> Women are increasingly being forced to engage in “survival sex” because of the cost of living crisis amid worsening conditions for Britain’s most vulnerable.
>Charities warn that rising costs paired with years of underfunding mean women, including those with trauma and mental health issues, are having to turn to sex in exchange for housing or to meet other basic needs.
> Sex for rent – when landlords demand sex in return for discounted or free accommodation – is a growing problem as economic conditions tighten, they said, with perpetrators using it as a tool to abuse and control.
>It is particularly an issue among migrant women and asylum seekers, the Observer understands. The crisis is also making it harder for those trying to leave abusive relationships.
>The Beyond the Streets charity said the cost of living crisis is driving those who are already vulnerable to turn to survival sex to meet the cost of bills and rent, leading to increased exploitation and abuse.
>A support worker for the charity said she had spoken to women who are trapped in escorting or selling sex and several who are having to “top up” low-wage jobs with sex in order to make ends meet.
>A spokesperson for the charity said: “The cost of living crisis is a driver [of survival sex], and for those already vulnerable, they face considerable exploitation. There is a lack of government funding to support the needs of women, and charities are struggling as their incomes reduce, expenses increase and they are faced with more demands on their services.”
> Latin American Women’s Aid (LAWA) has seen multiple cases of “sex for rent” in recent months involving female asylum seekers. In one of the cases, a woman had been sofa-surfing for several months when she met a man who promised to provide her with accommodation before going on to sexually abuse her while she was sleeping.
>Belén Ruiz, the charity’s violence against women and girls advice centre coordinator, said: “It is unacceptable that women in such vulnerable circumstances are exposed so frequently to harassment and intimidation, being doubly victimised and unable to seek redress.”
>Some cases, she added, involved the harassment and abuse of asylum seekers while in public law accommodation facilities. “This makes them afraid of accessing these services, which makes them easy prey for abusers living in private accommodation.”
I saw a lot of these “offers” way back on Craigslist and Gumtree when I was at uni looking for accommodation. Usually something like:
In the description you’d see something like “free rent, we can work out the compensation later”
Can only imagine it’s so much worse nowadays.
A lot of people will have skewed perception of this because of porn. We are not talking about a cute, 20 something year olds consenting to a role play in a porn video. Women in that article are addicts, have learning difficulties, are disabled or have severe medical (including mental health) problems and they are being ABUSED. while this for some may seem like alright deal (I mean, in theory it is easier to just bend over than pay rent + council tax) but in reality it’s a power trip from landlords and a fuck ton of abuse. Also, unless these landlords are actually paying these women there still isn’t any payments for rent being made so per contract, in many cases these women will eventually be made homeless. Really fucked up
Times like these always bring out the creeps and abusers. Women are forced in to prostitution and the men just end up homeless.
The one thing that irked me about the article though was the example they gave. It wasn’t a sex for rent situation, the woman was just straight up abused in her sleep.
Sexual exploitation of vulnerable women. Another shining example of why UK landlords are such a superb contribution to the utter shit state of this nation.
Grim.
It seems every other day some Romanian/Albanian/Polish gang is arrested for trafficking women for Prostitution across the UK.
This isn’t an attack against these Eastern Europeans. Many of the victims are Eastern European and the “clients” of these Escorts see mostly white British.
I feel we’ve reached a point of complete apathy in the UK.
Why not just collect rent and use the money to hire an actual sex worker? Do they get turned on specifically by forcing someone who hasn’t chosen sex work?
Given the circumstances, these women cannot meaningfully consent, it’s either endure sexual assault or end up homeless.
Every single landlord doing this should be charged for rape.
Discussions like this scare me because you quickly realise how many people don’t think rape by coercion is actually rape. You are very privileged if you cannot understand how physically and mentally painful it is to have sex you don’t want, because the alternative is even worse.
Abuse of the have nots by the haves is becoming so normalised in this country you barely recognise when it’s happening to you. What a world we live in 🙁
Got to be pretty low on the human scale to make someone have sex with you in order to pay rent, it’s sexual exploitation.
I’ve been noticing a somewhat similar situation on Grindr over the past few years. An increasing number of guys in their own apartments looking for “gifts” once you start chatting with them. I’d initially written it off as just an attempt to get some money from guys they thought were richer, but then noticed that I never got those offers from people who didn’t have their own apartment.
Obviously this is just my experience so take it with a pinch of salt, but stagnating wages and perpetually rising rental costs seem to be having a depressing impact.
We got a glimpse of this when the _homes for Ukraine_ scheme first launched and there were loads of applications to host from predatory men. Just shows that while you can risk-assess and vet against that for such a scheme, the predatory behaviour itself doesn’t necessarily go away…
I’m not sure why the subheading goes on about some women turning to escort work, when the entire article is about women being sexually exploited by landlords.
There is a world of difference between those two things.
Let’s be honest, you can put it as politely as you want but at the end of the day this is rape, just because it’s not in a dark alley and the man is not threatening violence, it is no less rape.
When patriots and nationalists read this sort of news coupled with bankers telling us to get used to being poor and our god king celebrating being born rich and privileged, are they proud to be English?
poor/vulnerable women have been forced into this for years, let’s not imagine this has just started happening
As I guy this turns my stomach.
As a community we should be doing better.
We are all Jock Tamson’s bairns.
We should be fucking ashamed of ourselves as a society.
Yeah the Tories know and don’t care, but then sexism is a trait of fascist parties now isn’t it?
The police, cps, local authorities, the judiciary and central government need to join forces to come down like a ton of bricks upon any & all landlords or agents that even attempt to do this type of thing.
If consenting adults want to trade sex for cash as their career, a cushy sideline business or gain a free place to live as part of their marriage/civil partnership or cohabitating relationship dynamic, that is their choice to make within the law.
But the law & glare of media publicity needs to come down like a ton of bricks upon all those sordid predators that proposition their tenants or any residents of the properties that they manage with ‘sex for free/low cost accomodation’, sexually harass and attempt any type of sexual coercion in connection with housing.
21 comments
> Women are increasingly being forced to engage in “survival sex” because of the cost of living crisis amid worsening conditions for Britain’s most vulnerable.
>Charities warn that rising costs paired with years of underfunding mean women, including those with trauma and mental health issues, are having to turn to sex in exchange for housing or to meet other basic needs.
> Sex for rent – when landlords demand sex in return for discounted or free accommodation – is a growing problem as economic conditions tighten, they said, with perpetrators using it as a tool to abuse and control.
>It is particularly an issue among migrant women and asylum seekers, the Observer understands. The crisis is also making it harder for those trying to leave abusive relationships.
>The Beyond the Streets charity said the cost of living crisis is driving those who are already vulnerable to turn to survival sex to meet the cost of bills and rent, leading to increased exploitation and abuse.
>A support worker for the charity said she had spoken to women who are trapped in escorting or selling sex and several who are having to “top up” low-wage jobs with sex in order to make ends meet.
>A spokesperson for the charity said: “The cost of living crisis is a driver [of survival sex], and for those already vulnerable, they face considerable exploitation. There is a lack of government funding to support the needs of women, and charities are struggling as their incomes reduce, expenses increase and they are faced with more demands on their services.”
> Latin American Women’s Aid (LAWA) has seen multiple cases of “sex for rent” in recent months involving female asylum seekers. In one of the cases, a woman had been sofa-surfing for several months when she met a man who promised to provide her with accommodation before going on to sexually abuse her while she was sleeping.
>Belén Ruiz, the charity’s violence against women and girls advice centre coordinator, said: “It is unacceptable that women in such vulnerable circumstances are exposed so frequently to harassment and intimidation, being doubly victimised and unable to seek redress.”
>Some cases, she added, involved the harassment and abuse of asylum seekers while in public law accommodation facilities. “This makes them afraid of accessing these services, which makes them easy prey for abusers living in private accommodation.”
I saw a lot of these “offers” way back on Craigslist and Gumtree when I was at uni looking for accommodation. Usually something like:
“FEMALE ONLY: 2 bedroom home, beautiful location etc.”
In the description you’d see something like “free rent, we can work out the compensation later”
Can only imagine it’s so much worse nowadays.
A lot of people will have skewed perception of this because of porn. We are not talking about a cute, 20 something year olds consenting to a role play in a porn video. Women in that article are addicts, have learning difficulties, are disabled or have severe medical (including mental health) problems and they are being ABUSED. while this for some may seem like alright deal (I mean, in theory it is easier to just bend over than pay rent + council tax) but in reality it’s a power trip from landlords and a fuck ton of abuse. Also, unless these landlords are actually paying these women there still isn’t any payments for rent being made so per contract, in many cases these women will eventually be made homeless. Really fucked up
Times like these always bring out the creeps and abusers. Women are forced in to prostitution and the men just end up homeless.
The one thing that irked me about the article though was the example they gave. It wasn’t a sex for rent situation, the woman was just straight up abused in her sleep.
Sexual exploitation of vulnerable women. Another shining example of why UK landlords are such a superb contribution to the utter shit state of this nation.
Grim.
It seems every other day some Romanian/Albanian/Polish gang is arrested for trafficking women for Prostitution across the UK.
This isn’t an attack against these Eastern Europeans. Many of the victims are Eastern European and the “clients” of these Escorts see mostly white British.
I feel we’ve reached a point of complete apathy in the UK.
Why not just collect rent and use the money to hire an actual sex worker? Do they get turned on specifically by forcing someone who hasn’t chosen sex work?
Given the circumstances, these women cannot meaningfully consent, it’s either endure sexual assault or end up homeless.
Every single landlord doing this should be charged for rape.
Discussions like this scare me because you quickly realise how many people don’t think rape by coercion is actually rape. You are very privileged if you cannot understand how physically and mentally painful it is to have sex you don’t want, because the alternative is even worse.
Abuse of the have nots by the haves is becoming so normalised in this country you barely recognise when it’s happening to you. What a world we live in 🙁
Got to be pretty low on the human scale to make someone have sex with you in order to pay rent, it’s sexual exploitation.
I’ve been noticing a somewhat similar situation on Grindr over the past few years. An increasing number of guys in their own apartments looking for “gifts” once you start chatting with them. I’d initially written it off as just an attempt to get some money from guys they thought were richer, but then noticed that I never got those offers from people who didn’t have their own apartment.
Obviously this is just my experience so take it with a pinch of salt, but stagnating wages and perpetually rising rental costs seem to be having a depressing impact.
We got a glimpse of this when the _homes for Ukraine_ scheme first launched and there were loads of applications to host from predatory men. Just shows that while you can risk-assess and vet against that for such a scheme, the predatory behaviour itself doesn’t necessarily go away…
I’m not sure why the subheading goes on about some women turning to escort work, when the entire article is about women being sexually exploited by landlords.
There is a world of difference between those two things.
Let’s be honest, you can put it as politely as you want but at the end of the day this is rape, just because it’s not in a dark alley and the man is not threatening violence, it is no less rape.
When patriots and nationalists read this sort of news coupled with bankers telling us to get used to being poor and our god king celebrating being born rich and privileged, are they proud to be English?
poor/vulnerable women have been forced into this for years, let’s not imagine this has just started happening
As I guy this turns my stomach.
As a community we should be doing better.
We are all Jock Tamson’s bairns.
We should be fucking ashamed of ourselves as a society.
Yeah the Tories know and don’t care, but then sexism is a trait of fascist parties now isn’t it?
The police, cps, local authorities, the judiciary and central government need to join forces to come down like a ton of bricks upon any & all landlords or agents that even attempt to do this type of thing.
If consenting adults want to trade sex for cash as their career, a cushy sideline business or gain a free place to live as part of their marriage/civil partnership or cohabitating relationship dynamic, that is their choice to make within the law.
But the law & glare of media publicity needs to come down like a ton of bricks upon all those sordid predators that proposition their tenants or any residents of the properties that they manage with ‘sex for free/low cost accomodation’, sexually harass and attempt any type of sexual coercion in connection with housing.