The lovely people at East London Project have been in touch to ask us to share with you their research project into laws, policing and how this affects sex workers. Please contact East London Project directly if you wish to take part or require further information.
From their researchers:
Are you a sex worker, working in London?
Would you like to take part in a research project to share your experiences about how laws and policing affect sex workers’ safety, health and access to services?
We’re a group of researchers led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, including people with experience of sex work or working with sex workers. We’re working in collaboration with Open Doors (an NHS sex worker support service) and National Ugly Mugs to find out how removing sex work-related police enforcement could affect sex workers’ safety, health and access to services. The results will be used to fight for laws, policies and services that protect sex workers’ safety, health and rights, across London and the UK.
You can read more about the research here: http://eastlondonproject.lshtm.ac.uk/
We are inviting sex workers to take a confidential online questionnaire who
- Sell sex (in-person services) in London OR have sold sex in these areas in the past 3 months.
AND
- Are aged 18 years or older
We want to hear from people of all genders and nationalities, and people who’ve worked in any sector of the sex industryproviding direct sexual services (e.g. flats, saunas, agencies, outdoors, independently). We would like to talk to people who have and have not had contact with police in relation to their work.
Questionnaire available in English, Polish, Romanian and Portuguese (Brazilian).
The questionnaire is completely confidential and you do not need to give your name or contact details if you do not want to. The project has full approval from the LSHTM ethics committee and London Stanmore NHS research ethics committee.
We will give you £20 to thank you for taking part (details on website for payment methods available) and you can access free HIV, chlamydia and gonorrhoea testing (and we link you into treatment if necessary).
Want to take part? You can complete the questionnaire here if you have login details: https://enketo.lshtm.ac.uk/::hrZyRCyq.
To get login details to enter the secure site, please contact Jocelyn Elmes or see closed sex worker forum posts:
Tel: 0207 6127824 / 07404 160920
Twitter @EastLdnProject,
Email elp@lshtm.ac.uk
DM at Saafe/UK Escorting
The questionnaire asks about your experiences with police, your safety, how your sex work is organised, contact with outreach services, your physical, mental and sexual health and housing and financial situation.
Some questions may be difficult to answer and you don’t have to answer any questions you do not want to. If you like, we can also put you in touch with organisations that provide support on safety, health and rights.
For more information about this study and the wider project, please visit our project website: http://eastlondonproject.lshtm.ac.uk