Migrant sex work and survival sex

More women are turning to sex work due to the current ‘cost of living’ crisis (Keay, 2022), but as the CEO (chief executive officer) of StreetlightUK emphasises, prostitution is not a desired career path for many women. Debates about the lack of choice, as well as the need to recognise sex work as ‘work’, are constant reminders about the challenges of understanding the sex industry. Adding to the complexity of the debates about sex work in the UK is the issue of workers’ rights (or lack of rights). During the COVID-19 crisis, activists championing the rights of sex workers pointed out that the lockdown affected sex workers’ livelihoods. But perhaps the pandemic only brought to the surface a range of structural issues affecting marginalised groups in British society. Before the COVID crisis, activists concerned about the reduction of welfare support claimed that desperate women had no other alternative but to turn to ‘survival sex’. Charities, sex work scholars, and other activists have actively brought the plight of sex workers to the public’s attention, but more research is needed to understand the struggles of migrant sex workers. This chapter sheds light on the experiences of migrant women in the UK who have to turn to sex as a survival strategy.