It's a hazard of their "profession" that they attract weirdos and nutters.

Yep. Katty is right...it is linked in with the reporting...I haven't heard any news reports making any moral judgements about them being prostitutes...we'll have to wait for the Mail on Sunday for that!
It's very sad, nonetheless, and is making me vaguely recall the Yorkshire Ripper years when I was a spooked out kid

I was just noticing this time that they have been reported as 'women who were sex workers/prostitutes' instead of just 'prostitutes' like in the past. I thought it was nice of the meeja to acknowledge the fact that they are women first

Saz 


edited to add...women who were someone's daughter/sister/mother/aunt/friend 

Absolutely, Suzy.

I was thinking only yesterday, how much things had changed with regard to the reporting of such deaths. As others have said, these poor women are talked about as loved family members, who have fallen into prostitution through addiction, or poverty. It's now the men using prostitutes, who are judged, if anyone is.

I have no problem with the word 'prostitute'. In fact I think it sounds so much better than 'sex worker'!

If there's a common factor in these deaths, it has to be reported. It's a news report, not a detailed biography of these women's lives, and if the common factor is that all of them were prostitutes, it makes sense to say so.

There is a place for more detailed examination of who they were, what their background was - did anyone see the recent BBC drama, Five Daughters? It was about the Ipswich murders and it was excellent.

For some reason I can't quote but ........I did watch that drama - I too thought it was excellent. As for using the term 'prostitute' - I think it's valid - it's something they all had in common and is obviously a major factor. 

I do believe they said the body of a woman working as a prostitute or something like that - I didn't see it as disrespectful - there's little point in skirting round the issue. Incidentally I too hate the term 'sex worker' ....now that to me sounds awful and disrespectful.

Just heard on the news that the sick barsteward has called himself 'The Crossbow Cannibal', when asked his name in court!

I'm sure if all the murdered women had been architects, that would have been reported as well to show a link between the murders.  I don't understand why the fact that these women were prostitutes is seen as tainting their characters in any way- being a prostitute is no more something to be ashamed of than being an accountant.

I haven't watched said drama, but thank you (and demantoid) for the heads up...I will seek it online.

ps....yes Yogi.....it's real when you can relate to them as someone close to home 

The old Labour government passed a law which makes it a criminal offence for a man to use the services of a prostitute if she has been the victim of trafficking. The definition of trafficking was drawn wide and covers effectively anything from trafficking as most people would think of to a man pimping his girlfriend. It is a criminal offence whether the man was aware of her being a victim or if he had no knowledge.
The intent of the government was to wipe out prostitution. The effect was to endanger the lives of prostitutes by making them more likely to take to the streets rather than indoors and to make it harder for them to work in a safe environment.
Some of the prostitutes in Bradford have already said as much.

The Mothers Union, connected with the Church of England, have for some time had a policy that as prostitution has always been around and always will be that it is better to legalise brothels for the sake of health and safety. The ex-vicar at my church started off his ministry as the vicar in Soho so got to know the local women. I think he would also support that.

I saw Five Daughters. It was superb, thought provoking and very, very sad. 


My OH and I were discussing the way the news have been reporting this yesterday and we both agreed that it was quite respectfully done. They did state that these were women 'working as prostitutes', that to me is a world away from the was that the word prostitute was used in the past as an all-defining derogatory label.


This whole situation is all so horribly sad and predictable. Personally, I wish they would make the whole thing legal. It would keep the girls safe, the punters clean and it could even help with the budget defecit by providing tax revenue.

I agree QoTHT it seems to be a bit more sensitively done.
Reminds me of the Yorkshire RIpper murders I must say - even the same area

And Blizzie - I saw that he announced himself as the "Crossbow cannibal" how sick...

my sis says they should show that in schools-so the girls never ever get tempted to go down that road
i watched it twice, once on my own and again with my OH
you tend to forget that these girls have got families and all the heartache they go through
and in answer to renton-they were called prostitutes cos that was what they were-and its cos of their profession that they were murdered
sad but true

They were discussing this on the "Wright Stuff" this morning,they showed a stat that  stated  prostitutes etc were 18 more times likely to be abused, assaulted  or murdered than "ordinary" women.the very nature of   what they do left them much more vulnerable.They also discussed legalisation ,setting up safe brothels etc,this would impreove things for some,but the very secrecy nature etc of their clients would mean there would still be street girls,who in the main are now drug addicts looking for money  for a fix etc.They take more risks than say  street girls  did 30 to 40 years ago.
They mentioned Holland with it's more liberal attitude to drugs and sex.Thery don't have the street gangs,pimps etc that feed off these poor women  as much as this country does.

"Pretty woman" film is a myth,well for 99% of prostitutes.

even id turn up at julia roberts door-on the game or not

Is it actually illegal? i thought it was simply the pimps eg.(living off immoaral earnings) tjat could be prosecuted.

We watched that and it was good but some time before that was a documentary that included many of the girls parents, sisters and brother of the murdered girls telling their story. They didn't dwell on them being prostitutes - not all knew they were prostitutes before being told their daughter was murdered - they spoke of them as they knew them, as loved family members. Both programmes concentrated more on them being human beings like everyone else but who sadly had addictions they needed to feed than of being prostitutes, some of the girls before being murdered were working towards giving up addiction and prostitution, so sad

If the UK followed the examples of say Amsterdam and some States in the US the girls would be much safer than walking the streets where any psycho could decide to end their life. Prostitution will never go away, men need sex, women need money for either their addiction, their family or they just like the money they can make. Keep psychotic men out of the equation by giving the women the same safe places that other countries do