One particularly startling statistic is that many of these men told charity workers they started doing sex work from as young as 14. Inevitably many of them are in care. The level of vulnerability is extremely high on the street. It’s a very dangerous thing to be doing,” says MASH CEO Cate Allison. Staples, Louis (25 March 2019). "Grindr Users Talk Highs and Lows After Ten Years of the App". Vice . Retrieved 13 January 2022.

And then there were brothels, in many cases operated with the tacit knowledge of the police as long as they were drug-free and didn’t use underage girls. It’s something that DC Nield agrees with: “We would love to get more intelligence that allows us to help male sex workers but we just don’t get any,” he says. Many women still work in Manchester’s traditional red light districts behind Piccadilly train station, near Strangeways and along Cheetham Hill Road. Premises shared with someone else who works on alternate days or weeks will still count as a brothel, even though there is never more than one person working at any one time. Rayner, Gordon (4 January 2022). " 'If the police had listened, Stephen Port's other victims might still be alive' ". The Telegraph.Popa, 30, organised the operation while Diac, 28, acted as a ‘telephone receptionist’ for potential customers from rented houses in Levenshulme, Longsight and Rusholme. Sammons, Scott (28 May 2015). "REVIEW: The Top 10 Best Gay Dating Apps". The Gay UK . Retrieved 13 January 2022. Pullen, Christopher; Cooper, Margaret (4 June 2010). LGBT Identity and Online New Media. Routledge. p.293. ISBN 978-1-136-99753-2. Manchester’s homelessness problem is feeding the rise with experts predicting more than two thirds of them have slept rough or lost their home at some point. I’ve had people say ‘If I fancy him I won’t charge him’. That’s the reality for a young, out, gay sex worker. Some even see sex work almost as a right of passage.

FL ONLINE LIMITED overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk . Retrieved 2023-11-07.One myth is that sex workers can’t be raped. I think it’s still common for people to believe that.” Many, but not all, of these are run by violent and bullying pimps and populated by vulnerable Eastern European women. As Helen says: “Women do not have to come here at all so they have to know that we are trustworthy. It may only be when they’re in crisis that they ask for help. For some people there is nowhere else they can go.”

Rooms or flats within a building which are let separately to different individuals offering sexual services can also count as a brothel. Fergal says there is a broad spectrum of male sex workers across the city but there are two common patterns. Pop up brothels. Survival sex. Slavery. There's a lot more to Manchester's sex trade in 2017 than the calling cards that used to line phone boxes a decade ago. And contrary to their female counterparts, male sex workers don’t answer to a pimp or work in saunas or brothels. They advertise online.

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BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! - The Magazine will be officially launched at the "BOYS! BOYS! BOYS!" exhibition at Fahey Klein Gallery in Los Angeles from June 10 -- June 30. There will be further events worldwide including during Photo London in September. Manchester’s troubling homelessness problem has led to a rise in so-called ‘survival sex’ where young men, often with drug and alcohol problems, are forced to sell themselves to live. It’s part of a huge increase in male sex workers. Fergal McCullough is director of charity The Men’s Room and supports male sex workers through creative engagement, outreach sessions, and advocacy support.