'I suffered rape and assault while selling sex'

A former prostitute has opened up on her experience selling sex, detailing how women were often assaulted and raped, and that she was forced to make a "different personality" for herself in order to cope.

Jane, who is aged in her 20s, said sex workers can be "demonised" by authorities, as she detailed one harrowing account of her being in hospital after being attacked by a man.

She was contacted by the charity Streetlight UK, which has expanded its operation across south-east England, and has called for additional funding and resources to support more women in the region.

The Home Office has been approached for comment.

The exchange of sexual services for money is legal in England, Scotland and Wales.

However it is illegal to partake in solicitation on the streets, pay for sex if someone is forced into it, own or manage a brothel, control a prostitute and the money they earn, and advertise sexual services, like putting cards in a phone box.

Associated activities such as kerb crawling are also illegal.

Jane, not her real name, was a prostitute in Kent until a couple of months ago.

She started selling sex at a property when she was 18 for a short period of time.

By the time she was 24 she couldn't work due to her health and decided to go back into prostitution.

She says selling sex was an option to earn money.

"You don't work many hours and you get quite a lot [of money] but it's not worth the risk that is involved," she told BBC South East.

"People stole from me, assault was not uncommon, rape, attempted rape, all those kind of things - and that's considered lucky.

"I made a completely different personality for myself in order to cope, so I would just switch off and try to essentially become a different person.

"When you first get into it there are people that purposely prey on the ones that are new, because you haven't established the red flags that you need to.

"You just somehow become more savvy in knowing who to avoid and who not to."

She was supported by the charity Streetlight UK, a support service for women involved in prostitution, sexual exploitation and trafficking.

Jane says prostitutes are demonized, and when she was treated in hospital after an assault, the staff were not very supportive.

She said: "There was like no support at all, because I didn't want to report it, because of how it occurred basically.

"I think there needs to be more empathy."

Streetlight UK says since it started operating its current service in Medway in March 2023, it has directly supported 244 women.

The service recently began operating in East Kent, where 59 women have received direct support since April last year.

Meanwhile the number supported in Surrey and Sussex has steadily grown from 366 in 2020/21 to 459 in 2024/25.

Chief executive Helena Croft said there was demand for its services in the community.

"Homeless charities, mental health, sexual health, they're telling us there's nothing like us and they really need help," she said.

"They need that support to understand the trauma and impact of prostitution on women."

Ms Croft said the internet has changed prostitution "significantly" because it's become accessible to anyone at any time.

She added the government was doing "some good work", but she would like to see more services like hers rolled out across London and the South East.

A lot of the organisation's crisis work involves supporting women in financial hardship who've turned to prostitution, but they also work with police and support suspected victims of sex trafficking.

In 2024, 1246 people were identified by the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) as being potential victims of sexual exploitation.

The NRM, run by the Home Office, is a process in the UK for identifying and supporting victims of modern slavery and human trafficking.

Dr Erin Sanders-McDonagh, a senior criminologist at the University of Kent, says many women choose to go into prostitution, and not all of them want to leave the industry.

She said: "Single mothers with young children, these are the kinds of people who are suffering the most under austerity, particularly in places like north Kent where there's not a lot of access to high paying jobs.

"Sex becomes a very reasonable and logical option for women who need to make extra money."

The National Police Chiefs guidance encourages forces to focus on the vulnerability of street sex workers and prioritise pursuing those who commit exploitation or violence against sex workers.

Dan Vajzovic, the NPCC lead for the policing of sex work, says guidance recognises the vulnerability of many sex workers, "particularly those who're involved in selling sex on the street".

He added: "Over recent years we have seen really strong recognition to understand the vulnerability of sex workers and focus our enforcement activities on those carrying out that exploitation".

"In this context it is about criminal exploitation and rape and to prosecute those types of offences."

If you have been affected by the issues raised in this story you can visit the BBC Action Line for support.