Nothing Personal campaign
The Nothing Personal campaign calls upon London’s local newspaper owners and editors to take responsibility for ending the exploitation of women, by ending the publication of adverts for ‘adult’ or ‘personal’ services.
It also calls upon council leaders to support that aim.
Eaves believes that local papers should not be contributing to the demand for prostitution, which has been shown to be exploitative, demeaning and dangerous for the majority of women who enter it.
What you can do
- Write to your local newspaper asking them to stop advertising ‘adult’ or ‘personal’ services.
- Contact your local council and ask them to withdraw all council advertising from newspapers which advertise ‘adult’ or ‘personal’ services.
- Write to your local MP about the problem.
Council leader template letter
Newspaper editor template letter
Why target local newspapers?
- Men who buy sex most commonly locate women via adverts placed in local newspapers (1);
- Four out of five newspaper adverts for ‘personal’ services provide sex on the premises (2);
- London’s local papers advertise an average of 28 brothels per
borough (3).
Some facts about prostitution
- 75% of women involved in prostitution began when they were under the age of 18 (4);
- Up to 95% of women in street prostitution are addicted to hard drugs, such as heroin or crack cocaine (5);
- 68% of women in prostitution meet the criteria for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in the same range as victims of torture (6);
- Women in prostitution in London suffer a mortality rate 12 times the national average (7).
Comment from Denise Marshall, Eaves chief executive
“In London’s local papers a huge 80% of ads for ‘adult’ massage parlours or saunas are fronts for brothels, where men can buy sex. Newspaper owners turn a blind eye to this, insisting that they do not advertise anything illegal, while banking their gains from the sex industry.
“At the same time, men who want to buy sex have only to open their local paper, choose a service and make a quick phone call. All the contacts they need are there for them.
“The irony is that local papers are full of articles about the problems caused by or related to prostitution – the blight of kerb-crawling on local neighbourhoods, the increase in drug crime – but they are directly contributing to the problem by advertising brothels.
“Prostitution is exploitative, demeaning and dangerous for the majority of women who enter it. It is time editors and owners took responsibility and stopped helping the men who exploit women.”
For further details or to obtain copies of the flyer, please contact Eaves communications officer Anna Bowden at anna.bowden@eaveshousing.co.uk or on 020 7840 7126.
References
- Government Equalities Office Women Not for Sale review January 2008
- POPPY Project 2008: Big Brothel, a snapshot survey of local papers
- Ibid
- Women’s Resource Centre
- Home Office, Paying the Price: a consultation paper on prostitution, July 2004
- British Journal of Psychiatry, Psychiatric Morbidity in Survivors of Organized State Violence Including Torture, 1993
- Home Office, Solutions and Strategies: Drug Problems and Street Sex Markets, March 2004