Prostitution For Single Mum
I have just read you’re a letter headed Cottage Industry and wonder if you could advise on my situation which is not totally different. Like the author of that letter, I ended up with money problems. I lived with a man for about 12 years before he walked out on me leaving me with a couple of sons aged nine and 11.
I am not greedy. I just find it hard to pay for such things as new shoes and decent clothes for the boys, as well as healthy food and school trips. I guess that many of your readers are well off and think that someone like me is sponging off the social security and gets enough benefits to live a life of Reilly. Well, it just doesn’t happen. I have to scrimp and scrape just to pay for our small flat and this last Christmas I had hardly enough to buy jus1! one present for each of the boys.
During the day I shift boxes at one of the big supermarkets and most nights I’m stuck at home cooking and washing for the boys and watching the television before I drop off to sleep. Yes, I do smoke, but not a lot. I hardly ever take a drink.
About six months ago my mum, who lives nearby, offered to take the boys once a week so I could have a night out. I tarted myself up and went to the local pub. I was hoping to meet a really nice guy who’d buy me a few drinks and maybe even ask me out. Well, I did meet a guy who was a few years older than me and, after he’d bought me a few Bacardis he talked me into inviting him back to the flat. Well, you can guess what happened. I won’t say I’m sorry about it. I hadn’t had a man in my bed for far too long.
I guess I must have been lucky. He knew what he was doing and lasted forever. He kept telling me I had a sexy body, and by God did he do things with it! Next morning he was gone and I’ve never seen him since. But I found a couple of £20 notes on the bedside table and I’d swear they hadn’t been there before. I don’t know which I felt most — disgusted and angry that he’d taken me for a prostitute, pleased to have some money to buy a few things I needed or inspired to try something I’d never risked before.
The next time my mum had the boys overnight I went out, unsure what to do but determined to stick to my plan. I must have walked the streets for hours. It was much worse than I expected. A number of women who were obvious pros told me to fuck off. A few men threatened me and one even chased me, demanding work as his gtn. But on a quiet street a man approached me and said something a bit like, ‘How much?’ and I thought I’d chance asking him for fifty’ quid. He agreed after thinking about it and I led him back to the flat.
It was nasty and unpleasant. I’d bought a few condoms just in case and thank God I did. He hadn’t got any. He tried to object to wearing one but at last said okay. He was rough and wanted me to plate him, which I wouldn’t. I didn’t enjoy the screw at all but at least it didn’t hurt. When he’d come a couple of times he zipped himself up and suddenly ran for the door. But I was quicker. I got there just ahead of him and stood in front of the door so as he couldn’t get through. I could have torn his eyes out, I was so furious. I must have frightened him. He obviously didn’t want to pay me, called me a fucking slag and a stinking whore but at last he ran out of steam and handed me the fifty.
After that I was more careful and always got the money before I brought any man back to the flat. Once a week I sent my lads over to my mum and went out on the game. The odd fifty made all the difference to the three of us.
I’ve learned to look out for the police, who don’t come round here much anyway, and also for the pimps who can turn really rough. I’ve heard a couple of girls in the area have been cut. But by only going out once a week I’m hoping they won’t bother with me.
What worries me is what would happen if the police catch me. Would they take my boys away from me? I go on the street so rarely I find it difficult to believe I’m breaking the law.
By the time this appears in print, Parliament may have actually passed the much delayed Criminal Justice and Immigration Act As I write, the act is still only a bill and there are several clauses in it which are strenuously opposed in several quarters. The Street Offences Act 1959 made it an offence for a ‘common prostitute’ (whether male or female) to loiter or solicit in a street or public place for the purpose of prostitu¬tion. I won’t list the conditions under which the police and courts would classify you as a ‘common prostitute’ but they don’t apply to you — yet!
The new bill, which attempts to tidy up a whole range of legal loopholes, will if passed using the wording already drafted make some changes which look only slightly different but important for you. The effect of the proposals is that it shall become an offence for a male or female persistently to loiter or solicit in a street or public place for the purpose of prostitution. The bill removes any reference to a ‘common prostitute’. This means that any woman can be prosecuted if she ‘persistently’ loiters or solicits. Conduct will be counted as persistent if it takes place on two or more occasions in any period of three months.
As you can see, the new wording will ensnare you neatly in its net. If you are, in fact, prosecuted under the proposed Crimi¬nal Justice Act, the magistrates may very well deal with you in a new way described in the act especially as it would (I hope) be your first offence. The court can make an order requiring you to attend three meetings with a specified person called a ‘supervisor’, all of such meetings to take place within six months. If the court does make such an order it cannot impose any other penalty for the same offence. The object of the exer¬cise would be to promote your rehabilitation by assisting you, through your attendance at those meetings, to address the causes of your conduct which constituted the offence; and to find ways to persuade you to cease engaging in such conduct in the future.
Hopefully this may enable you to obtain help and advice to do with your finances. I believe it extremely unlikely bearing in mind the account you’ve given of your activities that any court would take your children away from you. If, however, you continue on the game and become a repeat offender, I cannot promise you that magis¬trates will remain so lenient. The very tone of the proposed new Criminal Justice Act suggest that reactionary winds of change have started to blow.
