How can sex workers stay safe while facing high daily risks? This article shares practical, evidence-based safety tips for sex workers while also highlighting the urgent need for systemic reforms to improve protection and dignity.
Although the term “prostitution” still carries significant stigma, this article, based on a chapter from my book NEVER A VICTIM, focuses on women who voluntarily engage in sex work and deserve the same safety, dignity, and human rights as anyone else. The goal here is not to debate the morality or legality of sex work, but to acknowledge an unavoidable truth: sex work exists, and for many women, it involves extremely high levels of danger every single day.
What Do the Latest Statistics Reveal About Violence Against Sex Workers?
According to data from Agenda, a UK-based alliance campaigning for women and girls at risk, women involved in prostitution are 18 times more likely to be murdered than the general female population. More than 74% have experienced violence from men who purchase sex, and over half have been raped or sexually assaulted. These figures are not isolated. A global review by Deering et al. (2014) suggests that between 45% and 75% of sex workers will experience violence in their lifetime, with up to 55% experiencing violence in the past year alone. Additionally, the National Ugly Mugs (NUM) scheme, a UK-wide project aiming to improve the safety of sex workers, reported receiving 603 reports in 2020 detailing 723 accounts of harm. Of these, 41% involved physical violence, including rape, attempted rape, sexual assault, and condom removal; 24% were related to fraud and robbery; and 23% pertained to stalking and harassment.
These are not just statistics. In June 2024, Larissa Garcia, a sex worker and mother of two, was murdered in a Las Vegas hotel room by a client who later confessed. In December 2024, the body of Duangta Khampongsom was found decomposing in a Pattaya hotel room. In 2024, a 45-year-old sex worker was murdered in Melbourne. Each of these cases, and many others like them, illustrates how dangerous this profession can be when structural safeguards are absent.
Yet violence is not inevitable. It is often a product of three key factors: unsafe environments, poor governance, and deeply entrenched social stigma. Where sex workers are criminalised, marginalised, or forced to work alone, they are at greater risk. Where the law treats them as criminals, many will avoid reporting crimes to the police for fear of prosecution or dismissal. And where society treats them as less worthy of protection, predators will see them as easy targets.
The answer is two-fold: practical safety advice for individuals and systemic reform at the national level.
What Are The Best Personal Safety Tips for Sex Workers
Sex workers must often rely on themselves and their communities to protect their safety. The following strategies, drawn from my book NEVER A VICTIM, international best practice, and resources such as The Red Project and WUNRN (Women’s UN Report Network), are essential.
- If possible, work with others. In jurisdictions where sex work is legal, operating in pairs or groups significantly enhances personal safety for sex workers. Legal frameworks that permit collaborative working arrangements enable sex workers to implement safety strategies effectively, such as screening clients together, providing mutual support during interactions, and intervening if situations become dangerous. Conversely,in regions where laws prohibit sex workers from working collectively, such as through brothel-keeping statutes, these restrictions can inadvertently increase vulnerability to harm. For instance, a submission to the UK government’s Violence Against Women and Girls consultation highlighted that laws prohibiting sex workers from working in pairs or small groups reduce safety and correlate with increased harm. In Germany, for example, sex workers can legally share premises and even form employment contracts with brothel operators under clear labour rights. Belgium has taken this further. Since 2024, sex workers in Belgium are entitled to full labour protections including health insurance, paid leave, and emergency provisions such as panic buttons and hygiene standards.
- Utilise personal safety technology. GPS tracking, location-sharing apps, and emergency alert features are now widely accessible. Apps can trigger alarms if you fail to check in at a set time, and some can even transmit live audio or video to a trusted contact. These features, when used discreetly, can be lifesaving. What specific app I deem the best is subject to your precise region and objectives.
- Establish a simple system of code words or duress phrases. If you’re forced to speak with someone while under duress, a pre-agreed word or phrase can alert your contact that you’re in trouble. It’s crucial these are inconspicuous words or phrases, so they can be used naturally in conversation and can indicate danger without raising any suspicion.
- Avoid working in high-risk locations whenever possible. Street-based sex work, although the most common, is among the most dangerous due to the anonymity and mobility of clients. In areas lacking CCTV or a significant number of people, the risk of assault or abduction is heightened. Opting for locations monitored by private security systems, such as nearby shops or public buildings, provides some level of protective oversight, even if, for various reasons, you may prefer to avoid CCTV-covered spots.
- Gather and share information. Before entering a vehicle or unknown location, try to discreetly photograph the vehicle or client and send that image to a trusted contact. Note any registration plates and descriptions. This creates a vital breadcrumb trail should anything go wrong. Equally important is sharing information about problematic clients among your peers. Familiarise yourself with a bad date list, a list of bad dates which circulates details of persons that may pose a threat to sex workers. Bad date lists can serve as a warning system, so that sex workers can avoid persons who fit descriptions on the list.
- Always trust your intuition, your instincts, your gut feeling. If a situation doesn’t feel right, say no. Walk away. While financial pressure may make this difficult, your safety is paramount. As I emphasise in NEVER A VICTIM, many women have avoided violence by listening to their intuition, even when doing so meant turning down a good amount of money.
- Safeguard your physical health. Working while intoxicated significantly increases vulnerability. Drugs and alcohol can impair judgement and delay response to danger. While I understand this is easier said than done, reducing or quitting drug use will significantly improve your safety and reduce dependency on high-risk situations.
- Self-defence must be part of your personal safety toolkit. While some threats cannot be prevented, a basic knowledge of non-lethal and (if legal in your country) lethal self-defence strategies can help you feel more empowered. In NEVER A VICTIM, I offer practical techniques not only in terms of action but through mental preparation, visualising threats, and rehearsing responses to them.
How Can Decriminalisation Improve the Personal Safety of Sex Workers?
Many leading experts, including myself, and organisations, including Amnesty International, UNAIDS and Human Rights Watch, advocate for full decriminalisation of consensual sex work. This does not mean legalising exploitative brothel operators or trafficking; it means treating sex workers as workers, not criminals.
Violence against sex workers is, sadly, often a reflection of laws that have been shaped over centuries to prohibit, sanction, or abolish sex work. I firmly believe that the dangers associated with this work could be significantly reduced if legislation treated any assault against a sex worker as equal to an assault against any other decent person. Instead, we see laws, such as those in the UK, that make it illegal for sex workers to share premises for safety, a restriction that would be unthinkable if applied to many other high-risk professions. In this context, I urge everyone to read the research on violence against sex workers, conducted by the European Sex Worker’s Alliance.
New Zealand’s Prostitution Reform Act (2003) is a proven example. The law introduced health and safety standards for brothels, allowed sex workers to refuse clients freely, and led to a significant reduction in violence and stigma.
Germany legalised sex work in 2002 with the Prostitution Act (Prostitutionsgesetz).
Belgium’s approach may be the most comprehensive to date. From 2024, the Belgian government gave sex workers formal employment contracts and protection under labour law. Employers must meet strict standards and cannot have convictions for sexual assault or trafficking. Workspaces must provide condoms, emergency alarms, clean linens, and hygiene supplies. While these laws do not erase every risk, particularly for undocumented or unregistered workers, they represent an important step towards dignity and safety.
How Can We Change the Narrative Around Sex Work and Safety?
Language matters. So does mindset. In 1992, when I was 22 years old and working as a doorman in Hamburg’s Reeperbahn, I witnessed a tragic incident involving a young prostitute who died in my arms after a customer’s sexual request involving a bottle went terribly wrong. That moment shaped my understanding of this profession and the dangers that come with it. It has stayed with me for over three decades, most certainly fuelling my passion for women’s safety.
The stigma surrounding sex work often prevents those in the industry from accessing justice. As journalist Lauren Crosby Medlicott wrote: “Criminalisation makes sex workers more vulnerable to violence, including rape, assault, and murder, by attackers who see sex workers as easy targets.”
Removing this stigma and recognising the difference between voluntary sex work and forced prostitution, coercion, or trafficking, is essential. Most psychologists agree that even voluntary prostitution can have harmful psychological consequences, including PTSD, depression, and dissociation. A 1998 research paper titled Prostitution in Five Countries: Violence and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder claimed that 67% met criteria for a diagnosis of PTSD. But choice, however imperfect, still matters. The difference between coercion and consent remains vital.
How Can Realistic Safety Strategies Empower Sex Workers?
My perspective is rooted in realism and compassion. Prostitution will not be eradicated in the near future. It has existed for over 4,000 years and will continue to exist. Therefore, I believe our realistic and moral obligation is to protect those who engage in it, especially women, regardless of the reasons they entered the trade.
Safety should not be a privilege. It should not be dependent upon social status or profession. Every woman has a right to live and work without fear of violence, and this must include those who choose to sell sex.
Let us not romanticise sex work, nor reduce it to trauma. Instead, let us commit to protecting, respecting, and supporting the women who engage in it. I do not advocate prostitution, but I firmly believe that no woman who enters it, by choice or necessity, should ever become a victim.
Please also read my blog Steps Women Should Take When Feeling Threatened or Unsafe, and for further information and personal safety tips for sex workers and other related subjects such as forced prostitution and sex trafficking, I encourage you to read my book NEVER A VICTIM – The Definitive Guide to Women’s Safety.
Alternatively please read my easy to follow blog-guide to personal safety for women.