 Each year, in the days between 25 November and 10 December, organisations around the world organise events, demonstrations, workshops, online campaigns and other activities to mark the UN’s global campaign of 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence.
Scotland is no stranger to this campaign, and in 2022 the CSE Aware team had the opportunity to attend some of the event organised by local and national organisations. In this blog, we review some of them: Laura – Intimate image abuse One of the events I most this year was a session delivered by the Revenge Porn Helpline and organised by the West Lothian Health and Social Care Partnership. The Revenge Porn Helpline was established in 2015 following the legislation which made it an offence to share intimate images without consent. Intimate image abuse entails a wide range of forms and perpetrators. In addition to taking, sharing or threating to take or share nude or sexual images or videos without consent, it can include voyeurism, upskirting, sextortion, collector culture, doxxing and deepfakes. Perpetrators are not limited to partners – it can be anyone. It is, however, a gendered phenomenon: the Helpline statistics revealed that 12.5 images were reported for females, with 0.2 for males. The session made me reflect on the links between covered forms of abuse and commercial sexual exploitation. As we have highlighted in the Safety bulletin, doxxing is a threat that women who sell or exchange sex face. The research conducted by the Avery Centre evidenced non-consensual uploading of content on PornHub. Social media platforms – including OnlyFans – are mediums through which sex trafficking can be facilitated. Intimate image abuse is a reminder that gender-based violence is about power, coercion and control. Its impact on victims cannot be underestimated: it can lead to pervasive fear, shame and isolation. Yet, the recognition of its manifestations and justice responses is lagging. Natalia – Forced migration and sexual violence During 16 days I was lucky to attend a range of the events highlighting progress and challenges in tackling GBV in local areas and spotlighting specific forms of abuse. One event that left an impression was the presentation of the SEREDA project’s findings. This project has been researching sexual and gender-based violence against forced migrants in Europe. Forced migration – whether it is due to wars and climate change or to poverty, gender discrimination and state violence – continues to be a crisis for many. Despite that, I’ve always felt that there is a knowledge gap in terms of how forced migrants can and o experience sexualised violence. It is something so pertinent and vital for organisations and services to know, because only then can we fully understand the complex layers of trauma that refugees and asylum seekers carry. I was glad to hear of this research project and to learn that it has done research specifically with survivors in Scotland. So on an early morning in December, I travelled to Edinburgh to hear from principal researcher Professor Jenny Phillimore. The SEREDA team interviewed eight survivors in Scotland, and looked at Scottish service provision and the Scottish Policy context. Unsurprisingly, we found out that the majority of forced migrant affected by sexual and gender-based violence are women and children. Among my key takeaways was learning that survivors experience abuse at multiple points in their journey: it can happen before leaving their country, while in transit and once they arrive in Scotland. The likelihood of repeated incidents throughout their displacement means that women’s trauma is compounded, and it can worsen if women cannot access support due to lacking information, language barriers, distrust of interpreters, stigma and shame, and not recognising what happened as violence. It was interesting to find out that the abuse women experienced often featured sexual exploitation and forced prostitution. It made me consider how, for women, the journey to find refuge is paved with vulnerability to sexualised violence, and the vital importance of services working with migrant women to be aware of and proactive about women’s experiences of abuse, including commercial sexual exploitation. You can read a very handy briefing of the SEREDA findings here.  For the latest issue of our CSE Aware bulletin focusing on substance misuse and women who sell or exchange sex, we wanted to reflect on the impact of vicarious trauma and frontline workers’ coping strategies. For this reason, we decided to ask members of the research project Women working to support women in the welfare sphere to share some of the findings and learnings. Below is our interview with researchers Michele Burman, Loraine Gelsthorpe and Joana Ferreira: 1. Could you tell us more about the projects you’ve been involved with on vicarious trauma? Our current research project aims to identify and explore the challenges faced in the post-Covid pandemic period by women in third sector organisations across the UK who work closely with marginalised girls and women. The research is documenting the cumulative effects of intensified client need, arduous work conditions, job security concerns, and additional domestic caring responsibilities, on the psychosocial wellbeing and personal welfare of women workers, many of whom come from the same communities and share the same experiences as their clients. We have recently published a report on the preliminary findings of our first round of interviews. With this work, we are hoping to contribute to response and recovery efforts tailored to support women in this sector, by identifying innovative practices and providing insights to inform policies and models of working to support resilience and wellbeing. This research builds upon earlier work conducted by members of the research team, including a study of vicarious trauma in those working with young women in criminal justice settings. 2. How would you describe vicarious trauma? How prevalent was it among research participants? Vicarious traumatisation (VT) refers to a set of symptoms that are developed through indirect exposure to trauma, particularly in the context of supportive and therapeutic relationships. As a result of the cumulative effects of exposure to information about traumatic events and experiences, VT can potentially lead to distress, dissatisfaction, hopelessness, serious mental and physical health problems and collapsed belief systems (Robinson, 2015). In our study, we consider VT as a phenomenon that occurs as a result of interactions with services users who have experienced trauma. These are not always direct interactions – VT can be experienced by those in managerial and research or policy positions, as we have found in our research; although most of our participants had some experience of recent frontline work. The process of VT can disrupt an individual’s sense of safety, resulting in increased fearfulness, terror, and perception of vulnerability to harm, and is shown to erode trust, safety, and empowerment. It can lead to physical and mental ill health and results in staff absence and a loss of efficacy in the delivery of the work. These are impacts which we have recurrently heard during interviews with our research participants, who spoke of the impacts of this work on their mental, emotional, social, and physical wellbeing. This research is not specifically looking at prevalence – and it is not something we asked directly in interviews or in our survey – however, it can be conceptualized as a ‘normal’ response to working in trauma-saturated environments. It is something that most respondents are aware of, and many could recount instances of experiencing VT either themselves or by their colleagues. 3. Is the concept of vicarious trauma helpful in understanding the impact of working alongside traumatised populations? The term VT is often used interchangeably with other terms such as ‘burnout’ and ‘secondary traumatic stress’, but it is not the same. Unlike burnout – which is a fairly common experience and can be understood as an overwhelming state of physical and emotional exhaustion caused by excessive work-related stress, and secondary traumatic stress which may be acquired by a single incident of disclosure/exposure to another’s experiences, resulting in post-traumatic stress disorder – VT is a cumulative process of psychological and somatic symptoms of acute and post-traumatic stress that can result from the close and constant work of service providers with traumatised individuals. The term captures the impacts of this constant ‘exposure’ to trauma – it highlights the ‘build-up’ process that often occurs for those working in these environments. As mentioned above, most of our participants were aware and familiar with the term ‘vicarious traumatisation,’ and we heard many accounts of workers experiencing this. Our preliminary findings highlight the impacts of VT on workers, including changes in psychological wellbeing, mental and physical exhaustion, and internalisation of trauma (particularly when boundaries between personal and professional become blurred). Identifying this phenomenon allows for the consideration and development of strategies to address it. 4. Practitioners use a number of so-called positive and negative coping strategies to manage the impact of their work. However, negative coping mechanisms are less talked about, both in practice and in the literature. Would you agree? What ‘’negative’’ coping strategies have you identified among research participants? Yes, there is more in the research literature about positive coping strategies, but some studies have focused on negative strategies (i.e., drinking excessively as a response to the traumatizing nature of the work). These are perhaps not best thought of as strategies, but rather as things people do when work becomes very tough and traumatizing and they start to feel out of control or hopeless. 5. What effects of negative coping strategies have you observed? How did the workers manage them? We heard about a range of reactions to the challenges of the work, including heightened anxiety, safety concerns, the difficulty of maintaining professional boundaries, sickness, and staff absences. Many participants spoke of ‘positive’ strategies that they have developed in order to cope with the work and its heavy impact. For instance, exercise (e.g., yoga, pilates, running), creative activities and hobbies (e.g., arts and crafts, knitting), and social activities with family and friends. Other strategies involved self-awareness, reflection, and mindfulness. Interestingly, for some participants, the need to attend to their other ‘responsibilities’ outside of their jobs (e.g., looking after family, caring for a pet, roles within the community) provided an ‘escape mechanism’ from work and its impacts. These strategies were crucial for participants to deal with the emotional toll of their work and the potential for VT. It is important to emphasise, however, that embedded policies and mechanisms within organisations are needed to ensure the health and wellbeing of service providers. This was recognised by our participants who highlighted the fundamental role of organisational-led initiatives in responding and minimising the effects of VT. These include, for example, adequate supervision (including externally provided clinical supervision) and support, opportunities for reflective practice, and regular debriefs, among others. It is key that worker-facing trauma-informed practices are implemented and we aim to provide insights into developing adequate support policies and processes, as well as resources for organisations and for their staff to assist in the identification and mitigation of vicarious trauma.  In this blog, our colleague Claire writes her impressions of a new theatre play which deals with topics of gender-based violence and justice. Last autumn, I took a trip to the cinema to watch the much-anticipated theatre play Prima Facie. Written by Suzie Miller and starring Jodie Comer (known for her main roles in Killing Eve and Help), the story begins with a successful female lawyer who is tasked with defending clients that could be guilty of their crimes, including sexual assault and rape. With the help of a formidable solo performance by Comer, the play delves into gender inequality in the workplace, survivor’s experiences of rape and the criminal justice system. However, where Prima Facie shines is in its sensitive exploration of the complexities of sexual violence. Particularly that this form of abuse most typically happens at the hands of someone known to the survivor – usually a current or ex-partner. Most importantly, it gives a vivid and personal account of what the statistics only tell us in numbers. For instance, that between 2021 and 2022 there were 2,498 instances of rape reported to Police Scotland, but only 6% of those charges were brought against the perpetrator.
The performance, script, stage design and music are flawless, they tell a story that is not only heart-breaking but unfortunately a common scenario for 1 in 4 women in the world. Many survivors don’t report sexual violence and it is no wonder – for many, the cost can be too high when the possibility of justice comes hand-in-hand with societal scrutiny and judgment, intrusive interrogation, and a conviction rate so low that it can feel hopeless for many survivors.
Everyone should see this play; everyone should understand that the system we have now is not fit for purpose. It is not bringing justice to women, and it is not deterring men from abusing. However, I see hope in this play, in spreading awareness through art, activism and political discussion. It leaves us with a message – that by standing together against injustice and in solidarity with survivors we can collectively work towards creating a safer and more equal society for everyone. When looking at media articles, TV shows, films or any media that depicts women involved in prostitution, webcamming, escorting, stripping, etc more often than not we tend to get the same stereotypical stock images. No matter what the issue or key story is, the same images are used over and over again with little variation or alternatives. Women are usually portrayed as either oversexualised or completely disenfranchised, they appear uniformly in fishnets and high heels, they are standing in a dark street under a spotlight, they are leaning into cars or exchanging money with anonymous men. Very often, women are shown just as body parts – legs in stockings, feet in high heels, arms, the back of the head or just a dark shadow. They are not shown as whole beings but reduced to objects, bodies sexualised in their entirety or a sum of sexy parts. You only need to see these examples taken from local mainstream media articles (Daily Record and BBC News respectively):   But what’s missing from the picture is the fact that women selling or exchanging sex lead rich and complex lives just like anyone. They have been reduced to tropes, indicators and stereotypes which reinforce the message that this is about sex instead of women very often faced with difficult and complex choices and different pressures and coercion. These images do not recognise women as individuals with qualities, personalities, experiences and skills, “othering” them instead. They can feed into stigma and judgements and hide the realities of vulnerabilities that put women into situations where selling sex is needed to bring money into households. There is no one-size-fit-all standard of a woman who becomes involved in this industry. From direct work with women, we know they can be mothers, students, office workers, service workers. They may struggle to find work and they may have attended college or university; they may enjoy dancing, cycling, music or cooking; they may speak one or several languages. Of course, despite how the media portrays them, they are not one dimensional. Women involved may be close to us and we may not know of their involvement. This diversity and richness of experiences away from narrow stereotypes is what we wanted to represent in our CSE Aware illustrations. Learning from previous work with women through Inside Outside and more recently the CLiCK magazine, there is a need to break these stereotypes and challenge the norms within how women are presented and shown. To bring our project to life, we decided to commission a series of illustrations that will be feature in our website and resources. In order to foreground the reality that women from all walks of life may be involved in selling or exchanging sex, we created five characters: Alice, Alina, Paula, Precious and Sinead. These characters are fictional woman based on the collective experiences of different women who have told us their stories through projects like Encompass Network, CLiCK, Inside Outside and through other research. Each character is shown in two different day-to-day setting: spending time with her kid, attending a clinic, going shopping, relaxing, etc. The idea is to move away from the typical trope of women shown only in situations where they are selling or exchanging sex. The result are ten illustrations in total which will be launching on our website very soon. These images will also appear in our events and other resources and social media materials. We hope that they bring reflection on the stereotypes we hold of women involved and that they inspire new and more positive representations that attest to the complexity and variety of experiences that exist in this area. Here is a sneak-peak of our illustrations:
We don’t often reflect on what life looks like for people who lost a loved one to violent crime. This perspective is what Victim Support Scotland set out to share through their exhibition HUSH – Breaking the Silence. For the exhibition, families connected with the Support for Families Bereaved through Crime service (SFBC for short) at Victim Support Scotland used participatory art methods to express their voice and experiences in the aftermath of the murder of a loved one. The CSE Aware team had the opportunity to visit this one-off exhibition and below we share our impressions:  Natalia On a spring day, I attended the exhibition set up in a venue tucked away in Glasgow’s East End. Upon entering, my initial reflection was the little focus there is on the aftermath of a murder and what this unbelievable event brings to the families of the victim. Many times, the attention is on the criminal process of investigating and finding the criminal. However, to me this exhibition honed into two things that are often overlooked when it comes to violent crime: the trauma and the grief, and how these can become even deeper whilst going through the lengthy criminal justice process. The trauma of not just the sudden loss of a loved one, but the harsh reality of the other practicalities that some of the families in this exhibition had to take care of: cleaning the crime scene, funeral arrangements, debt, stigma, the continued violence from the murderers, and the injustice they faced in their justice process. One of the most impactful pieces for me were the audios. Hearing the voices of family members explaining in their own words how they experienced the aftermath of losing their loved one, but also the strength they had to build around themselves in order to keep going. One of the audios was a song composed by young man who lost his mother to murder. The lyrics convey not just the sense of loss that was replaced by an immediate sense of responsibility over his siblings, but the great admiration and deep love he had for his mother. It was refreshing to see the families’ point of view, their memories, fears, the consequences they bear today and their hopes to move on from this experience in some way. Our host Alice explained just how important it was for the families in this project to meet and find not only understanding but also to build community.
Laura Through recorded conversations, photography and music, HUSH revealed the suffering, the multitude of emotions, and a profound sense of injustice for the family members of murder victims – collectively creating an emotional, powerful, and an eye-opening project. Whilst each of the participant’s story has touched me, it was the shared theme of the flawed criminal justice system and how families had navigated it that struck me the most. In one way or another, the grief of those families was compounded by systemic failings – be it the treatment by the police or the court staff, an unfair process or the Not Proven verdict. In all it felt like the families were left powerless at some stage; yet, they resisted giving up. They summoned the courage to share their story – authentically and unapologetically. Some continue fighting for justice – for their families and our society. To each participant of the project – thank you for sharing your vulnerabilities and exposing the cracks in the justice system.
Linda I was delighted to get the chance to see the HUSH exhibition, particularly as it was influenced and inspired by Inside Outside, a project which featured the voices of women involved in selling or exchanging sex. I also had the chance to support the SFBC team to develop their own approach using the learning and experiences from Inside Outside. The SFBC families exhibited some beautiful and impactful pieces including a recording of a Victim Impact Statement, a newly written and recorded song, striking photos and images along with installations. The power of the direct voice and creative input from these families was evident and clearly had an impact on and strengthened the emotional connection of those of us who attended. Sitting listening to families talk, the impact was clear of not only losing a loved one but also being thrust into a system over which they had little control and unfortunately can become an insignificant part in a much larger picture. Having already met some of the families involved in HUSH, I was also reminded of the incredible strength people have to find to manage and deal with traumas. HUSH made me think of how often the term “lived experience” work is talked about. It means different things to different people but work like HUSH and Inside Outside show that when we expect people to share their experiences and realities for us to learn, then there must be clear benefits for individuals. This may mean it takes longer, is more complex and takes more resources but the investment is worth it for the quality of the whole approach. I appreciated the openness and honesty of the HUSH families, allowing us an insight in creative and beautiful ways. I’m very proud and pleased that the work of the women in Inside Outside and Outside continues to influence new and emerging work using the power of survivors’ voices to highlight realities and what needs to change.  HUSH will be going on tour later this year so make sure to go and see it in your local area. You can also read the exhibition booklet with the families stories here: https://victimsupport.scot/hush-sfbc
Recently our colleague Heather conducted a survey of women’s aid groups and rape crisis centres in Scotland to find out whether women selling or exchanging sex access their services, the specific experiences of selling and exchanging sex women bring and the needs they have. Here she describes her initial findings: Over a week in November 2021 the Encompass network gathered information about the women they supported which showed that 83% of women had disclosed experience of domestic abuse and 36% childhood sexual abuse. Following on from this over March 2022 we collected information from workers in Women’s Aid and Rape Crisis groups about their experiences of supporting women involved in CSE. Workers who completed the survey had come into contact with women involved in various aspects of the ‘sex industry’ including women who had been involved in escorting and web camming, but the majority had supported women who had been coerced into selling sex by a partner or who exchanged sex for drugs. Workers told us that in their experience that the support women required was often similar to that of women who hadn’t been involved in selling or exchanging sex, this included requiring support in relation to housing, around safety and finances. Workers identified differences in support needed around sexual health and the level of emotional support needed due to higher levels of trauma experienced. ‘The support women needed was almost exactly the same except we have purchased pregnancy tests and supported women to sexual health clinics where selling or exchanging sex was involved. Similar financial struggles and issues of housing and requiring refuge were needed but the emotional support differed for the women who had been involved in selling or exchanging sex, they needed more in-depth support for the emotional trauma specifically relating to this issue. I required more support also to enable me to better support women with these particular set of issues due my own lack of knowledge, especially at first.’ ‘The women who were involved in selling or exchanging sex needed support in a variety of different ways and each woman's experience differed. For some it was a way to make money to buy drugs, clothes, food, alcohol and for others they were coerced into it by their partner or friend. In some ways the support they need is more complex as many are reluctant to discuss what they are involved in and the reasons why. Many women are scared, ashamed, confused and feel like they have no other option but to continue. There is a range of factors to take into consideration from emotional support to sexual and physical health as well as safety options.’ Workers identified that women not wanting to discuss this area of her life, not seeing the relationship with her partner/pimp as exploitative, attitudes from others about involvement being a ‘lifestyle choice’ and a lack of confidence on their part where the key difficulties they encountered when working with women involved in selling or exchanging sex.
Workers who took part in the survey were felt that support/training to help fill any knowledge gaps they had and to build their confidence would be beneficial, they also felt that multi-agency guidance which would help support other organisations to respond in appropriate ways would help women get the support they need. In March 2022 the Encompass Network held an event for workers to showcase the range of resources available to improve practice and increase their understanding of the needs of women who sell or exchange sexual activity in Scotland. Around 150 workers attended from areas such as social work, sexual health, housing services, criminal justice, prison, women’s aid, rape crisis, fire and rescue service, money advice, to name just a few. The diversity of workers present reflects the range of services that women who sell or exchange sex regularly access for support and highlights why it is so vital that workers across all areas understand the spectrum of women’s needs. During the event we had the opportunity to ask attendees about their views on supporting women in this context and below are some of their responses: How many have supported women who sell/exchange sexual activity? In a quick poll, workers attending were asked to share whether they have supported women involved in selling or exchanging sexual activity in their service or organisation, and 66% of attendees said they have:  What are some of the challenges of supporting women involved in selling or exchanging sexual activity?
One of our final questions to the audience asked about the additional resources workers would like to receive to better support women. Interestingly, most of the options offered received the same number of votes. The three top answers were: access to awareness-raising resources, training on key themes and information on how to support women in specific settings.  Reflections from workers
At the end of the event, the workers shared some of their key learnings from the event. Some of their takeaways and comments included:
Upcoming training If you would like to find out more about the needs of women who sell or exchange sex in specific areas like housing, safety, mental health, problematic substance use among others, visit our events page to sign up to our upcoming training and sign up to our bulletin to receive resources and details of our events straight to your inbox. Last month we launched the CSE Aware website, a place where workers can find resources, information, research, the voices of women with lived experience and more to inform their practice.
We have big plans for the website and one of our main ideas is to make it easy to navigate different topics affecting women who sell or exchange sex, such as housing, problematic substance use, abuse and violence, immigration. But we are not there yet... Our website is a work in progress and our Resource Worker is working behind the scenes to unveil the next phase after May. In the meantime, we want to hear your feedback: is there anything you would like to see there? Would you be interested in sharing your own ideas and practice experiences? Please get in touch, we really want workers to help us shape this website. |
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CSE Aware is a project from the Women’s Support Project developed alongside other agencies and the Encompass Network. The work is funded by the Scottish Government through Delivering Equally Safe.
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