CLiCK Digital Magazine

Who we are CLiCK is an inclusive and confidential service supporting the safety and wellbeing of women involved in selling / exchanging sex or images in Scotland. Through our website (www.click.scot) and app (‘Click Partnership') women can access:

Live Chat & Helpline Anonymously chat with a Women's Worker about how things are going or for information and support in accessing other services.

One-to-One Support Although in person support is currently limited due to coronavirus, our Women's Workers can provide support over the phone, text or WhatsApp.

Information & Resources Find safety tips, blogs about current issues, and a Covid-19 resource hub with information on local services across Scotland.

Your Voice A space for women to share their needs, experiences and stories to develop the CLiCK service and beyond.

Welcome to Click magazine: the digital edition In June 2020, we began CLiCK Magazine – an online platform for women with lived experience of selling or exchanging sex or images to make their voices heard during the coronavirus pandemic.

The second is a set of recommendations for support services on how they can best meet the rights and needs of women who sell or exchange sex or images ( page 48).

Providing a space for women to make their voice heard and amplifying women's varied needs and experiences to shape service delivery and policy has always been at the core of CLiCK. In the following pages, we present women's diverse views – some of which may not align with broader strategic approaches. We feel however, it is important to include all of these views as the women themselves have presented them.

Women's needs and experiences were explored through a monthly podcast series (CLiCK Cast), an anonymous survey platform (RISE), a wellbeing arts-based project exploring self-care (Together, Alone) and a dedicated space for women to tell parts of their story (Your Voice).

We want to thank all the women who have been involved in this project and have taken the time to make their voices heard. This Magazine is the culmination of their hard work, experience, and resilience. We hope that this Magazine serves as a call to action for the Scottish Government, local authorities, support services and policy making landscape, listening to women's needs and experiences and doing everything in their power to ensure that Scotland's support landscape meets the rights and needs of all women with lived experience of selling or exchanging sex or images.

Since December 2020, we have been working with women who are involved with CLiCK to transform the CLiCK Magazine website into the beautiful digital magazine that you are currently reading. Whilst the CLiCK Development Worker and Resource and Information Officer turned the website content into articles, women worked in two teams – one to influence the design of the magazine (Creative Editorial Team) and one to produce new features (Writer's Team). The Creative Editorial Team worked alongside the Development Worker and a graphic designer (createpod.com) to create the front and back cover, illustrations, and colour palette.

Thank you so much to all of the women who took part in CLiCK magazine, offering their thoughts, needs, ideas, creativity and passionate words. This magazine would not have been possible without your input.

CLiCK Women's Workers supported women as part of the Writer's Team to produce two new pieces for the magazine. The first, A Letter From Women, is a statement on what women would like decision makers and support services to know about their needs, which you can read on the next page.

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A lette f om women

“I suppose, for most people, it's the quickness of help given that matters. For most, including myself, seeking help isn't easy so the waiting can be difficult.

There's also the need for sometimes longer-term support that sometimes isn't there.”

The Writer's Team were asked what they would like decision makers and support services to know about their needs during the coronavirus pandemic.

These statements highlight the need for the Scottish Government to do more to ensure women, no matter where they live in Scotland, can access well-resourced support that works for them – from prevention and harm reduction support, to wraparound exiting services. Women also call for a greater awareness of – and action on – the main drivers of women entering the sex industry and consideration of policies to support women's safety online and face-to-face. Below are statements provided by four women, with different experiences of selling or exchanging sex or images, in their own words:

“I think that the Scottish Government needs to be more educated about women who sell/exchange sex and why they do it.

They need to look at the routes into it and help us when we need to get out of it. There should be more opportunities for women to prevent this.”

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“The government should understand that most of the time it is a decision of the woman and they should allow girls to work together for their own security and health reasons, for example, Germany's Legal Protection for Women Workers where women are able to register that they sell sex. Many women end up in this job for necessity, lack of choice, and opportunity, and they could promote better conditions to the ones who desire to change the job because a er a while this job became a trap where most of the woman don't know how to leave and get other opportunities. I believe the support services, housing, mental health, and sexual health are extremely important. It can be a lonely trap and most of the women don't even know they are able to get some help.”

“If I could talk to support services and decision makers directly, I would tell them to do their utmost to stop the witch hunt currently going on across all social media platforms. It is specifically targeting women offering their services online (whether it is physical services or online content) and seem to be specifically aimed at any depictions of female body. While erect penises are rife on these platforms, even as much as a female cleavage can result in deletion of the lady's profile and given the circumstances, leaves the lady without any means to advertise her livelihood, effectively leaving her without any means to support herself.”

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Contents CliCK Cast – Talking it through – 7 Our podcast, CLiCK Cast, explored the needs of women in Scotland’s sex industry in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Together, Alone – Refle ions – 18 Together, Alone was a wellbeing arts project which aimed to explore self-care and produce a collective self-care toolkit which acts as an interactive resource.

RISE – Asking all the right questions – 28 RISE was an anonymous survey platform where women could make their voice heard on a range of issues as a means of informing decision makers and services of women's needs.

Your Voice – Loud and clear – 37 The Your Voice section of CLiCK Magazine was a platform for women to share their thoughts, opinions and experiences of selling or exchanging sex or images in a way that worked for them.

Where have women’s voices gone? – 44 CLiCK have been working with women to ensure their voices are heard at the strategic level to influence real, tangible change on the ground.

What’s next? – 48 Recommendations for support services on how to meet the rights and needs of women.

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Talking it through

Our podcast, CLiCK Cast, explored the needs of women in Scotland’s sex industry in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Each month, hosts Anna and Shannon heard from women – as well as services with experience of supporting women, campaigners, and MSPs – about women's most urgent needs. In total, seven episodes were produced with five core episodes focusing on the specific needs of money, online safety, mental wellbeing, housing, and sexual health. Detailed show notes were developed for each episode, containing a summary of the main points and links to further reading.

CLiCK Cast was a monthly podcast series, running from June 2020 to December 2020, which aimed to amplify the voices of women with lived experience of selling or exchanging sex or images during the coronavirus pandemic.

The series was researched, produced, and hosted by the CLiCK Development Worker and the CLiCK Resource and Information Officer. It was developed as a creative means of taking women's voices to the people making decisions that affect women's lives during the pandemic, as well as public and third sector workers, and the general public.

We also hoped that the podcast would act as a resource for women, signposting them to available supports and highlighting work that is going on in the background to raise awareness of their needs and drive for visible change on the ground.

CLiCK Cast is now being used by Encompass Network to develop a programme of training and capacity building resources for workers across the third sector.

You can listen to all episodes of CLiCK Cast, and read the accompanying show notes here.

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Money “I think a lot of sex workers will not only find their business has dried up, but that they have nowhere else to turn to and even the best exit plans will fail right now.”

– Woman working with CLiCK via Your Voice WHAT IS THE NEED?

WHAT IS BEING DONE TO ADDRESS THE NEED?

For many women involved in selling or exchanging sex, their income vanished overnight when Scotland first went into lockdown back in March 2020. Women reported a drop in demand with an increase in cancellations and a decline in bookings. Some women moved online to platforms like OnlyFans to sell images and videos, but these platforms quickly became saturated as some women who lost jobs in sectors like retail and hospitality entered the sex industry for the first time via these sites. However, not all women were able to move online due to digital exclusion. Some women had to exit the sex industry, due to a lack of demand and a lack of access to technology, with no alternative form of income. Other women have identified that they want to leave but see little alternatives for themselves in the short term due to the economic impact of coronavirus.

Women are not formally employed in the sex industry and so could not access furlough. Many are not registered as self-employed – often due to fears of stigma and legal repercussions – and so were not able to access the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme. Many women involved in selling sex were already in receipt of Universal Credit and for some women, Universal Credit was the reason they were involved in selling sex in the first place as payments were not enough to live on and sanctions are commonplace.

Financial support was made available to women via the Encompass Network's Encompass Fund, Victim Support Scotland's Victim Fund, and through emergency funds established by peerled networks like Umbrella Lane. However, these funds have not been resourced to significantly support women's financial wellbeing as the pandemic has continued. Nor are they long term solutions.

Many women were not eligible for financial aid packages put in place by the UK and Scottish Governments. As a result, many women had no option but to continue seeing clients face-to-face throughout the pandemic, putting their health at risk from the virus, to pay their rent and put food on the table.

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WHAT NEEDS TO CHANGE? l

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Commitment from Scottish Government to support women's financial wellbeing in the long-term Changes to the benefit system to ensure women have enough to live on and are not pushed into selling sex Development of a gender-sensitive universal basic income and review of the factors that push women into, and keep women in, the sex industry (e.g. lack childcare, lack of stable and flexible employment options)

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Decriminalisation of the women selling sex to break down the barriers women face in accessing financial supports Training to increase awareness of the needs of women who sell or exchange sex among staff in mainstream money/welfare and benefit advice services Access to well-resourced long-term support to exit for women who choose to move on from the sex industry, with viable and realistic alternatives

Online safety “I should be in control of where I post.”

– Woman supported by CLiCK WHAT IS THE NEED?

WHAT IS BEING DONE TO ADDRESS THE NEED?

Faced with a significant drop in income, many women involved in selling or exchanging sex – and women who lost jobs in sectors like hospitality and retail - moved online to connect with clients via webcamming and private gallery platforms during the pandemic. These platforms allow women to sell images and videos to subscribers and stream live performances.

We have heard from women who have directly reported abusive subscribers to platforms and have received no reply or reassurance that the subscriber's behaviour will be addressed. Some online platforms have worked hard to protect women's content by investing in anti-piracy technology, while others have not. However, none of this technology is watertight and, crucially, there are currently no regulations holding platforms accountable to ensure they are doing everything they can to prevent abuse and theft and protect their users.

Platforms like OnlyFans and AdmireMe quickly became saturated and it was difficult for women to make any significant income. Many women found that they were often just breaking even or operating at a loss as they had to buy underwear, lighting, and sex toys to produce content. Women report having to take every opportunity they could to sell content as selling images and videos was less profitable than selling sex face-to-face.

In addition, women and their content are not protected by the Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act 2016 as this legislation does not cover images that were consensually disclosed to the public domain.

Women also face abuse, harassment, and content piracy – having their images and videos stolen and shared without their consent.

The Revenge Porn Helpline can support women to have their content removed from social media and free tube sites through issuing Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) requests on women's behalf. This vital service has seen a sharp increase in demand over the course of the pandemic.

Content is then often posted on social media, free tube sites (e.g. PornHub), and forums like The Fappening Forum. This can have severe impacts on women's mental wellbeing, their relationships, and their employment.

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WHAT NEEDS TO CHANGE? l

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Women with lived experience must be actively consulted in the development of regulation, legislation, and service provision Awareness of women's experiences on webcamming and private gallery platforms must be raised among policy makers, legislators, politicians, and service providers Government regulation must be introduced to ensure platforms are held accountable and are safe by design

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The Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act 2016 must be updated or amended to protect images in the public domain Platforms must take action to improve the accessibility of their terms and conditions, improve their vetting of subscribers and must be continually innovating to develop new anti-piracy technologies

Mental wellbeing “I have got some meagre financial help now with universal credit with the help of CLiCK. [CLiCK] got me counselling which was great. I cannot adequately tell you how these things helped me. It changed my life from desperate to surviving. I think it will be very hard to thrive in the economy without jobs a er covid but I'm grateful to be surviving and not going under.”

– Woman supported by CLiCK WHAT IS THE NEED? For women who have experienced trauma, or are currently experiencing abuse, lockdown measures have echoed abusive situations where their agency and control were reduced or actively taken away.

Some women also reported increased use of alcohol and drugs to cope with feelings of isolation, boredom, and anxiety.

Women are extremely worried about money and how they will be able to keep a roof over their head and food on the table. Many women have had no option but to continue seeing clients face-to-face throughout the pandemic and as a result are anxious about exposure to coronavirus. Crucially, some women had to continue seeing clients during a time where sexual health services were not able to operate as normal and so some reported anxieties around their sexual health and wellbeing.

Importantly, women are experiencing these mental health impacts whilst juggling the same demands as other women during the pandemic such as increased childcare due to school closures, home schooling and caring responsibilities for family members.

Some women have been severely socially isolated throughout the pandemic as their family and friends were not aware of their involvement in selling or exchanging sex. A lack of access to digital technologies has also meant that some were isolated from support services.

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WHAT IS BEING DONE TO ADDRESS THE NEED? Through the Encompass Fund, Encompass Network services – including CLiCK – were able to support women to access up to 8 free counselling sessions with person-centred counsellors. You My Sister, a charity which provides practical and emotional support to women with lived experience of any aspect of the sex industry, launched an online peer-led mental health recovery programme for women who have exited the sex industry. In addition, Umbrella Lane partnered with Wellbeing Scotland to upskill mental health counsellors with knowledge of the needs and experiences of people who sell or exchange sex.

Due to fear of stigma, many women do not feel comfortable disclosing their involvement in selling or exchanging sex to health professionals. Women often face a postcode lottery in terms of the accessibility and quality of mental health support due to staff shortages and long waiting lists. There is also often a failure to support women's mental wellbeing using a holistic approach (e.g. only providing mental health support when women can show they are drug or substance free). Some third sector support services which provide crucial mental wellbeing support to women, despite not being officially classed as mental health services, have also experienced significant cuts during the pandemic.

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Women with lived experience should be actively consulted in mental health service design to address stigma and prejudice in mental health care A holistic, intersectional approach to Government level decision making which filters down into joined up working in the community to meet women's various needs

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Longer-term funding for specialist mental health and third sector services to be able to design and develop appropriate, holistic, and fully resourced support Investment in peer-led mental health support, building a space for women with lived experience of selling or exchanging sex to amplify their voices and experiences

Housing “I have been so anxious, I had no idea how I was going to pay my gas and electric, I've been sat in the dark the last few days” - Woman supported by CLiCK via the Encompass Fund WHAT IS THE NEED?

WHAT IS BEING DONE TO ADDRESS THE NEED?

Women are struggling to cover the cost of rent, mortgage, gas and electric, and council tax with some women now in significant arrears. Some report having to borrow money from loan sharks, friends, and family to keep a roof over their head.

Some women are living in extremely expensive private rented accommodation without a formal tenancy agreement which has prevented them from accessing rent supports. Although some women were fast-tracked into temporary accommodation during the initial lockdown period, allocation was not always trauma informed. It was also reported that this quick allocation of accommodation slowed down as the pandemic continued.

CLiCK have been financially supporting women via the Encompass Fund to cover the cost of rent, energy bills, furniture, and appliances. Women report that this financial support has helped alleviate some stress and worry. However, the Encompass Fund is not resourced to cover significantly high amounts or multiple repeat applications. Victim Support Scotland's Victim Fund can cover higher amounts; however, this fund requires landlord details to cover the cost of rent which many women are not comfortable with in case their landlord enquires why they need financial support and where this financial support is coming from.

Many women have had no choice but to continue – or begin – seeing clients from their own home during lockdown despite restrictions on household mixing. This is concerning as although the “eviction ban” has been extended in Scotland, this does not cover evictions relating to anti-social behaviour which have now reverted to a one-month notice period. There have been cases, prior to the pandemic, of women being evicted for selling sex from their own home in both private and social settings under anti-social behaviour measures.

Workers have also had a mixed experience of trying to access housing support services for women – with some workers reporting a lack of awareness of the needs of women who sell or exchange sex among housing sector staff.

Other workers have reported positive working relationships and protocols that have been established with local councils to support women into temporary accommodation.

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WHAT NEEDS TO CHANGE? l

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Development of guidance and training around women's housing needs designed in partnership with women with lived experience of selling or exchanging sex Improvements in line with the Everyone Home collective's recommendations: more homes for good health, no return to rough sleeping, and no evictions into homelessness

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Greater investment from local authorities in recognising their responsibility to provide holistic housing support which meets women's rights and needs Increased partnership working between local authorities and services to support smoother transitions for women into appropriate emergency accommodation

Se ual health “There have been no services that I have been able to get during the pandemic which means I have missed my more regular checks” - Woman in response to the RISE Sexual Health survey WHAT IS BEING DONE TO ADDRESS THE NEED?

WHAT IS THE NEED? Many sexual health services – including specialist clinics such as the Sandyford G3 Priority Clinic and the WISHES Clinic – had to reduce face-toface appointments and prioritise those with the most urgent sexual health needs during the pandemic. In some areas, sexual health clinics were closed and staff were moved to other areas of the NHS to support the initial response to coronavirus. This impacted women's access to routine STI testing, contraception, and more timesensitive care like HIV treatment.

Phone and video consultations were used to determine whether a face-to-face appointment would be necessary, which freed up staff for those who would benefit most from face-toface appointments.

At home testing was made available for both routine testing for STI's and HIV which gave women more options and greater flexibility in accessing sexual health care. Several third sector services provided free condoms and lubricant by post to women throughout the course of the pandemic.

Difficulties in paying bills and making rent, for example, placed pressure on some women to offer sexual services that they were not entirely comfortable with. Women reported an increase in clients requesting bareback – sex without a condom – which can put women's sexual health at risk of STIs and blood borne viruses.

The WISHES Clinic provided telephone outreach to women throughout the pandemic on a weekly to monthly basis to see how they were doing. Some NHS boards also provided outreach by taking abortion medication to women. As the WISHES Clinic gradually reopened, they were able to continue their model of holistic support by helping women access advice around various needs such as benefits and housing and providing free toiletries, sanitary products, and food. Notably, the Inclusion Team at the Sandyford G3 Priority Clinic were ringfenced which meant the premises and staff remained available to support women involved in selling or exchanging sex throughout the pandemic.

Women also report trying to see as many clients as possible to bank money in case their area was placed back into lockdown.

Where clinics did remain open and available to women, some women were fearful around potential repercussions if they disclosed that they were involved in selling or exchanging sex during the pandemic. Prior to the pandemic some women were already facing barriers to accessing sexual health care, particularly due to stigma and geographical differences in service provision.

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Women must be actively consulted and included in any service change or development that will affect their lives, and services must clearly demonstrate how women's feedback will be taken on board Accessibility of specialist sexual health services for women involved in selling or exchanging sex must improve, supported by a consistent approach to sexual health provision across Scotland

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Sexual health care should move towards an outreach model, bringing sexual health services to where women are (e.g. childcare services, employment services, community spaces) Continued sharing of knowledge and learning to challenge stigma in sexual health care provision

Refle ions Together, Alone was a wellbeing arts project which aimed to explore self-care and produce a collective self-care toolkit which acts as an interactive resource.

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We wanted to create a project that could be collectively built together during a time of real need, that provided a safe space with warm, encouraging voices exploring self-care, as well as somewhere women could share what works for them. We wanted them to feel valued, that they deserve the time and space to do the things that replenish and nourish them, and that they have support in doing this.

Over the course of the Together, Alone project CLiCK worked closely alongside women with lived experience of selling or exchanging sex or images, facilitating ways for women to interact with the project in a way that fitted best.

Through working closely with women, we learned that self-care is a personal thing - it isn't one-size fits all. Any approach to self-care needs to be flexible, appropriate to the individual and something that adds quality to that person’s life. We have also learned that in recent times, the media and big businesses have portrayed self-care as something that needs to be bought, photographed and displayed on Instagram – otherwise we aren't doing it right. Women told us that self-care is as important as ever during the pandemic, but too often they feel unable to find the time. As a result, creating a safe space for women to explore selfcare creatively and reflectively was crucial.

Importantly – while women have some amazing strategies, tools and resilience – they told us that self-care often does not go far enough. They need robust, appropriate services for when they feel lost, overwhelmed and in need of professional care for their mental health and wellbeing.

This included working one-to-one alongside Together, Alone exploring what self-care meant to them, providing a safe space for women to share what works for them anonymously and providing resources for women to build their own self-care toolkit as part of their own self-care journey. We wanted to bring self-care back to its' radical roots, attempting to shed some of the recently forged links between self-care, capitalism and consumerism. We did this by offering a critical, reflective space and bringing it back to ideas of solidarity and building one another up in the face of oppression.

The project was comprised of a series of weekly blogs looking at different facets and forms of selfcare, a series of masterclasses building creative skills while examining the links between creativity and self-care and gathering and sharing tips and tools – all of which came together in the Together, Alone Toolkit. We brought women's voices to decision makers around mental wellbeing, holding decision makers to account when self-care doesn't go far enough and shifting the responsibility away from the individual onto the structures that actively oppress women. The project was a collaboration with women with lived experience, as well as with workers from CLiCK and other third sector organisations and allies.

Through our initial desk research looking at how self-care is discussed in the media, by psychologists, and by mental health charities and support services, we identified 5 categories of self-care to frame our tips and tools – grounding, comfort, connection, movement and joy. These were further explored and built upon via our blogs, work with women and masterclasses.

We invited women to be part of Together, Alone in a variety of ways to meet them where they were at. They could submit tips, tools, discussion points and creative work anonymously via the contact form on the magazine site. They could have deeper conversations around the project via email, WhatsApp or phone conversations, as well as work one-to-one with the CLiCK Development Worker on more in-depth pieces and explorations of self-care. CLiCK Women's Workers in local areas also had conversations with women they support which fed into the project.

The pandemic was a time of increased isolation, stress, anxiety and exhaustion. Through our needs assessment poll via Your Voice back in March-April 2020, women told us that they were struggling with their mental health and wellbeing and felt unable to find time and space for themselves.

Together, Alone was born out of a need to do something useful for women during a truly unprecedented time.

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Blog Over the course of the project, we produced a weekly blog with a wide range of voices. They explored different ideas around self-care, and acted as a space for support, sharing and encouragement around trying out different tips and tools and masterclasses. While the blog feeds into the toolkit, it also acts as a support resource in itself.

We linked with different people such as women with lived experience, the wider CLiCK Team, artists, organisations such as the Rosey Project and the Empowerment Project and allies to discuss self-care and what they would like to bring to the blog, trying to ensure a wide variety of voices, tips and facets were explored in order to build a flexible resource. One woman we spoke to as part of CLiCK Magazine reflected on how self-care means different things to different people, especially during the pandemic:

“Really do whatever makes you feel more like you. It's about letting go of the guilt. If the way you get through the pandemic is to wrap yourself in a duvet and find a whole new genre of favourite films or whether it's going for a two hour run round the park – there is really no right way to support your own mental health.

My advice really would be to try and keep in touch with the things you know make you feel good.”

Photo credit: CLiCK Resource and Information Officer, Shannon, works on a bag as part of her trying out Alice's Masterclasses.

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Women worked alongside Anna to discuss and then write blogs on aspects of self-care that resonated with them. One woman wrote a blog on the connections she has made with different forms of dance and her self-care. Another woman worked with Anna to explore how her dog helped her selfcare, designing an infographic to explain all of the benefits she got from this relationship and writing an accompanying blog. She also worked on a blog from an idea that she had for a self-care activity around creating a “mind map of you”. A trusting relationship was built to explore self-care together.

The overall goal was the process, and the benefit of that to her, not the final product. It was important for this work to go at the pace of the women themselves, and not purely serve the purpose of the project – the work had to be beneficial to anyone engaging with it.

We felt it was important to produce a blog weekly to keep the project alive as an active space of reflection. Anna the Development Worker with CLiCK said:

“From a personal perspective, the blog gave me a real focus and tangible outcome every week during a difficult time in the pandemic – it took me on a journey of self-care exploration alongside the project as I tried to ensure the blog was relevant and covered as many aspects of self-care as possible. It made me feel connected to others during a time where that didn't feel easy.”

Photo Credit: This is the infographic of the ways in which a woman working with the Together, Alone project benefits from her relationship with her dog. This was led by the woman and designed in collaboration with her.

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Photo Credit: A ‘flat lay’ created as part of the photography masterclass.

Masterclasses We worked with artist Alice Dansey-Wright and photographer Kathryn Rattray to produce free, straightforward masterclasses that offer women space to build on or explore new creative skills.

Alice explored doodling, motif making and home printing in her three masterclasses, while Kathryn explored the 5 categories of self-care. She used these to frame her 5 masterclasses that looked at building confidence and skills around the art of photography. Both artists aimed to create something accessible, with the hopes that they could be carried out with things women already had at home. We also produced workshop packs to accompany each masterclass and sent these out to give women additional materials which were received positively.

Many of us use creative activities like painting, drawing, sculpture, writing and photography to help with self-care, with some getting into a mindful “flow” state while they work. This can help people take their minds off worries, reflect on how they are feeling and process emotions, as well as provide a pleasant way to spend some time. We felt that this was an important aspect to look at more closely as part of Together, Alone, something that would add an extra depth for women when thinking about their own self-care. The relationship between creativity and self-care is something that is often acknowledged, but seldom fully explored as part of self-care resources. In order to do this, we made tangible links with women working in the creative sector and artists, offering freelance work at a time when so much work had vanished.

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Kathryn reflected on the process of being involved of the project in a blog –

The artists not only contributed their skills, they also provided valuable personal reflections around self-care via both their masterclasses and blog posts. Alice spoke about the power of doodling and creative flow -

“…creating the masterclasses gave me a focus that I hadn't realised I so desperately needed. It made me think constantly for about three months. At the very start I had NO IDEA what I should do. I was always stuck; stuck on what to shoot, stuck on what to write, how to write it and actually writing it. I think that the secret to it all is persistence, and to get up when you fall at the first hurdle, to scrap something that isn't going well and to dust yourself off and start again.

And that's what I had to keep doing.”

“Doodling can offer a way to relax and just get involved in the 'flow' of creativity, hopefully allowing us to switch off from some of the busy, more demanding aspects of life. Usually when we doodle, we're not thinking about the finished result…it's intuitive.”

Image Credit: Example of work from Alice's masterclass on doodling.

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Photo Credit: Kathryn Rattray. Taken from Kathryn's Movement Masterclass where she created the 7/7 technique, offering skills and encouragement to women around using photography as a way of getting outside – taking 7 photos per day on a different theme. This photo was on the theme of “green”.

Women with lived experience of selling or exchanging sex have rich lives with many roles – not just those related to that experience.

CLiCK Workers wrote blogs to help women to start a new creative project and offer support to overcome barriers around this. Workers and allies also tried out the masterclasses and blogged about their experiences, offering encouragement to women who might want to try them out.

We worked with a woman whose valuable insight into creative writing helped inform and shape the project from the early days, with plans to build on this for a specific masterclass. We know that women's lives are busy and can change and other aspects of her life took priority. We would like to thank her so much for her valuable contributions to the project.

We are aware that our masterclasses focus on the visual arts, and while some blogs touch briefly on other creative outlets such as journaling, crafts, cooking and fashion, we recognise that there is much more to be explored around this. We believe that it's vital that any participatory work goes at a pace that suits the individual. They need to feel comfortable and able to take part in a way that feels right for them, and not feel tied to producing visible, tangible outcomes for the sake of the project.

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Photo Credit: A woman who took part in Kathryn's masterclasses and shared her photos as part of this.

These photos are from her “Joy” series, where she set up a home studio and took beautiful photographs of flowers.

Tips and tools We began gathering and sharing our tips and tools by looking inward and focusing on what we at CLiCK find helpful. These were shared via our social media in the first weeks of the project, framing it and opening the door for women to use what they felt was helpful and share their own tips and tools with us.

Throughout the project, we gathered and shared tips and tools in order to foster connections with and provide suggestions directly to women. They have come directly from women as well as from CLiCK workers and third sector organisations, and other allies.

At the beginning of the project, through our initial research, we identified our 5 categories of selfcare (grounding, connection, comfort, movement and joy) to frame our tips and tools in order to make them more accessible. We wanted these categories to reflect the variety of physical and emotional outcomes that can be the result of undertaking any form of self-care.

Women did this through conversations with CLiCK Women's Workers and the CLiCK Development Worker, and work with the artists involved in the masterclasses. These were then collated along with other learning and tips and tools from blogs and made into an interactive toolkit resource which was launched in January and shared widely throughout the third sector, creative sector and via our social media platforms.

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We hope that this resource can reach as many of those who may find it useful as possible in order to offer some self-care support to anyone in need of it.

Dumfries Women's Aid: “This is amazing, thanks for sharing.”

Some feedback we have received on the toolkit:

Dundee & Angus College: “We received your Toolkit at Dundee & Angus college today. It's absolutely terrific! So comprehensive and visually very cool. Thank you, I'm just about to share it with our student population.”

FRASAC: “The toolkit looks amazing, a huge amount of work I'm sure but very worthwhile.”

Overall learning The main aim for the Together, Alone project was to work collectively with women with lived experience of selling or exchanging sex, as well as the voices of support workers and allies, to create a collective toolkit to act as a resource. This all needed positive, trusting relationships to be built with both women and other contributors, ensuring that involvement would provide something of benefit to them, and not just the project. Some of the women involved felt that sharing something that might be helpful to others had a positive impact on them. Although the numbers who engaged directly with this project were small, the aim was always to produce a resource collectively with the idea of “women supporting women” at the core and this is something we feel we achieved.

“When I was thinking about selfcare during difficult times, I considered how much my dog helps me. I explored the idea in more depth with Anna, and I saw my relationship with my dog was even more important than I realised.

It's been a lovely process. I have been reminded of my skills and having a voice that may help or encourage others, has just been great."

One woman who engaged with the project said:

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As well as working closely with women as part of the project, another positive outcome has been the positive relationships with other contributors to this project - whether that be artists, other organisations or allies. This has raised awareness of the issues faced by women who sell or exchange sex around their mental health and wellbeing during the coronavirus pandemic.

This approach is something that is key to the experiences of women being better understood and their needs better met. The importance of linking with artists is also key here – while relationships with other third sector services are of real importance, linking with artists broadened our discussion and helped to provide a new way of framing women's experiences, looking at their lives holistically and creatively.

We all share a responsibility to be actively making links together in order to provide improved, more holistic support and care.

Although we have achieved our aim of working alongside women to explore self-care, we have also found that self-care has been individualised.

All too often it feels as though systemic inequality creates a need for self-care but is overlooked as a cause - the full responsibility lands on the individual. It is vital that women have two key things to better support their mental health and wellbeing: 1) access to appropriate mental health care and support and 2) an opportunity to have their voices heard by decision makers in a meaningful way, ensuring lived experience consultation is not viewed as a tick box exercise.

We plan to take what we have learned about women's mental health and wellbeing needs and feed it up to strategic decision makers via this magazine, along with other key strategic groups.

As well as being a direct resource for women, we hope that the toolkit will serve as a resource for staff, adding to their own box of tools and helping them to have full, holistic conversations with women around their wellbeing. It could be used as a training tool to upskill staff, helping them to see women holistically, and supporting more women to engage in self-care that is meaningful and personal to them as an individual.

Thank you so much to the women who took time out of their busy lives to take part in Together, Alone.

Without you, this project would not have been possible.

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Asking all the right questions!

RISE was an anonymous survey platform where women could make their voice heard on a range of issues as a means of informing decision makers and services of women's needs.

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Each CLiCK Cast episode was accompanied by a RISE survey, capturing women's needs and experiences around money, online safety, mental wellbeing, housing and sexual health.

We then secured funding from the Encompass Network to provide a further 20 Love2Shop e-gift cards for women supported directly by Encompass Network services. Data collection ended on 11 December 2020 with 81 responses in total.

Our findings highlight that, for many women, there had been no meaningful improvement in their needs from March 2020 to December 2020.

Many women remained in extremely precarious, and worsening, financial situations and were experiencing depression, anxiety, and loneliness.

The high level of engagement with this needs assessment demonstrates the importance of appropriately remunerating women for their time and of valuing lived experience as much as learned.

This is in order to ensure Scotland's support landscape is based on, and will meet, the needs of all women involved in selling or exchanging sex.

In the following pages we present the findings alongside women's quotes – exactly as they were written by women – to provide a platform for the various needs, experiences, and voices of women with lived experience of selling or exchanging sex or images in Scotland during the coronavirus pandemic.

After receiving little direct engagement with the RISE surveys, the surveys were redesigned as informal conversational tools that workers could use during their support with women. However, engagement remained low.

On 4 November 2020, we published a needs assessment on RISE which asked women what their needs were at the start of the pandemic, what their needs are now, and what they would like to see change to best meet women's rights and needs. Through our programme costs, we were able to provide a £20 Love2Shop e-gift card to the first 50 women who responded to the survey. We received an overwhelming response, with all 50 e-gifts cards allocated within 3 days of the needs assessment going live.

Checking in - what are your needs right now?

Women were asked questions about their needs at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, their needs now (November/December 2020), how they were feeling at the moment, and what they would like to see change at the service and government level to best meet women's rights and needs.

The full survey can be viewed at www.clickmagazine.online. We present our findings based on the responses of 81 women below. All women provided informed consent for their responses to be included in this magazine.

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Needs at the start of the coronavirus pandemic MOST URGENT need at the START of the pandemic Women were asked what their most urgent need was at the start of the pandemic. Women could select only one option in response to this question: 36% 23% 21% 16% 3%

1%

of women stated MONEY of women stated MENTAL WELLBEING of women stated HOUSING of women stated SAFETY of women stated OTHER (including needing support in applying for benefits and support for drug use) of women stated SEXUAL HEALTH

OTHER needs at the START of the pandemic Women were also asked if they had any other needs at the start of the pandemic, excluding their most urgent need. Women were invited to select all options that applied to them: 24% 24% 19% 19% 12% 2%

of women stated MENTAL WELLBEING of women stated SAFETY of women stated HOUSING of women stated MONEY of women stated SEXUAL HEALTH of women stated OTHER (including needing support with drug use)

This demonstrates that, at the start of the pandemic, women were experiencing a high level of need in various areas of their lives.

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Needs in November/ December 2020 MOST URGENT need NOW (Nov/Dec 2020) Women were also asked what their most urgent need was at this stage of the pandemic (November/ December 2020). Women could select only one option in response to this question: 52% of women stated MONEY 17% of women stated SAFETY 15% of women stated MENTAL WELLBEING 9% of women stated HOUSING 6% of women stated SEXUAL HEALTH 1% stated OTHER (including support with drug use) This demonstrates that MONEY remains the most urgent need for many women and has become a more pressing need over time for others. SAFETY and SEXUAL HEALTH have also become more urgent needs for women as the pandemic has progressed.

OTHER needs NOW (Nov/Dec 2020) Women were again asked if they had any other needs at this stage of the pandemic (November/December 2020), other than their most urgent need. Women were invited to select all options that applied to them: 29% 23% 19% 16% 11% 2%

of women stated MENTAL WELLBEING of women stated HOUSING of women stated SAFETY of women stated SEXUAL HEALTH of women stated MONEY of women stated OTHER (including support with drug use)

These findings demonstrate that, across the pandemic, women have continued to experience a high level of need in various areas of their lives with women's needs worsening in some cases (e.g. money) and becoming more pressing in others (e.g. sexual health).

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How women are feeling Women also let us know how they were feeling at that stage of the pandemic (November/December 2020). The responses below highlight the overwhelming impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on women's mental wellbeing, despite mental wellbeing not being identified as women's most urgent need at the start of the pandemic or in November/December 2020.

“A er going through every stage of ‘grief’ I’m now in the acceptance stage. Coping as best I can and try to keep positive.”

We present the majority of quotes women provided us with, exactly as they were written, to provide a platform for the various voices of women who sell or exchange sex or images in Scotland. Other women whose quotes aren't featured here highlighted some of the additional risks around personal safety that were the result of the impact of covid for them. Many of these quotes reflect the incredibly difficult situations women have faced during the pandemic - some express suicidal ideation and negative impacts on mental health. Each quote is from a different woman:

“Stressed.”

“I am really frustrated, mental health has had a dramatic plunge, felt suicidal and did take matters in my own hands and woke up in hospital. I feel like a failure to my family as they don't know what I do.”

“Actually feeling not too bad. Some of my work colleagues are finding things hard. I have my regulars who i see on a regular basis. But I will say that I cant wait til things go back to normal. Clients are frustrated as I try to stick to the steps that the government are telling us to do, Some clients want to be more involved with kissing etc, which I have stopped.”

“Like my life is over & it might be kinder fate to just die of that bloody virus of theirs.”

“Not as scared as during the pandemic.”

“Anxious, low energy.”

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“Depressed.”

“My mental health started to become up and down and then became extremely low where was only leaving the house to collect medication. I wasn't even going out for a walk to clear my head.”

“In general feeling a bit poorly and money worries.”

“I'm sleeping a lot, not going out much this last week. Not washing, I think Im getting a bit depressed and anxious tbh.”

“I'm feeling a bit low.”

“Very low, finding things difficult, no money for food for me, my partner or our dog. Having to work on the street to get money.

Trying to get support for my drug use. It's a scary time.”

“Depressed, not in a good mental state as I'm not sleeping. got no money.”

“Feeling a bit low and not very good at all.”

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What women want to see change We asked women for their recommendations on how support services and the government should be responding to their needs. The responses below demonstrate the varied views of women involved in selling or exchanging sex in Scotland, as well as an interconnectedness and shared call to action for services and Scottish Government to do more to meet women's rights and needs.

“Women should be able to work in a safe environment whether that is in a strip club, brothel or online without the stigma or laws that limit the safety of these women. The government should bailout these women like they have done for others in the hospitality area. Considering there is no genuine support from the government or a solid plan to open sex work venues like they have done for other businesses. Women and their families need housing, food, clothing, condoms and other birth control/protective measures, feminine products, sexual health checkups, safe place to work with preventive ppe measures. They deserve the same help and support like anyone else during this time.”

We present here all the quotes we have from women, exactly as they were written, to provide a platform for the various voices of women who sell or exchange sex or images in Scotland. Each quote is from a different woman:

“More understanding of how stressful dependant we are on money from benefits etc at the moment and this should be made so much easier to get what you are entitled. Profiles being stolen from Adultwork etc this should not be allowed to happen and this should be made illegal and prosecuted when reported. This needs to stop. Creates anxiety about where my profile is and any of my images, especially when they may be on underage sites which I think is disgusting.”

“Accessible public support to free therapy/CBT sessions should they need it, access to a support team primarily for sex workers for financial and mental health advice, ample financial help towards bills/rent.”

“Funding for being off work.

We should be able to work”.

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“Help with mental health, drug use, money, housing and someone to talk to about how I feel.”

“First of all people in power need to admit the trade exists & stop brushing the whole industry under the carpet. Then they should provide the same levels of support as they do for any other line of work. Which is increasingly becoming a joke anyway with the growing divide between the security of jobs of public & private sector. They need to return to the 21 century, include adult entertainment venues into their “everything goes back to normal” at tier 0 of their lockdown policy & who knows, maybe even destigmatise sex work as such so sex workers might trade in safe work places & pay taxes like they do in civilised countries. Wishful thinking.”

“Decriminalisation and safety checks.”

“Counselling, somewhere to speak to and get help. to look at root causes of sex work which are poverty, lack of economic opportunities, high costs of housing and education etc...

Prostitution is not driven by 'demand' but by the economic needs of people.

Benefits checks, as a single parent this is one of the reasons I work as an escort, to be able to give my children the basics (good, clothes, warmth, safety) . Benefits don't stretch. I do it because I'm poor. I can't live off of benefits. I also have a chronic illness which effects me going for a proper job. Even then the minimum wage doesn't even cover living costs. This being the other reason I do what I am doing, to get by. The government need to ensure escorts safety.”

“Group work with other women who sell and exchange sex.”

“Financial support-due to covid I have lost out on regulars as they gave become paranoid and don't want to come to me due to the restrictions. I'm hoping that when this all calms down, my regulars will come back. I am really struggling.”

“All that u have mentioned money housing mental health.”

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“I think counselling and somewhere where we can meet up and be able to help each other through a rough time. The government don't want us all having sex with other people that aren't in the same households, but when you stay in a bed n breakfast this is hard not to come in contact with others, where you have others not caring about the rules due to them needing money, they have no option. I am just lucky that I have clients that are thoughtful to my needs and I theirs.”

“I feel the government need to help us more to be safe. Therapy Counselling for all sex-workers.”

Women's calls for change demonstrate the need for services and decision makers to develop appropriate channels to support all women to make their voice heard. Services and decision makers should be endeavouring to hear from a range of women with lived experience of selling or exchanging sex – from women who wish to remain involved, to women who would like to exit, and those who have exited – to develop effective harm-reduction services and policies that are fit to support women within an increasingly digital sex industry. Services and decision makers should also actively collaborate with women with a range of opinions and experiences to establish a model for exit services in Scotland that can support women into tangible, realistic opportunities at a pace that suits them. Without actively listening to voices from the whole spectrum of experience within Scotland's sex industry, Scotland's support landscape will not be fit to meet the rights and needs of all women who sell or exchange sex.

“Emotional peer support to enable consistency as grants o en only allow certain number of therapy sessions. Financial support with long term strategy of enabling financial equality and open choices to women.

Housing advocacy/benefits/social care etc advocacy services sex work specific. Include them in policy.

Represent them in advocacy, collective orgs and NGO funding. I have le the sex industry six years ago but the financial repercussions & reason for entering still exist. The systemic inequality is still there & will always be the longest serving issue pre and post industry.”

Our needs assessment starkly highlights that women involved in selling or exchanging sex in Scotland have experienced a variety of different needs across the pandemic. For many women, these various needs were not meet and, in some cases, worsened (e.g. money), or became more pressing (e.g. sexual health), from March 2020 to December 2020. Importantly, although women never identified mental wellbeing as their most urgent need either at the start of the pandemic or in November/December 2020, women's quotes highlight the profound mental health impact the pandemic has had on women. This continued high level and wide variety of need highlights the importance and urgency for accessible, holistic support services across Scotland that meet women where they are at. Investment in these services and commitment from Scottish Government to deliver clear outcomes for women must start now.

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Loud and clear Some came from a desire to share their experiences with other women who are involved in selling or exchanging sex, as a way of reaching out to them, empowering other women to take up support and have their voices heard. For others, it was about sharing a voice and opinion on emerging aspects of the sex industry, along with voicing frustrations around changes to circumstances due to the pandemic. For others, there was power in telling part of her story and sharing that safely and anonymously, helping to process some of the experience for her through writing. All three women were involved in the design elements of their pieces.

The Your Voice section of CLiCK Magazine was a platform for women to share their thoughts, opinions and experiences of selling or exchanging sex or images in a way that worked for them.

This section links back in with the Your Voice part of the CLiCK project, where women shared needs, experiences and stories to develop the service and other service pathways, shaping it to fit the needs of women. Women have also worked with Your Voice on resources, website content and promotional materials.

These pieces highlight both positive and negative aspects of the experiences of the women. They reflect their thoughts and opinions and have been shared uncensored in their own words – something that is vital to ensuring women's voices are fairly represented.

Your Voice worked in different ways with three women to share a part of their experiences, with each woman in control of what she wanted to share and how she wanted to present it – from poetry to narratives. Each woman had her reasons for being involved in the work and spent time with CLiCK workers discussing her individual experiences. The women led the discussions in safe spaces, with the women free to express their own views and opinions, without a focus on ideologies. From these conversations, women developed their creative pieces.

We would like to thank the women involved with Your Voice so much for taking the time to share their passionate, considered and engaging thoughts, stories and creative work.

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Poems by E The car pulls up Here we go again Where is my soul I have nothing to gain At first I was broken The money was stroking The make of the tears All the lost years Sure I’ll keep going What would be the difference?

My heart stopped knowing Inside a light At times I couldn’t fight I cried out for help Something deep inside me felt So many had lied Inside I had died

I know your deep rooted pain Many years I felt insane No one would listen Would they even know I was missing?

Sure I will carry on the race In a world they compiled my case I had to become strong and align The door finally opened I seen the sign You can’t take my grace I am not just a stolen face Please take the chance How much longer can you do this dance?

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A working girl’s life Please pull out the knife I know I hide my tears Honest all the abuse and fears Many told me lies My lonely heart still cries I want you to know There is help you can go It’s okay to have your say It’s okay if you can’t find your way I know you been through hell Trust me it started with a spell Please have the strength Ring heaven’s Bell I promise I won’t tell

There is a service called Click They think you’re a good trick You think you are working for a cause Take a breath and take a pause The games and names are lies Look inside and touch the skies Love for sake love for order You’re crying out across the border Famous for your beauty and pain Inside your taught outside vain Women breaded like sheep Come on dig me out deep Abandoned children or were you raised I clearly remember that day I was praised Taught to be an actor That is a major factor

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Quote by D “It seemed like good alternative to dancing at the time as I modeled before & I couldn't imagine any other way for a stripper to work from home.

Back then we still had hope we will be able to go back to work, now it looks like the government finally won its battle against us after losing against public opinion for decades they used the pandemic to cancel adult entertainment indefinitely.”

“I have been spending hours every day on makeup, hair, shoots, editing, advertising on social media, where the "moral police" is rife, targeting anyone who could potentially be a sex worker while providing absolutely no protection against all kinds of predators & scammers. So in past half a year I have been bringing in about £40 a MONTH while being exposed to incredibly creepy behavior from random faceless strangers whom I can not even call out on their actions & hold accountable as the internet gives them anonymity.”

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“In 25 years as I stripper I have always felt safe & respected within my environment, the only people who would think me not worthy of respect due to my job were, frankly not worth my respect themselves, including those in power who would think they can impose their own questionable morals on my life.

So here I am, doing, pretty much charity work because I am convinced in the world of mindless consumerism of porn people still need fantasies & dreaming about being able to look my customers in the eye & say “That is not OK” if they step out of line. Because that is the only way men can learn to act appropriately around women they find attractive & still enjoy their time without ruining it for the lady.”

“In the last few months there has been data leaks on Admireme & OnlyFans both & I do not believe either site is doing anything to reimburse ladies that were affected. Which is probably OK with the establishment as nobody actually died from it.

I can not imagine any way for the government to make things any safer on there because their idea of improving things would probably be just shutting everything down.”

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Sto ie by S “I started the next day. I made more money in my first day than I had ever made in any job.

I was new, I was enthusiastic and grateful. It changed my life for the better for about 7 years.

I went on holidays when I hadnt been able to afford things like that for a long long time.”

“The bad things about it were drunks, smelly people and aggressives, men who had sex like machines, drugged up guys like cokeheads were terrible,some foreign girls were very bitchy, some Scottish girls were too. But I met some great girls who I am friends with some even now, and some nice men too. I have not been in another relationship since working though.

Only friends with men, I saw enough of them at work, a busmans holiday I would say. Some of the sauna owners were exploitative though, especially the seedier places.”

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“As I was getting older so were my clients and they didnt seem to mind. We started getting more in to domination and we did ok, but being older we didn’t make as much money.

But times had changed, and the economy was just getting steadily worse and worse under the English conservative governments. Covid was the last straw and Im actually relieved that I dont ever have to do the work again."

“It skews your perception, this job, it has a lot of positives but there are many negatives too. My experience was unique to me. I saw women who had harder times doing it than me, I saw women who had better experiences too, who genuinely were bought houses and cars. Its an eye opening thing and I dont regret doing it."

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Where have women's voices gone?

This can be a very slow process and we understand that, for women, it can often feel like change is never coming. We want to take some time to draw attention to – and celebrate – some pieces of work that women have directly influenced whilst continuing to hold decision makers, local authorities, and support services accountable. This work is far from over. Women's voices will only have a measurable impact if there is a commitment from national leadership to listen to women, carry out action based on women's real needs and experiences, and develop a clear strategy to support joined up working from a strategic level down to a local, community level to ensure that Scotland's support landscape and policy works for all women with lived experience of selling or exchanging sex or images.

CLiCK have been working with women to ensure their voices are heard at the strategic level to influence real, tangible change on the ground.

The main way we support this goal is by feeding women's needs and experiences into the work of The Encompass Network, a network of agencies working to develop good practice in supporting women involved in selling or exchanging sex or images. The Encompass Network work closely with the Scottish Government, local authorities, and support services to push for change by raising awareness of women's needs, informing policy, and shaping service delivery.

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MOVING UP ON POLICY AGENDA

EMERGENCY MEASURES

The Encompass Network very quickly identified the range of issues women were experiencing due to COVID-19 and produced a needs paper at the end of March 2020, which CLiCK fed into. This supported and informed the policy agenda of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities' (COSLA), who work on behalf of local councils to engage with the Scottish Government on policy, funding, and legislation. COSLA convened a short-term working group over 10 weeks to explore how to ensure women's needs and experiences influence decision making at the strategic level and service delivery in local communities. This work has resulted in a report being submitted to COSLA's Community Wellbeing Board – one of the highest-level boards in terms of reach and influence. Subsequently, the needs of women have been established as a priority for COSLA over the next 3 years. This work will directly inform the Scottish Government's strategic direction by reporting to the Multi Agency Group on Commercial Sexual Exploitation to highlight that women, no matter where they live in Scotland, should have access to flexible models of service deliveries including access to trauma informed support with harm reduction and exiting support, if women want this. This work will also look at addressing bigger, long-term action on poverty and inequality to ensure that no woman is pushed into the sex industry due to poverty and that no woman is forced to remain in the industry out of financial necessity.

At the beginning of the pandemic, women – particularly those involved in selling or exchanging sex on street – raised concerns about being highly visible during lockdown and fears of being arrested under coronavirus legislation. The Encompass Network worked with Police Scotland to raise awareness and recognition of women's vulnerability to ensure that women would not be targeted for Section 46 offenses. Police Scotland's strategic operating procedures are currently being refreshed to reaffirm implementing the Lord Advocate Guidance of a non-arrest approach. This will be accompanied by dissemination of resources and capacity building for staff to reiterate that it is not in the public interest or in the best interests of women that they are arrested under prostitution related offences.

MISUSE OF SEXUAL IMAGES In 2019, CLiCK began raising awareness of gaps in the Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act (2016) which meant images or videos that were already disclosed to some section of the public would not be protected. CLiCK have been working alongside organisations like Scottish Women's Rights Centre, Rape Crisis Greater Glasgow and Clyde, and Revenge Porn Helpline to highlight the need for the current legislation to be amended to protect women and their content via an online webinar. This work has resulted in new partnerships with the GMB Adult Entertainment Branch to develop a series of surgeries to inform women of their rights and available supports. A campaign is now in development to push for change at the legislative level.

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WORK WITH PUBLIC HEALTH SCOTLAND

HOUSING At the beginning of the pandemic, many women – who had previously waited months or years for housing – were fast tracked through the system. However, the focus of local authority housing teams now seems to have moved from addressing emergency housing to longer term need without releasing that some women's emergency needs were never resolved and that many more women are now entering a crisis period. The Encompass Network is working alongside the Housing sector to ensure that housing sector staff are aware of – and capable of responding to the specific housing challenges faced by women involved in selling or exchanging sex or images. Creative work with women will be conducted in phase 1 of the project to inform the design, development and delivery of training materials, information, and resources in phase 2.

The Encompass Network have been working alongside Public Health Scotland to ensure women's broad spectrum of health needs are placed into the public health structure.

Encompass worked with Health Improvement, Sexual Health and Public Health to ensure that messages on COVID-19 were relevant to women who sell or exchange sex.

Work is also being carried out with sexual health teams to ensure that staff are aware of women's specific needs across all sexual health clinics, not just specialist services. A working group will be convened looking at women's mental health needs and women's experience of stigma and judgement. A short pilot will also be developed to evaluate the effectiveness of trauma informed counselling, based on feedback from women around what support they have benefited from/would find beneficial. The Housing episode of CLiCK Cast is now also forming the basis of a joint briefing by CLiCK and Public Health Scotland on women's housing needs to inform decision makers, housing charities, local authorities, and housing officers.

IMPACTS OF BREXIT The Encompass Network is working with the Scottish Government to ensure that EU women are not left destitute and through CLiCK have recently begun scoping the impact of Brexit on women's lives and women's experiences around applying for settled status and accessing support. The Encompass Network will be working with Scottish Government to host information surgeries around various needs and ensuring women with No Recourse to Public Funds can continue to access emergency financial support through the Encompass Fund and Victim Fund.

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FUNDING AND RESEARCH

UPSKILLING LOCAL SERVICES

Within the new round of Delivering Equally Safe funding – funding which supports organisations who work to address violence against women and girls - women involved in selling or exchanging sex or images have been identified as an under-resourced and priority group. It is hoped this will lead to creative partnership projects as well as ensuring front line services are given a priority. Women's voices are also being included in research around the impacts of coronavirus. CLiCK are part of the Inclusion Health Research Group, led by Public Health Scotland, which aims to investigate marginalised communities experience of coronavirus.

Through being given higher priority in funding and research, new routes have opened for women's voices to influence policy and practice.

Through working with local women's services (e.g. Women's Aid, Rape Crisis), the Encompass Network is aware that women can sometimes find it difficult to articulate if being involved in selling or exchanging sex or images was part of the pattern of abuse they had experienced, often due to stigma and prejudice. The Encompass Network is carrying out more direct work with local women's services to ensure that staff provide women with an open, safe, and inclusive space to discuss being involved in selling or exchanging sex or images if this is relevant to them. Work is also underway to transform the CLiCK Cast series into a programme of training and capacity building for staff across a variety of sectors including housing, sexual health, money advice centres, and mental health to ensure that mainstream services are aware of – and capable of responding effectively to – women's various needs.

EXITING SUPPORT CLiCK and The Encompass Network have heard from a range of women on the difficulties and challenges they experienced in moving on from the sex industry. The Encompass Network is now linking with the Scottish Government's “No One Left Behind” strategy to support women's long-term career development and ensure women's employment needs are given strategic level recognition and priority and a sub-programme of work for women is now in the process of being developed. Women who are currently involved and women who have exited will be consulted to explore what areas of work they would like to move on to, what skills they would like to develop, and what kind of support they would like to get there. Other links are being made across Government Departments so the needs of women who want to move on are understood beyond Justice and Equalities Departments.

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What’s next?

Recommendations for support services on how to meet the rights and needs of women.

The Writer's Team were asked what recommendations they would give to support services working with women with lived experience of selling or exchanging sex or images.

Here is the list of tangible recommendations from women with differing experiences and opinions, that can be applied across a variety of services which women feel would improve their experience of support if they were applied across a variety of services.

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1.

Let women know your service exists

Consider creative ways of letting women know about your service and what support you can offer and ensure this information reaches women where they are in their day-to-day lives. This could be targeted ads on social media or promotion on local radio stations or in the local paper, being explicit that you can offer support to women who sell or exchange sex.

Women need to know that your service is available before they can access it for support.

It's also important to ensure that other services know what support you can offer. This can be done by including information about your service in sector newsletters, such as the Equally Safe Bulletin, or an article about the support you provide and encouraging other services to get in touch on platforms like Third Force News. This must include making tangible links with specialist organisations who support women who sell or exchange sex.

This can also be done by making links and creating networks to share learning and knowledge with other organisations – for example, attending team meetings to raise awareness of who your service is and what it does.

One woman said:

“There needs to be more information about services and how to access them.”

Another woman echoed this lack of awareness of support that was available, saying:

“I'd like to see more availability of services and what help can be offered. I think SACRO, CLiCK etc had been amazing. I think the worry can be a lot of people don't know of the service. In the past this service has helped me tremendously when I was in a horrible place, and I appreciate that I was still given support this time around. I wish more people knew about the service.”

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2.

Listen, keep an open mind, and be compassionate – remember each woman is an individual in her own right

One woman said of her experience at CLiCK:

“CLiCK for me was extremely important, I felt I was not alone anymore, I have someone who cares, who can listen to your needs. In CLiCK, they are attentive, responsive and they fight for our rights. I feel with the help of CLiCK I can be a person again, someone who will come out of this obscure part of society and be part of a community again, someone who gets respect and could not be more thankful for finding an organization that can truly listen and understand your necessities.”

Women can sometimes struggle to disclose their involvement in selling or exchanging sex or images due to real and perceived stigma.

This can act as barrier to women accessing vital support that they are entitled to, such as the Encompass Fund and Victim Fund. One woman said that a good worker would be:

This suggests that empathy, being approachable and skilled at advocacy are key skills for workers supporting women who sell or exchange sex.

“Down to earth with a good heart and they would be able to understand what my life has been like. The same as I have been treated with CLiCK staff this past 7/8 months. It is great to be listened to instead of just judging me. I get support three times a week but I know that I can call in between if I am having a crisis and they will make time for me. I would not have made it through without them.”

Make it clear when promoting your service, and during your interactions with women, that you provide an open, safe, and inclusive space for women to discuss selling or exchanging sex or images if this is relevant to them. Consider updating your website to explicitly state that you support women who sell or exchange sex or images, as well as linking to relevant specialist services that they can access. You may also want to have promotional materials for specialist services on display in your office or centre for women to access as this may help women to feel more comfortable disclosing.

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Importantly, one woman called for support services to be aware that every woman's experience of the sex industry is different, saying:

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“The attitude I would hope for from support workers would be mostly about open mind, because sex work, like any other kind of work, can be empowering or humiliating, fulfilling or draining, positive or negative, all depending on the person doing it & their reasons, work ethic, personality & countless other factors. I feel like many people concerning themselves with the wellbeing of sex workers bring their own opinions into the game so one might try to "save them all from the gutter of depravity" while the next one might "fight for their right to avenge themselves on evil patriarchy". Every one of us is different, one lady might need saving from predators while the next one might need help fighting the prudery & hypocrisy of society.”

Work together

Be flexible and open to using your networks to tailor support to the individual, and proactive in forming new partnerships.

Many women involved in selling or exchanging sex or images have highlighted the high level of need across various areas of their lives. No one service can meet all these needs, and there is a lack of specialist services across Scotland, so services and workers may look to build upon their existing networks to provide women with wrap-around support. One woman said:

“CLiCK have been supportive and helpful, they have been able to refer me to other organisations as well to suit my needs.”

The desire for partnership working is highlighted by another woman who would like support with day-to-day tasks but also advocacy and support to engage with other services:

“I would like more support with day-to-day issues that I struggle with, like going outside myself and supporting me better to deal with other services that I speak to like my CPN.”

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This statement highlights the importance of sharing knowledge and learning between organisations. Specifically there is clear potential for new links to be made between public sector organisations and charities that are already supporting women. Tech organisations, for example, can provide valuable insight into online safety which women can apply in their day-today lives when connecting with clients online.

Similarly, business and employability services could provide support with CV writing, job interview preparation, and career planning.

Another woman emphasised the importance of education within harm-reduction and exiting support:

“When it comes to support of sex workers in current situation, my idea would be mainly on education.

For the ladies who wish to remain in the trade, I would suggest teaching them how to avoid online scammers, screen their potential clients and how to manage and advertise their work or content in a manner that would enable them to safely continue in their chosen line of work. Ladies that wish to leave the field can be best supported by being offered education and training to help them find a job in a different area.”

Having read women's recommendations, what two things can you do as a worker or a service to improve the support you offer to women?

If you have any questions – or would like support in implementing these recommendations in your service – get in touch with The Encompass Network for the latest news on information sessions, training, and capacity building.

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Thank you to everyone who had an input in some way to CLiCK Magazine: Digital Edition. In particular, thank you to all of the women with lived experience who took time out of their busy lives to share their needs, voices and thoughts with us over the past year.

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