Some sex workers still see clients to make ends meet, while charities report rise in suicide attempts
>Sex worker single mums in “dire and desperate” circumstances across the UK are continuing to see clients during the lockdown, potentially exposing themselves and others to coronavirus, according to charities and sex worker organisations.
>“We are facing a massive crisis,” said Niki Adams from the English Collective of Prostitutes. “No one wants to be flouting the rules and putting themselves and others in danger, but those who are still working literally have no other choice.”
>Some single mothers have resorted to letting unvetted men visit them in their homes they share with their children, potentially exposing their infants to danger and infection
>Adams said that many others would not be working, but would be using sites such as Onlyfans and Tinder to keep their profiles active in the hope that potential customers could be persuaded to pay for phone or cam sex.
>“We need immediate emergency cash payments to these women who at this moment have nothing to eat. We know who these women are, and we need to help them now, not in several weeks’ time,” she said.
>Sasha, a mother of two, had been working in a parlour three days a week while her children were in school, earning between £40 and £70 a day. Now the 33-year-old says she has no work. She has applied for universal credit but when it arrives it will not cover her rent. “I have tried so hard to put some money by, but every week every penny gets used for one emergency or another so I have no savings,” she said. “I spend my whole day anxious. There is no let-up […] I feel like I am living by a thread. I have had potential earnings from a few of my regulars but with the strict lockdown measures in place the supply of men is drying up.”
