Vulnerability and involvement in drug use and ... - Sex Work Europe

4 Problematic drug use and sex work
Qualitative insight into ‘shared environment’ as potential explanation for relationships
between problematic drug use and sex work
In Chapter three, statistically significant relationships were shown between vulnerability
factors. In order to explore how and why these factors might be related to each other,
qualitative data from participants’ accounts of relationships between ‘vulnerability’
experiences were examined. Noticeable was the emphasis participants made in describing
access to various environments or settings in their explanations of the links between
vulnerability experiences. For example, problematic drug use was linked to homelessness
through outdoor sex work because all of these shared environmental space on the streets
and in the dealing houses which serve as sex markets, drug markets and areas where
homeless people congregate. Similarly, prostitution under 18 was linked to being ‘looked
after’ and working outdoors because outdoor sex markets were open to all ‘intro d u c i n g
friends’. ‘Introducing friends’ were often themselves young and ‘looked after’ or sometimes
m o re ‘pre d a t o ry’ adults. Either way, these introducing friends avoided scrutiny fro m
gatekeepers such as brothel owners or sauna managers by introducing novice prostitutes to
outdoor sex markets. This ‘shared environment as opportunity’ explanation was scrutinised
by matching participants’ experiences of vulnerability factors with their main sex work sector
and the findings from these analyses are presented in full below. In short, it was found that
early experience of ‘hard drugs’, problematic drug use, prostitution under age 18, having
convictions, experience of being ‘looked after’ and experience of homelessness or insecure
housing all concentrated amongst those who had mainly worked outdoors or as
independent drifters.
Quantitative evidence on ‘shared environment’ as explanation for relationships between
problematic drug use and sex work
Main sex work sector by age of first ‘hard drug’ use
The mean age of first ‘hard drug’ use among participants who had worked mainly outdoors
or as independent drifters since starting sex work was one and a half years lower than that
among those who had worked mainly in indoor associated or independent entrepreneurial
sectors (15.8 and 17.3 years, respectively). This difference was statistically significant.
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