Sex workers

To claim that “without a snug nest to call their own, the girls [prostitutes] need to walk the streets, where there are no checks on the health of them or their clients” is wholly inaccurate.

To then assert that “it seems a strange sort of puritanism that prefers a strangled corpse to a licensed prostitute, but that seems to be the way of things in Glasgow” would be offensive if it wasn’t so ignorant.

Glasgow works tirelessly to support women who find themselves involved in prostitution. The city has a raft of measures to look after the needs of those women and, most importantly, help them exit prostitution.

Glasgow was also the first in Scotland to establish a support service for women who have been trafficked to meet the demands of the sex industry. This service, TARA, now provides support to women recovered from across Scotland.

Whether licensed or unlicensed, research shows that many women involved in prostitution face poor conditions and high levels of harassment.

This is no surprise. Prostitution is a form of violence against women that is inherently harmful, a view now supported by the Scottish Government.

By tackling the demand of men who buy sex we can reduce the numbers of women who turn to prostitution.

Removing the risk of harm to vulnerable women is our concern in Glasgow. Puritanism, strange or otherwise, has nothing to do with it.

(Cllr) James Coleman

Chair, Glasgow Violence Against Women Partnership