‘Survival sex’ is becoming more and more common - the Church should be outraged

Writer Belle Tindall explains why we should all be concerned by the recent figures that show more and more women are turning to sex work to pay their bills.

It took me maybe three or four read throughs of ITV’s recent research for it to properly sink in. More than 56,000 students in the UK are turning to sex work in order to pay their bills while studying at university. That’s a whopping three per cent of the student population, with another six per cent considering it a viable option if ever it was needed.

Sit in that for a moment - our future doctors and accountants, teachers and dentists, journalists and architects – having to sell their own bodies to survive while learning their trade. Those who have spent their childhood dreaming up their future careers are now having to engage in sex work while pursuing them. Young people who, ten years ago were watching the Disney Channel are now selling explicit images of themselves to do the food shop. Young people, who, in ten years’ time, will be teaching our children, taking our bloods, and advising us on our mortgages, all the while dealing with the inevitable trauma of what they had to endure while qualifying to do so.