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This research informs our commitment to develop a model for Scotland which effectively tackles and challenges men’s demand for prostitution. It seeks to map service provision in Scotland, and gathers lived experience input on service experiences.

Introduction

LKJ Research was commissioned by The Scottish Government’s Violence Against Women and Girls Justice Unit, on behalf of the Scottish Ministers to conduct lived experience research with people who sell or exchange sex in Scotland. This research aimed to inform work related to the Scottish Government Programme for Government commitment to develop a model for Scotland which effectively tackles and challenges men’s demand for prostitution – which will also aim to reduce stigma and criminalisation experienced by women and encourage better access to services and support. The Scottish Government has committed to engaging with those with lived experience of selling or exchanging sex in the development of this approach. Within the suite of research designed to inform the model for Scotland, the remit of this research was to focus on support service provision. To this aim, the research looked to map service provision in Scotland with a view to understanding the current service landscape and identifying any gaps. In addition to this mapping, lived experience input was sought across three areas: accessing service provision, experiences and impact of support and ideas for future service design. The research took place over a period of 6 months from December 2021 to May 2022.

Background

There is no accurate information on how many people sell or exchange sex in Scotland. This lack of population-level data is not unique to Scotland, it is reflected globally and can be attributed to the hidden nature of selling or exchanging sex, likely fuelled by concerns around legality, stigma and judgement. The complexities of estimating the population who sell or exchange sex are widely acknowledged, with additional complexity associated with the move to online selling and advertising (Sanders et al., 2018). There is some limited demographic data in Scotland, for example the Encompass Network conducted a snapshot survey of people accessing their services, which collected the information of 150 women accessing support in November 20211. The women in the report gave useful information on the needs of women accessing services, however without a sense of the overall population of people who sell or exchange sex, it is impossible to know whether the results of this are representative of the overall population who sell or exchange sex in Scotland. Despite the lack of conclusive data, the majority of people who sell or exchange sex are widely believed to be women (see for example, Pitcher, 2015). This research begins from the standpoint that qualitative research is not only the most practical approach, with it not being possible to take generalisable samples of an unknown population, but also that it is the most appropriate to gain the rich, nuanced understanding of the experiences and ideas people have. When looking at the provision of support, this understanding of detailed experience on an individual level is essential to inform a system that supports all the needs each person may present with and can be appropriately tailored to provide maximum benefit to people who wish to engage. The majority of data in this report is therefore qualitative, but additional quantitative data has been collated around demographics, as well as specifics of services accessed, routes-in and methods of accessing services. These choices were made as numeric data and were considered especially useful in enhancing current understandings around service access. This report does not claim to provide a definitive answer or framework for support, but rather reflects suggestions and ideas from those with lived experience, that could be revisited, and adapted as knowledge in this sector evolves.

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