminalised as a result of their exploitation, this injustice is particularly acute.
We are continuing to reflect as a team on women’s journeys and how we can better come alongside women as they face and overcome these barriers.
