New research on the impact of Covid-19 on women who sell sex or are sexually exploited

We are pleased to launch a new research report from Beyond the Streets and The Joint Public Issues Team (JPIT), entitled The impact of Covid-19 on women who sell sex or are sexually exploited

Our Development Manager, Dr Katie Thorlby, shares some background on why the research was commissioned:

‘As the pandemic unfolded we were very aware as an organisation, and as a network, of the increasingly vulnerable position women who sell sex were facing across the UK. From our direct support work, we could see the extensive impact COVID-19 was having on the women we support – from loss of income, to lack of access to services, to difficulties accessing food, to the impact on individual’s mental health. We wanted to draw on the collective experience of Beyond the Streets’ affiliate projects to gather evidence to better understand this impact at a national level. However, we knew how stretched we were as a network as a result of the pandemic so resources to invest in research were low. It was at this point that The Joint Public Issues Team (JPIT) reached out to us. In response to the pandemic, JPIT had started a programme of research to understand the impacts being seen on the ground during COVID-19 by those trapped in poverty. Findings from this work were indicating that women who sell sex and/or are sexually exploited were being disproportionately affected by the pandemic and they were keen to partner with us to explore this further.

Partnering with JPIT on this project has meant we have been able to bring together evidence of the experiences of women who sell sex and/or are sexually exploited who are known to the Beyond the Streets’ Affiliate network. The salience of trauma in shaping the pandemic experience of women supported by the network came through clearly in the research and underscores the need for collaborative, trauma-informed approaches to provision at an agency and governmental level so as to ensure that women who sell sex are not left to bear the cost of long-term fallout from COVID-19.’