SHOCK OVER CITY SEXON SALE
Hundreds of adverts for women in Glasgow
HUNDREDS of online adverts have been traced offering women for sex in Glasgow.
PIMPS in Glasgow are using the internet to advertise women for sex.
A new survey found nine websites advertising sex for sale with around 380 adverts.
Although the vast majority of those advertising claimed to be women with adverts written in the first person, experts believe they were most likely produced by controllers or pimps.
The Glasgow Violence Against Women Partnership recently carried out an assessment of violence against women across the city to gauge the extent of the problem.
The group also wanted to look at current services to better understand gaps in provision.
As part of the review the Partnership looked at commercial sexual exploitation in the city focussing on prostitution. It was keen to understand the numbers involved, their age, where they are from and their experiences and where and when prostitution operates in the city.
Interviews were carried out with 10 services providing support to those involved in prostitution and found street prostitution is still a significant issue for the city.
Out of 52 women advertised on one website, 18 were from Eastern Europe.
A report to the city council said: “While it was not within the scope of this exercise to explore the prevalence of sex trafficking, if this was to be examined further we are confident we would see the emergence of trafficking for sexual exploitation.
“There are also strong links between prostitution, trafficking and serious organised crime.
“We also examined review websites where men who buy sex post details about their experiences of buying sex. We were able to conclude that men who buy sex have a significant sense of entitlement and overtly sexist comments were commonplace and lack of empathy was evident.”
The Violence Against Women Partnership says it has long been convinced there needs to be changes in attitudes towards prostitution.
That includes decriminalising those who sell sex and criminalising those who buy sex.
Their report adds: “By adopting this approach we can improve the safety and wellbeing of the most vulnerable women – and men – in Glasgow. Currently our criminal justice responses are limited and only apply in the selling of sex on street or kerb crawling.
“Brothel keeping is illegal and it is only women who will be subject to criminal justice. There is no criminal justice to men who buy sex in brothels.”
The Partnership also plans to contribute to a Scottish Government consultation on changes to local authority licensing of sexual entertainment venues. It says: “The GVAWP is of the view that lap and pole dancing or stripping are not legitimate or necessary forms of entertainment.
“It is an industry steeped in gender inequality which has a detrimental impact on all women.
”The legislation will mandate local authority licensing committees to license sexual entertainment venues and then local authorities can set a limit on the number of venues they will license and can set that number at zero.”