Summary
residents of a neighborhood in Nottinghamshire have said that they’re scared to leave their homes due to an influx of sex workers in the area
residents of a neighborhood in Nottinghamshire have said that they’re scared to leave their homes due to an influx of sex workers in the area people in height and green have even complained prostitutes have sex up against their homes so could this problem be a symptom of prostitution being forced underground or indeed up against the home while the practice is legal many of the practices around soliciting sex for money or managing a brothel are prohibited by law joining me now is former sex worker and founder of the retrieve charity which helps those struggling from addiction is Natasha wired Natasha thank you very very much what do you make of this because it’s not the only area in the UK that has previously had quite a large amount of sex workers in it they’ve tried various different things in different areas aren’t they including essentially legalizing it all just tell me a bit about what you make of this situation in Nottingham okay well for myself I live in holbeck in Leeds and as you’ll know that was a zone that was legalized for a number of years and then was closed down last year so what do I make of it it’s a very complex situation um now myself being a former sex worker and now you know working with the women but also living as a resident in holbeck I do sympathize with the residents of Nottingham so I can see both sides it’s not an easy situation you know I suppose one could argue that actually if there wasn’t a demand for it then there wouldn’t be the service as well so maybe we would have to we should be looking at the type of individual who decides to go and utilize the services of a sex worker but I suppose there’s another side of it as well isn’t there which is the presumably a lot of people who work in the sex industry maybe I was doing it to help fund certain addictions for example so do you want to talk to me a bit about that as well how can we combat that well that was my issue um you know I didn’t just wake up and think oh you know I want to go and do this this is this is what I want to do unfortunately um I battled a 15-year crack in alcohol addiction which then led me down the path of feeding my habit through prostitution um and that’s what most of these ladies are doing they have a physical and mental addiction they are battling mental health and they are the most vulnerable women that that there are you know especially out on the streets and Street working um and it’s it is it’s the hardest thing ever because I can only speak for myself I can’t speak for these ladies in question but let me tell you it’s not something you want to do you you are addicted and you will do anything you can to feed that addiction which unfortunately for women is to sell their bodies suppose for some of these residents who are complaining and let’s be honest it mustn’t be nice especially if you’ve got young kids and you open your front door and there’s people visibly engaging in sex acts in the middle of the street which some of these residents say is happening so there you go does that mean that we should maybe make it easier to do in a private setting if it’s going to happen anyway and it is going to happen anyway should there be certain locations maybe where the police allow it to happen I mean look let’s be honest we’ve managed to utilize hotels for other things in this country recently and found the space there maybe we should do it for sex workers as well now to be honest with you like I say I can’t condone the girl’s actions you know it’s not nice I live in holbeck I have children you know and the residents and myself it’s hard you know our children are seeing this and they’re seeing the women on the street corners and they are seeing you know the paraphernalia that they leave about it’s not nice and no resident should have to see that and no children because I believe what’s happening is we’re having to explain to our children what this is and what that is before their time you know however how do we deal with this well we did try to legalize The Zone in hold back in Leeds and it didn’t work it failed miserably because what it did is it lured a lot of predators in and young girls have been approached and it it was it was it was horrific if I’m honest it was not the option so how do we deal with this as you’ve said it is going to continue but we need to look at a broader plan you know the women they need to want to get clean too they’re going to want to have to change this lifestyle which isn’t always easy when you have a hearing addiction or a crack addiction and you’ve been doing it for 15 20 years but you are correct and I think teamwork Community coming together counselors please how how are we gonna how we’re gonna look at this how are we going to work together to get these women but again like he’s touched on which I’m really glad you touched on is that if you know there wasn’t demand these men are coming into these women in their right Minds the women are not in their right Minds yeah no this is it I mean we can’t get around that I mean I think people you know assume all right okay whatever’s going on in these women’s lives as you’ve rightly said I would imagine there’s very very few women who wake up one day and decide they actively want to do this for the enjoyment and the love of it right so you know they’ve got whatever they’ve got going on but there are blokes there who just actively enjoy this service and they are potentially the ones to blame are they I mean is this something we have to look at actually what’s going on for the men involved here well exactly I’m not being funny but you know the men that come down here to into hold back with the women that I I work with let me tell you they’re coming in in nice cars from work big positions car seats in the back of their car they are married but they come to these women because these women will do what their wives want and these women are vulnerable they know they need their drugs you know they’ll be sick without the heroin because heroin is a physical addiction crack is a mental addiction and then they know this so I think as well you know then certain men need help they’ve got an addiction to sex