Drugs: education, prevention and policy,

Vol. 13, No. 2, April 2006: 151–166

Street prostitution in Scotland: The views

of working women

NEIL MCKEGANEY
Centre for Drug Misuse Research, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

Abstract
At the present time in Europe a range of countries are considering their prostitution
laws and looking at whether these should be updated in a number of ways including
the possible provision of prostitute tolerance zones. While this is an issue that is subject
to heated political debate, and considerable divergence within Europe, it is not
one where there has been much research evidence to date. One reason for this is the
concentration in much prostitution research on sexual rather than work-related matters.
This paper considers the issue of prostitute tolerance zones within the context of an
ethnography of street prostitution in Scotland. In particular, the paper describes
street-working women’s views of their work, their reasons for working, their views as
to the impact of their work on their lives, and whether it would be beneficial to provide
tolerance zones to enable them to work without fear of prosecution.

Introduction
At the present time across Europe a number of countries are looking at their
existing prostitution laws and considering whether these should be revised or
replaced in the light of current experience, including the apparent growth in
the trafficking of women between countries (Day & Ward, 2004; Ministry
of Industry Employment and Communications, 2004). At the heart of these
debates is the issue of whether society should accept prostitution as an inevitabil-
ity, and ensure that working women have access to the same kinds of employment
protections that are afforded to employees in other sectors, or whether society
should reject the characterization of prostitution as a legitimate form
of employment, and seek instead to utilize the full range of health and criminal
justice sanctions to reduce the extent of prostitution and the numbers of men

Correspondence: Neil McKeganey, Centre for Drug Misuse Research, University of Glasgow,
89 Dumbarton Road, Glasgow G11 6PW, UK. Tel: þ44 (0)141 330 3616. Fax: +44 (0)141
330 2820. E-mail: [email protected]

ISSN 0968–7637 print/ISSN 1465–3370 online ß 2006 Taylor & Francis

DOI: 10.1080/09687630500412312
152 N. McKeganey

and women buying and selling sex. These contrasting positions are exemplified
in Europe by, on the one hand, Sweden, which has adopted a zero tolerance
view of prostitution and where both clients and working women are subject
to criminal prosecution, and on the other hand, the Netherlands, where prostitu-
tion is officially recognized and where women and clients are allowed to sell and
buy sex under specific conditions.
Within the UK both the Home Office (2004) and the Scottish Executive
(2004) have recently released consultation documents covering possible changes
to the ways in which prostitution is regulated. Although these documents are in no
way limited to considering the arguments for and against the idea of prostitute
tolerance zones (where women can work without the fear of prosecution)
this issue is central to the broader question of how prostitution is or should be
regulated within the UK. To date, the issue of how prostitution should be
regulated (indeed, even whether it should be regulated by the state) has been
a debate shaped more by political viewpoints than scientific evidence. To an
extent this is not surprising since the research literature on both female and
male prostitution has tended to be more about ‘sex’ than ‘work’
(Vanwesenbeeck, 2001; McKeganey & Barnard, 1996; Ward, Pallecaros,
Green, & Day, 2000; Plumridge & Abel, 2000; Jeal & Salisbury, 2004). More
recently, research has started to expand its focus upon prostitution and has
looked at such topics as the nature and extent of violence against prostitute
women; their levels of psychological stress; broader health needs, and mortality
(Cwikel, Llan, & Cudakov, 2003;Valera, Sawyer, & Schiraldi, 2001; El-Bassel,
Simoni, Cooper, Gilbert, & Shilling, 2001; Du Mont & McGregor, 2004;
Romans, Potter, Martin, & Herbison, 2001; Potterat, Brewer, Muth,
Rosenberg, Woodhouse, & Mutha, 2004; Romero-Daza, Weeks & Singer, 2003).
Despite this broadening in the focus of prostitution research we know
rather less than we might wish about such areas as women’s reasons for working
as prostitutes, their experience of work, their views on the idea of prostitute
tolerance zones and whether prostitution should be legalized within the UK.
The research reported in this paper sought to flesh out women’s views in each
of these areas by interviewing a sample of women selling sex on the streets
in Scotland.

Research methods
The research reported here was carried out within the context of an on-going
enquiry into the prostitution laws within Scotland and involved interviewing
33 women selling sex on the streets across the four major Scottish cities
(Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen). In Edinburgh most of the
interviews were facilitated by the Scot Pep agency (street-based prostitute peer-
education project), which helped to arrange interviews and provided a venue
where the interviews could take place. In Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee
women were cold contacted in the course of their work. In each city women
were offered £10 to take part in a short semi-structured interview, which covered
 Street prostitution in Scotland 153

such topics as the women’s routes into prostitution, their reasons for continuing
to work, their perception of their work and its impact on their sense of self,
their views on whether prostitution tolerance zones should be provided and
whether prostitution itself should be legalized. Women were also asked about
their views of the future and whether they could see a time when they would
not be working. Most of the women agreed with the request to tape record
their interview although this was declined by a small minority of women.
Where women declined to have the interview audio recorded detailed field
notes were written up following their interviews. In the analysis phase of this
research all of the interview transcripts and field notes were reviewed to identify
common themes and individual responses across the main interview topic areas.
The aim of this analysis was to flesh out the women’s views and experiences
in order to provide a detailed description of female street prostitution in Scotland.
Before looking in detail at what the women had to say about their work it will
be helpful to say a little about the social organization of street prostitution
across the four cities.

Street prostitution in Scotland

At the present time there are no estimates of the number of women working
in the sex industry on the streets in Scotland. The closest there has been to a
prevalence survey of street prostitution in Scotland was carried out in Glasgow
in 1992 by McKeganey and colleagues. This research combined capture
recapture population estimation methods with observational fieldwork to estimate
that there were around 1100 women working on the streets in Glasgow over 70%
of whom were thought to be injecting drug users (McKeganey, Barnard, Leyland,
Coote, & Follett, 1992). In the period since this research was carried out the
proportion of women selling sex on the streets in Glasgow who are injecting
drugs is thought to have increased to nearer 90% although this perception is
not based upon any reproducible statistical techniques.
Street prostitution in Glasgow is concentrated in two parts of the city; one
of these is located in the business district, which at night turns into a major
red-light area within the heart of the city and the other is in a relatively poor
residential area to the east of the city. Within the city centre site a large
number of women can be seen working most evenings from around 8 p.m.
through to the early hours of the morning. During a series of two-hour fieldwork
visits to the area, for example, it was common to see around 40 women working.
Within the second area, located in a residential part of the city, there were
considerably fewer women working, although the scene was active during
the day. In the case of the prostitution site to the east of the city there was a per-
ception amongst the women interviewed that this was an area where sex was sold
at a cheaper price than in the city-centre area. This part of the city certainly had
a very run down, derelict feel to it.
In Aberdeen, street prostitution has historically been associated with the
port area. In the 1980s small numbers of women could be seen walking slowly
154 N. McKeganey

along the harbour front or standing in doorways in the adjacent streets.

At that time there was no sense of a tolerance zone operating within the city
and all of the women were at risk of being arrested by the police. Over the last
few years, however, Aberdeen council has provided informal recognition of
a tolerance zone within the port area where women are allowed to work without
fear of prosecution. Although such an area has been operational in Edinburgh
in the past, Aberdeen is now the only city in Scotland with a recognized
tolerance zone. During a series of two-hour fieldwork visits to Aberdeen it was
common to see around 30 to 40 women working on the streets within the
tolerance zone area, with additional small numbers of women working outside
the zone. Along with the large number of women working in the area there
was also a reasonably heavy traffic flow of male drivers clearly attracted to the
area as a result of its association with street prostitution.
Traditionally street prostitution in Edinburgh occurred in a part of the city
that had a well-established reputation for commercial sex and where, as a result
of local agreements between the council and the police, women were allowed
to work without fear of prosecution. However, as a result of concerted action
from local tenants’ groups the recognition of such a tolerance zone was dissolved
and as a result street prostitution is now much more dispersed, beyond the various
streets that were formally associated with street prostitution. While in the past it
would have been common to see between 20 to 30 women working on the streets
in this area at the time of the fieldwork this number had diminished considerably
to the point where it was more common to see little more than a handful of
women working in rather isolated, solitary circumstances.
The situation in Dundee in relation to street prostitution is markedly different
to that in Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh. In Dundee there has never been
a recognized street-based red-light area. On the basis of a series of two hour
fieldwork visits to the city one had the impression of the near total absence
of a street prostitution scene of any kind within the city:
I have been driving round for over one hour and on one occasion I thought I caught sight
of a woman standing in a side street. By the time I had reversed, however, there was no sign
of the woman. On a second occasion I passed a woman who was standing talking to a taxi
driver who had pulled up adjacent to her. At first I assumed that he was dropping her
off but when I pulled up further down the road I noticed that she remained on the street,
although not paying any obvious attention to the cars passing by. When I drove past a few min-
utes later she did not look into the car at all and I was not at all sure she was working
although when I then pulled up she approached the car and asked if I was looking for business.
When I explained to her what I was doing she said that I should have been in the area the
previous night because it was ‘really busy’. When I asked her to estimate how many women
had been working on the previous night she said, ‘At least three that I know off’. This confirms
my impression that Dundee has only a very small and relatively invisible street-prostitution
scene. This is in itself puzzling because the city has a substantial drug problem and one wonders
how female addicts within the city are otherwise funding their drug habit.

In the remainder of this paper I look at the women’s views in a number of

key areas, their reasons for working, the impact of their work on their private
lives and their views as to the benefits or not of prostitute tolerance zones.
 Street prostitution in Scotland 155

Reasons for working

All of the women contacted in the course of this study were asked about their
reasons for having started to work in the sex industry. Although the circumstances
of individual women differed markedly, the majority said that they had started
to work as prostitutes in circumstances of dire need:
I think basically it was survival . . . my partner was an alcoholic and I asked him to leave,
he wasn’t coming back with any money and I’ve got debts I needed to pay off . . . . But I never
envisaged doing something like this to be honest. I don’t think I will do it long term . . . this is
just spate of my life. (Aberdeen)
I had ma son and I had to provide for him. When I was younger ma mum left me on a doorstep
and ma dad was an alcoholic so I was never brought up with ma mum and dad so I just try
and do the best I can for ma boy. I only get È80 a fortnight for me and ma son and that’s
not enough so I just try to do the best for ma son that I didn’t get when I was younger.
(Glasgow)

For the majority of the women interviewed in the course of this research the
need that had led to their working in the sex industry was the need to fund
a drug habit. This was evident across each of the cities in which interviews
were undertaken:
Basically I need the money for ma junk. (Glasgow)
To get the money for ma habit. (Edinburgh)
If I didn’t have a habit there’s no way I would be doing this. (Aberdeen)
I needed the money for ma gear. (Dundee)

For some of the women, including some of the drug-using women, their
decision to start working as a prostitute was described as having been shaped
by their early experiences of childhood sexual abuse:
Respondent: I was in and out of foster homes I practically brought ma sisters up till I got
taken into a home. Once I was taken into a home they got taken into a foster home as well
and that’s why I ended up blaming myself. I’ve been sexually abused by about eight different
people. When I was growing up ma uncle sexually abused me for eight years from the age
of 2 to 10 and the thing is ma parents know about it but because they were alcoholics they
just ignored it.
Interviewer: Do you think that has had an impact on your working?
Respondent: Yea well the way I see it men have screwed me over my whole life, I was
raped at 15, I was sexually abused all through ma childhood. We all were. The way I see it
I’m getting money off them now for what they were doing to me. Ma partner who I had
been with for eight years and who I’ve got two kids with, he bloody beat me and raped me
so I’d be as well getting paid for it rather than them taking advantage of me for nothing.
Least this way I’m being paid. (Dundee)

Finally, a small number of women described the decision to start working

in prostitution as having been a conscious occupational choice:
Interviewer: Why did you start working?
Respondent: I needed the money . . . for dancing, clothes and that.
156 N. McKeganey

The reasons the women gave for having started to work on the streets
were similar to the reasons they offered for continuing to work in the sex
industry although the need to fund a drug habit was even more
prominent. In Aberdeen and Glasgow all but three of the women interviewed
explained their continued working in terms of their need to fund their drug
habit:
Ma dad on ma twenty-first birthday said, ‘If I give you cash will you take a night off?’ and I says,
‘Dad I canna ask for that money’ and he says, ‘Look if I give you £100 will you please not
go down there?’ and I said, ‘Yes OK’ but at the end of the day £100 wasn’t enough I could
have bought my stuff but then I would have had to watch Clare [drug-addicted prostitute
friend] strung out, do you know what I mean and all I had to do to get the money was
a couple of punters. (Aberdeen)
Interviewer: Can you tell me why you are continuing to work?
Respondent: I have to work I don’t want to come and stand out here.
Interviewer: What forces you to do this then?
Respondent: I need the money for ma drugs. (Glasgow)

The fact that maintaining a drug habit was more prominent in the women’s
reasons for continuing to work than in their explanations for having started to
work suggests that in some cases women had acquired a drug habit in the
course of their work within prostitution. This seems plausible given the fact
that many women described using drugs as a way of coping with the stresses
of their work and the fact that their work brought them into close contact with
women and men who were using and selling illegal drugs. It was also evident
that for some women it was the experience of earning quite large sums of cash
that tied them into continuing to work in the sex industry as a result of there
being no obvious alternative way of earning an equivalent income:
What keeps me working? That’s easy, the money. If you stay at home like at Christmas I stayed
in the house worrying about not having the money for gear . . . just not having the money
and thinking all the time of the customers that were out here. (Dundee)
A lot of people think, ‘Oh its great!’ and all that but it’s a dangerous job. You’ve got to know
the ins and outs of this job before you even think about going to do it but once you’re in its like
a lifetime gamble its hard to get out. Cause you ken if you’ve got a bill coming through the
door for about £80 or £90 you ken you’re going to make that money down here and that’s
you’re bill paid. (Aberdeen)
I don’t know how long I’ll work . . . I’m really attached to the money side of it. (Dundee)

Surprisingly, two women described the decision to continue working in

prostitution in terms of the opportunity their work provided for them to meet
and socialise with other people (clients and other working women):
I’ve been with my new partner for about ten months and not even a cuddle . . . so there’s a
loneliness. I don’t come down here for sex I just come down here for something to do,
I’ve nowhere else to go. (Glasgow)

What is clear from these reports is the fact that while a small number of women
described themselves as having exercised some element of choice in their decision
 Street prostitution in Scotland 157

to start working, and continue working, in the sex industry, for the vast majority
of women the decision to start working appeared to have largely been made as a
result of the desperate circumstances in which they were living—predominantly
their dependence upon illegal drugs. For the most part it would be inaccurate
to use the language of choice to describe the women’s routes into prostitution.
This element of forced labour is clearly important in determining whether
prostitution, or at least street prostitution, can be considered much like any
other occupational sector.
In the next section I look at what the women saw as the impact of their work
on their own sense of self.

The impact of working as a prostitute

With the exception of a small minority of women, most of those interviewed
said that their work had had a profoundly negative impact on their own sense
of worth and their private lives with family, friends and partners:
Interviewer: Has working changed you?
Respondent: Yea it has to be honest. Having a sexual relationship with someone outside
would be hard, it’s hard to establish in your brain from this and my private life. I don’t normally
have a partner. I have now and I’m finding it difficult.
Interviewer: Do you think it influences how he sees you?
Respondent: No I wouldn’t like to think so . . . but it must do really, eh? (Dundee)
I know that there are guys who think that I’m a nice lass, same as Jennifer, but when I get home
the last thing that I think about when I had a boyfriend was sex. And even if you do meet a nice
guy you feel so embarrassed at what you are doing you don’t want to give them a chance to
get to know you. It’s not just the prostitution it’s the heroin as well that also desensitises
you. You have to be a different person to come down here do you know what I mean you put
on a bold front you have to be a totally different person just to cope with all this shit. (Glasgow)

It was clear from what the women said that the impact of their work on their
private lives went well beyond the issue of sex with their partner. Some women
commented, for example, that their work as a prostitute could undermine the
very basis of their private relationships:
If you’ve got a boyfriend it can get really difficult . . . ma son’s dad he didn’t like me working and
we’d argue all the time and he’s always cast it up. (Dundee)

Other women described in the bleakest of terms their view of the ways in
which prostitution had impacted upon their lives. At such times it was difficult
to distinguish between the negative impact of the women’s work and the
degradation associated with their drug habit:
Interviewer: What is the worst aspect of this for you?
Respondent: Standing out here in the cold knowing you’re trying to sell your body for sex.
Ma dad . . . the way he found out what I was doing was he came down here and saw me and
that’s the hardest thing. I could get off the drugs but the fact of the matter . . . how
would you feel if your baby daughter had been having sex with old men for money? You’d
never forget that. That’s the thing that bothers me most. I know I could make him as proud
158 N. McKeganey
as any father could be. Totally change ma life around. But he’s never going to feel that, and
for me that’s the hardest things. (Aberdeen)
Interviewer: What’s the biggest change for you as a result of working?
Respondent: Everything. Every single thing about coming down here. Like ma hair I’ve not
washed it for a week. I used to wash ma hair every day. I used to have a plan that I’ll do this
then I’ll do that, but it never worked out so now I don’t have a plan any more. (Glasgow)
Interviewer: What has changed in your life as a result of working?
Respondent: Ma whole life, everything just everything, ma attitude, I can’t get up during
the day, I’m not trustful. I’m unreliable. I stole ma brothers watch and I know it’s gonna
hurt him not because of the fact of the watch but because I’m his sister and I know it’ll hurt
him but its me that got to live with it. (Aberdeen)

From the interviews carried out it was clear that coming to terms with a level
of psychological stress was seen as part and parcel of the process of selling sex.
While some women felt that they were strong enough to cope with the
psychological assault of their work, others seemed more vulnerable in this respect:
I think deep down inside I’m strong minded enough to know that I’m not going to let it
bother me . . . I think that I can shut off that part of ma brain. Mind over matter mebbe because
I’m a wee bit older and I’ve done things, experienced more, travelled the world and worked.
Maybe also ’cos I’ve always worked with men I know how they are going to be . . . . I think
the only issue for me. In my mind its not that I feel ashamed of it more that I feel for ma
children. If ma kids found out that their mum was down here that would affect me deeper
than anything else. (Dundee)
Interviewer: What’s the biggest effect on you from working?
Respondent: Really I just feel dead . . . I go home and black it out. (Edinburgh)

Although working on the streets was associated with considerable stress

for many of the women it was also clear that some women resented the fact
that simply as a result of their selling sex that they should be subjected to such
stress. For these women the attitudes of others to what they were doing evoked
anger more than regret:
What an earth are we doing wrong . . . to be honest I’ve had a lot more weird requests from
men I’ve shared my life with than men I’ve met on the streets. I don’t care what anybody
thinks so long as I’m happy living my life quite comfortably thanks to stupid men wanting
to pay for a shag why not? I’m having a great time I made £60 the other night and I was
only out with three guy and its not long with each customer. (Edinburgh)

From the interviews with the women it was evident that one way in which
women tried to limit the impact of their work was by drawing an imaginary
boundary between their work and their private lives. Some women referred
to the importance of ‘throwing a switch’ in their brain that would effectively
anaesthetize their emotions and feelings from the experiences of their work.
Other women employed different strategies such as resolving never to tell
their clients their real name or providing clients with any details of their private
lives. In listening to these women one had a clear sense of the way in which
their very psychological survival seemed to depend to a large extent on their
ability to shut themselves off from their work. This quality, much like the
forced nature of their work, lent the women’s involvement in prostitution
 Street prostitution in Scotland 159

a distinctive character and marked it off from work in most other employment
sectors.
In the next section I look at the women’s views of whether prostitution should
be legalized or decriminalized.

The women’s views of tolerance zones, decriminalization and

legalization of prostitution
All of the women interviewed in the course of this research supported the idea of
a tolerance zone where they could work without fear of arrest and prosecution.
Many of the women cited the positive impact on their safety as the main
reason for that support:
I think working in a tolerance zone is loads better and the girls feel much safer. (Aberdeen)
Interviewer: Should there be a tolerance zone?
Respondent: Yes definitely . . . no question it would be safer for all of us. (Edinburgh)
Interviewer: Should there be a tolerance zone?
Respondent: Yes I think it makes it safer for us . . . You would feel a lot safer coming out at
night if there are cameras about and there is less chance of you being taken away. (Glasgow)
We need somewhere safer to work because we’re spread everywhere we’re not in just one area.
Everybody’s everywhere, and if they gave us a place where we could work it would be a lot
safer for all of us. We could all watch each other. (Edinburgh)
I think that a tolerance zone . . . the first thing is that people doing this need safety and
a tolerance zone is some respects safer some for the men are scared they think there would
be too much emphasis on them driving about so maybe they’ll be a bit put off but the
women know there is a zone specifically used for prostitutions I think it’s a good idea.
(Aberdeen)
It does help because in my opinion if you’ve got a problem like a couple of weeks ago a girl
we know got raped and before that a girl got attacked and the CID came round and you can
really tell them anything. They do help you as much as possible for instance this little Indian
guy took my own knife to ma throat grabbed the phone off me standing on ma hands and
that I got it off him and I went up to the normal police up on Union Street but they didn’t
want to know but when I was down here and the liaison woman came down I had the
knife but ma mate had touched it and she was saying guys like this we need to know about.
They were a lot more interested. (Aberdeen)

In addition to enhancing the safety of women it was also pointed out that
by confining prostitution to a clearly identified area where women were allowed
to work there was much less likelihood of women who were not working being
approached by clients and of children witnessing women selling sex:
The main benefit is the fact that the lassies stick to the main area. When we were in
Coburg Street we stuck to the area we were supposed to be in right. Like we were not
going about flats, and kids were not seeing us. That would be one thing, and another
thing the polis would not be so heavy on you and the punters would be able to stop
because there was a tolerance zone. When the tolerance zone broke up the lassies stopped
looking out for one another. Like at one time lassies would take registrations numbers
but you don’t do anything like that anymore they don’t bother their arses anymore.
(Edinburgh)
160 N. McKeganey
Maybe it shouldn’t be where it was because there’s big houses up there but see along,
if you go along, cut up that industrial estate, if they were to do it in somewhere like that
you’re not near nay houses, all the factories are shut at night there’s no kids round so there
nobody to complain. (Edinburgh)
It would make it safer for us to know who the clients were because sometimes we approach
people who aren’t looking for business like yourself. (Glasgow)

Despite the universal support for the idea of a tolerance zone it was evident
from fieldwork in Aberdeen (where a tolerance zone was in operation) that
some women nevertheless chose to work in an area outside the zone. The reasons
for this were many and varied:
The trouble with the zone, as I see it, is the number of women working there. It might
seem strange but punters don’t like to stop if they see a lot of women together which is why
I work here [outside the zone]. (Aberdeen)

Other women felt that they were safer working in the better lit streets outside
the zone than in the zone itself where there seemed to be fewer lights and
CCTV cameras:
The amount of things that happen round here. It’s too dark and there are not enough cameras
in the area all the cars are driving round and there are about 2 cameras and I don’t think they
even work. The reason they’ve put the tolerance zone there is because there are no houses.
If they find you working here they move you on or they charge you. (Aberdeen)

Similarly some women commented that in their view other women

were working outside the zone as a deliberate way of increasing the number of
clients they could contact, ‘They are picking up clients before they make it to
the zone which is really unfair’ was how one woman put it while another
commented that in her view some women felt that they were tough enough to
work outside the zone and did not need the additional protection that the zone
itself afforded.
In commenting on the idea of a tolerance zone some of the women also spoke
about their views as to whether prostitution itself should be legalized. Amongst
those who commented on this topic there was a consensus that prostitution
should be legalized:
Interviewer: Do you think prostitution should be legalized?
Respondent: Yeah I don’t see any harm in it so long as you work in the area. (Glasgow)
I think it should be legal yes, if they were to say walk up and down this street it would be OK
because there are no houses here and when you think about it what on earth are we doing wrong
to be honest. (Dundee)
I think it should be legalized because we’re just providing a service for people who are
wanting services. It saves people going out and getting raped I know you still get folk who rape
prostitutes but I think we’re providing a service and that’s how most of ma customers see it.
(Glasgow)

Relations with the police

It was clear from the interviews that the world of street women was made up
of three key groups: the other women, the clients and the police. In relation to
 Street prostitution in Scotland 161

the police it was evident that some women had developed a kind of mutual
respect for the police along the lines of, ‘They are doing their job and we are
doing ours’:
To me they stop and ask how I’ve been doing, ask if there are any weirdos going about
lately. What I mean is they are totally alright with me I just have a laugh with them. (Aberdeen)

However it was equally clear that the relationship between the women and
the police was inherently fragile. This was most evident in both Edinburgh and
Glasgow where an informal tolerance zone that had operated in the past was
seen as having been undermined by changes in local political opinion, which
had resulted in the police clamping down on prostitute women:
The attitude of the coppers has changed now . . . I got attacked about three months ago and
I reported it and the coppers made out it was my fault. A guy pulled a knife on me and
gave me a few punches. (Edinburgh)
When there was a tolerance zone the police didn’t bother you very much as long as you kept
to the area that you were supposed to work in they didn’t bother you and so long as you
didn’t jump in and out of cars in front of them they didn’t bother you. But now if they
see you they’ll pull you wherever you are, does’na matter where you are, they’ll ask you what
you’re doing with punters. If they see you getting in a car they’ll follow you they wait a
couple of minutes before driving in on you to catch you ’cos they can’t really do anything
unless they catch you in the middle of doing something like the guy says I gave her such and
such money. (Edinburgh)
It was better then. I mean if you had a problem you could just speak to them you used to
have a laugh and a joke with them but now it’s not like that . . . And I don’t think the police
in a way really want to be doing it its just the head honchos from up there that’s telling
them to do it ’cos it was easier before now it’s just now the prostitutes are all over the place.
(Edinburgh)
Basically now you just keep walking and as soon as you stand still the police seem to be there so
you have to just keep walking either up and down the street or whatever. (Glasgow)

The attitude towards the police of the three women interviewed in Dundee
was similar to that in Edinburgh, with two of the women commenting that they
had to be very careful while working for fear of being arrested by the police.
However, one of the women interviewed in Dundee said that she was not at all
bothered by the local police:
I don’t give a toss about the police they know who I am and what I’m doing. Everyone knows
what I do. I don’t see as it’s something I should be ashamed of. (Dundee)

Partly perhaps because of the way in which prostitution was policed in Dundee
two of the women had developed a way of working which reduced the amount
of time that they spent on the streets contacting clients. These women would
provide the clients that they did contact on the streets with a mobile phone
number, which they could then ring to arrange further contacts:
I don’t usually work on the road. I get people calling me that’s the way I do it, they call me and
I agree a place where we can meet. (Dundee)

On this basis, then, it was clear that the relationship between the women
and the police was an important element of their work as prostitutes although
162 N. McKeganey

the nature of that relationship appeared to be both geographically variable and

inherently fragile.

Discussion and conclusions: Prostitute tolerance

zones—yes, no, maybe?
Prostitution represents the intersection of very strong ideas and beliefs as to
the nature of relations between men and women, notions of power, freedom,
sexual identity and morality. As Kantola and Squires (2004) have described,
there are a number of distinct discourses around the whole area of prostitution,
ranging from those that characterize prostitute women as victims of male
domination and exploitation (Pateman, 1983; Dworkin, 1987, 1989) to those
that stress the public-nuisance aspects of prostitution, and in which greater
emphasis is given not to those working within prostitution but to those whose
lives are adversely affected as a result of living and working in an area where
sex is being traded (Wolfenden Committee, 1957; Mathews, 1986). There
are also the narratives of prostitution as ‘sex work’ within which it is seen to be
the right of women to choose to use their bodies in whatever way they see fit.
From within this perspective if women choose to work in the sex industry they
should not be penalized or criminalized as a result of that choice (Pheterson,
1989). Each of these are powerful discourses in their own right emanating from
contrasting political and ideological positions and identifying radically different
ways in which the state should seek to respond to prostitution and prostitutes.
In this section of the paper I look at the idea of prostitute tolerance zones
in terms of these contrasting narratives.
From a moralist standpoint one can reject the view that selling sex is
a legitimate form of employment and, on that basis, reject the idea that
society should provide a setting where women can sell sex without fear of
prosecution. Equally, from a feminist position one can emphasize the view
of prostitution as a form of male violence to women. From this perspective
the idea of providing a setting where sex can be traded can be seen as
equivalent to providing official support for male violence directed at working
women. On the basis of both of these positions one could reject the idea of
providing a setting where sex can be traded as being either an immoral or
exploitative act.
Alternatively, on the basis of the ‘prostitution as work’ discourse, it could
be argued that women should have the right to use their bodies in whatever
way they choose and that society should seek to ensure that women are able
to work as prostitutes (if that is indeed their choice) in as safe an environment
as possible. Equally, from a community health perspective it could be argued
that whatever the moral, legal or political objections to the fact of prostitution,
nevertheless women who are working as prostitutes (particularly those who
are working on the streets) are a marginal and ‘hard to reach group’ who
are at considerable risk of a range of sexual and broader health-related
problems. Providing a zone where women can work without fear of
 Street prostitution in Scotland 163

prosecution could be seen as part of the process of targeting appropriate health

and related services and, in this sense, as a way of meeting the needs of a
vulnerable group.
It is important to address the issue of prostitute tolerance zones not solely
from these contrasting ideological positions but also from the perspective of the
women themselves. While there were a small number of women working on the
streets in Scotland who did indeed view prostitution as a legitimate form of
employment, and who could be said to have chosen to work in the sex industry,
the majority of women interviewed in this study described their decision to start
selling sex as having been forced upon them as a result of the circumstances
in which they were living. For these women their employment within the sex
industry had the character more of forced labour rather than voluntarily
provided labour. Predominantly, it was the need to fund a drug habit that had
forced these women onto the streets. While this element of compulsion does
not undermine the notion of prostitution as ‘work’ it does lend prostitution a
distinctive character.
Beyond this question of whether women freely chose to sell sex, or were forced
into this lifestyle, there is also the question of the impact of the work itself. Here
again there was considerable consensus amongst the women as to the many ways
in which working as a prostitute had undermined their lives. It was clear in
this research that women selling sex on the streets in Scotland were working
under enormous pressure. Along with the pressures of avoiding being arrested
by the police, and of being attacked and threatened by clients, there was also
the pressure experienced by many women of supporting a drug habit. For those
women who were homeless or who were staying in temporary and unstable
living conditions there was also the added pressure of where they were going to
sleep that night. Similarly, for those women who were in abusive relation-
ships there was the pressure of the violence that they might be subjected to once
they returned home from their work. This is a lifestyle then of multiple
pressures and multiple needs. To describe such a lifestyle as a form of work
is to stretch the definition of work beyond that to which it is applied in most
discourse.
However, while it may not be appropriate to regard selling sex on the streets
as a form of work (at least for the majority of women interviewed in this research)
this does not in itself mean that one should not seek to do all that one can
to reduce the pressures that working women are subjected to in the course of
their activities. If it is possible to identify an area where women can work without
the fear of arrest this would be one way of reducing some of those pressures and
also of enabling street-based support services to be provided for working women.
In identifying such an area it would be important to listen to the views of any local
residents as well as any service providers and working women. It would also
be important to ensure an adequate police presence within the area. In the
minds of many people it may be thought rather odd to suggest that an area
where prostitute women are able to work without fear of prosecution should
also be an area with a significant police presence. However, any area where
164 N. McKeganey

women are selling sex (whether in a tolerance zone or not) will attract individuals
who are drawn to the area to sell drugs or to extort money from women who will
be known to be carrying large sums of cash. Such an area is also likely to attract
some men who, for one reason or another, wish to be violent towards working
women. Women who are selling sex on the streets are in need of considerable
protection whether they are working within or outside a tolerance zone. The
danger of not providing a setting where women can work without fear of arrest
is one of increasing rather than decreasing women’s marginality and ultimately
their risk of violence.
In many countries, however, the suggestion of providing an area where
women can work without fear of arrest would be seen to contradict fundamental
principles of their existing legal system. In addition, there could be anxieties that
the provision of such an area might increase rather than decrease the number of
women selling sex and the number of men seeking to buy sex. There might also
be fears that, by providing a setting where women can sell sex without fear of
prosecution, the national or local government is effectively sanctioning what
may be seen as an illegal and immoral act.
These are powerful constraints arguing against the development of prostitute
tolerance zones in Scotland and elsewhere. However, there are other notable
areas of public policy where national governments have supported the provision
of services to meet the needs of those who are seen to be involved in what
are identified as illegal activities. For example many governments around the
world have sanctioned the development of needle and syringe exchange schemes
as a way of reducing drug-injectors risks of acquiring and spreading HIV and
other blood-borne infections while at the same time maintaining the illegal
status of the drugs that are being injected (e.g. heroin and cocaine). Here,
then, we have the paradox whereby it is judged to be legal to provide drug
users with the means to inject drugs while at the same time retaining the
right to prosecute the individuals as a result of their possession of the very
drugs that they intend to inject. In this instance our willingness to provide drug
users with sterile injecting equipment does not imply an acceptance of the
drug-using lifestyle but rather a recognition of the health risks faced by those
who are injecting drugs.
Providing an area where women can work without fear of prosecution,
and where support services can be made available to working women, could
be seen in similar terms as a way not of licensing or legalizing prostitution
but of meeting the needs of a marginal and vulnerable group. Of course, whether
as a society we opt to provide prostitute tolerance zones will depend in part
on the importance that we attach to meeting the needs of those women who
are working within prostitution. It could be argued that willingness to provide
drug injectors with access to sterile injecting equipment may actually have had
more to do with the fear that drug injectors might spread infection to the wider
non-drug-injecting population than it did to a concern with drug injectors’ own
health needs. With regard to prostitute tolerance zones there may be rather less
governmental commitment to develop such areas for the very reason that there
 Street prostitution in Scotland 165

is no equivalent broader societal impact associated with the failure to provide such
zones in the first place.
The decision as to whether to provide prostitution tolerance zones may be
influenced not so much by the discourse of whether prostitution is a legitimate
form of work or the result of male violence and exploitation of women, but of
our willingness to develop an initiative which may go some way to reducing
the risks experienced by a marginal and vulnerable social group. Providing
tolerance zones may be one way of reducing some of the risks faced by
prostitute women without at the same time actively promoting prostitution as
area of activity.

Acknowledgements
The research on which this report is based was funded by the Scottish Executive.
The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and should not be
attributed to the funding body. I would like to dedicate this paper to Margo,
McDonald MSP – a proud parliamentarian and a supporter of women rights.

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