See also the main SAAFE.info site for more Support And Advice For Escorts

Author Topic: Panorama online pimps exposed.  (Read 3001 times)

Lady Frog

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 314
Re: Panorama online pimps exposed.
« Reply #15 on: 11 November 2021, 01:01:09 am »
There are other directories that also request you to pose in your same lingerie in order to be verified. It sounds weird at first but I can see how it may be effective.

I think BBC are just trying to get viewers attention by making un-informative programmes full of conjecture that they know people will love to have an opinion about.

They clearly saw what a huge thing it was in America when backpage and craigslist got pulled down because of fosta/sesta and are trying to reflect a smaller scale mirror image version of events in the UK. They seem to try and do this with other politicised issues too.

I used to follow BBC news and enjoy their documentaries before becoming a sex worker, but now I don't bother really, because the twisted load of compost they churn out about our industry makes me doubt the value and integrity of their reporting on other topics.

Like someone else said, if nobody from within the sex work space has been consulted for this programme, just police, academics, and journalists, they are not trying to explore or improve issues that may be present within the sex industry, they are simply trying to make 'entertaining' shows at taxpayers' expense. Clickbait TV.
A woman, especially, if she have the misfortune of knowing anything, should conceal it as well as she can. - Jane Austen

mimi_

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 396
Re: Panorama online pimps exposed.
« Reply #16 on: 11 November 2021, 02:29:44 pm »
Watched it last night and I have mixed thoughts on it.

Clearly the investigative journalists were concerned about the trafficking aspect, which if that guy is anything to go buy is no bad thing. What an absolute prize c**t!! It was clear that VS had allowed these adverts to go on and when it was fairly easy to work out that the same number was being used on something like 73 separate escort ads, it should have been flagged. That said, AW are no better are they? I'll be careful about how I word this, but all you have to do is look at the home page of AW some days and see the featured escorts to see a definite pattern there...

Tell you what pissed me off the most about the programme though...the idiotic journalist man who kept booking and turning up for appointments (under the guise of journalism) and then walking out after getting his questions on film. He's a fucking deviant and should be on UM for that for multiple look and go! Twat. Not to mention that all of those coerced women were probably given black eyes for not earning money for the pimp. Absolute bellend.

« Last Edit: 11 November 2021, 02:31:53 pm by mimi_ »

Lady Frog

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 314
Re: Panorama online pimps exposed.
« Reply #17 on: 11 November 2021, 02:48:18 pm »
I think they were actually different men booking fake appointments because it was in Belfast and then Birmingham but yes you are right it would freak me out if someone did that to me.

Yes it is good that people are taking notice of coercion within the sex industry, because it is harmful and can destroy people's lives. But still it represents a minority of sex workers in the UK and they concluded by being vague about needing to change laws to solve this problem. So no doubt this will be used as an argument the next time the Nordic model is dragged up or some or harmful ideas.

It is not the legality or freedom of being able to operate as sex workers that enables this type of abuse. We can see that because the traffickers' behaviour pattern was the same in Great Britain and Republic of Ireland even though prostitution is legal in one place and illegal in the other.

It is poverty and inequality that creates a wealth gap for traffickers to abuse and exploit.
A woman, especially, if she have the misfortune of knowing anything, should conceal it as well as she can. - Jane Austen

PinkR2021

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 186
Re: Panorama online pimps exposed.
« Reply #18 on: 13 November 2021, 01:22:24 pm »
I watched it last night. I wasn’t impressed at all.
Yes, trafficking exists and there have always been people who skirt around the law. But to say a website is a pimp is a bit much. I do agree additional checks such as not having the same phone number on more than one advert and maybe not allowing the same bank card to be attached to more than one advert either might be ways to reduce this. I would also ban agencies.

I started working at 16 due to having to leave home. I met two men, one who would drive and one who would set me up in his home. Both got me appointments and charged me a large chunk of my earnings to do so. I had limited say in who I saw as I didn’t book them. As an adult, I’d say this was close to pimping. Money and the idea that I was “protected” were the two drives that kept me in that situation for months.  Fix the money and safety issue, as well as making it harder to operate as a pimp are the only ways to stop pumping.


The whole piece seemed anti-sex work. Whether you agree with it or not, you should be aiming to make it as safe as possible for those that do it.
Banning websites like Viva Street and Adult Work will not stop people selling/buying sex. As with drugs, they’ll just go underground or use terms such as Sugar Babies in a way to get around the law.


I do wonder why they picked VivaStreet as opposed to something like Adult Work? I think they sensationalised the cost too. I don’t pay “around £50 a week to advertise”. I pay £10.

ana30

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 3,663
Re: Panorama online pimps exposed.
« Reply #19 on: 13 November 2021, 05:00:34 pm »
I do wonder why they picked VivaStreet as opposed to something like Adult Work? I think they sensationalised the cost too. I don’t pay “around £50 a week to advertise”. I pay £10.

Sounds like insider fighting, just like Backpage was pursued by congressman McCain because the owners had published two decades ago an article on Mc Cains wife alcoholism and fraud regarding a charity she was running. The Mc Cains would never forgive and viciously hunted them till they put them in jail. We don;t know the inner shenannighans between the media and Vivastreet, there might me some beef amongst them we're totally unaware of. "Lets save women in the sex industry"  has been used plenty of times as an excuse to advance politcs careers and crush the enemy for other reasons that have nothing to do with saving the women. It's called politics.
Mornings were made for sleeping, wild sex and bacon.

Mirror

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 6,822
Re: Panorama online pimps exposed.
« Reply #20 on: 13 November 2021, 06:52:52 pm »
I watched it last night. I wasn’t impressed at all.
Yes, trafficking exists and there have always been people who skirt around the law. But to say a website is a pimp is a bit much. I do agree additional checks such as not having the same phone number on more than one advert and maybe not allowing the same bank card to be attached to more than one advert either might be ways to reduce this. I would also ban agencies.

I started working at 16 due to having to leave home. I met two men, one who would drive and one who would set me up in his home. Both got me appointments and charged me a large chunk of my earnings to do so. I had limited say in who I saw as I didn’t book them. As an adult, I’d say this was close to pimping. Money and the idea that I was “protected” were the two drives that kept me in that situation for months.  Fix the money and safety issue, as well as making it harder to operate as a pimp are the only ways to stop pumping.


The whole piece seemed anti-sex work. Whether you agree with it or not, you should be aiming to make it as safe as possible for those that do it.
Banning websites like Viva Street and Adult Work will not stop people selling/buying sex. As with drugs, they’ll just go underground or use terms such as Sugar Babies in a way to get around the law.


I do wonder why they picked VivaStreet as opposed to something like Adult Work? I think they sensationalised the cost too. I don’t pay “around £50 a week to advertise”. I pay £10.

The men if this was in England were committing an offence or organising under 18 prostitution, and those paying for the service were also committing the offence of paying for sex with an under 18.

I would have to look at the CPS website to be accurate about the specific offences, but definitely deeper than a bit of pimping.

PinkR2021

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 186
Re: Panorama online pimps exposed.
« Reply #21 on: 14 November 2021, 10:02:32 am »
Sounds like insider fighting, just like Backpage was pursued by congressman McCain because the owners had published two decades ago an article on Mc Cains wife alcoholism and fraud regarding a charity she was running. The Mc Cains would never forgive and viciously hunted them till they put them in jail. We don;t know the inner shenannighans between the media and Vivastreet, there might me some beef amongst them we're totally unaware of. "Lets save women in the sex industry"  has been used plenty of times as an excuse to advance politcs careers and crush the enemy for other reasons that have nothing to do with saving the women. It's called politics.

I’m glad I’m not the only one who thought it was off. Escorting is just one branch of VivaStreet, while Adult Works is solely set up for sex work. I wasn’t aware that was the reason Back Page was pursued. But those sort of grudges wouldn’t surprise me.

Helen4444

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 379
Re: Panorama online pimps exposed.
« Reply #22 on: 17 November 2021, 11:34:07 pm »
What programme was this?

Kay

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 4,535
Re: Panorama online pimps exposed.
« Reply #23 on: 18 November 2021, 01:54:59 am »
What programme was this?

As in the title, Panorama.
"There is no sin except stupidity" - Oscar Wilde

Louise82s

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 92
Re: Panorama online pimps exposed.
« Reply #24 on: 09 December 2021, 02:36:30 pm »
[split and merged from unrelated topic]

Viva Street was also recently on BBC Panorama because of a lack of check etc and people were being pimped easily and held as slaves but Viva Street did not carry our due diligence.
« Last Edit: 09 December 2021, 02:45:29 pm by SAAFE »

English Green

  • Guest
Re: Panorama online pimps exposed.
« Reply #25 on: 09 December 2021, 02:50:02 pm »
Viva Street was also recently on BBC Panorama because of a lack of check etc and people were being pimped easily and held as slaves but Viva Street did not carry our due diligence.

Yes but that mostly happens because they take adverts from people who advertise multiple women so yes that is pimping and viva know these people are selling the women for sex as they have the services listed to tick or they did anyway.

Least paper adverts years ago knew we were selling sex but you could not actually say you sold sex otherwise they could not take the ads off the massage parlour owners or the escort agency owners. So to be honest they are in the wrong taking adverts off people that are selling multiple women and ticking what services those pimped women will do.

It would be legal/ fine if they just took adverts off independents and let them list services.