Migrant workers in the UK sex industry – first findings.
- Document number
- 2321
- Date
- 2009
- Title
- Migrant workers in the UK sex industry – first findings.
- Author/publisher
- Institute for the Study of European Transformations (ISET)
- Availability
- View/save PDF version of this document
- Document type(s)
- Research/Study/Analysis,
- Keywords
- Migrant rights; Migration management; Comprehensive approach to migration; Migration policy; Irregular Migration, Feminization of migration, Economic migration, Labour migration, Free movement, Undocumented migrants; Undocumented labour;
- Summary
- Contrary to the emphasis given in current public debates about cases of trafficking and exploitation, the evidence gathered in the context of this project shows a great variety of trajectories within the sex industry, which were influenced by key factors such as: socialeconomic background; educational aspirations and achievements; immigration status; professional and language skills; gender and sexuality; family history; and individual emotional history. Amongst these factors, being able to maintain legal immigration status determines the possibility for migrant sex workers to assert their rights and counter stigmatisation and exploitation. At the same time, the research shows that most interviewees chose to work in the sex industry and that only a minority felt that they had been forced to. The research strongly suggests that vulnerability, particularly to trafficking and exploitation, results from migrants' socio-economic conditions, lack of information about their rights and entitlement to protection in the UK, their personal family and emotional circumstances, but, most of all, from their immigration legal status
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