The Reality of Life As a Prostitute Starting at the Age of 15, Pam Sold Herself for 10 Years, During Which She Was Addicted to Hard Drugs and Raped. Tackling the Pain in Their Past Is the Only Way to Help Women Like Pam Escape a Cycle of Violence, Abuse and Self- Loathing. By Stephen Naysmith

Summary

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Men didn't ask Pam to smile while she was having sex with them for money. They hardly ever smiled themselves, she says. These days, however, she's confident enough to smile, have her own opinions and plan for the future, she says. It's taken a long time.

Facing her demons has been the key. Conquering her drug habit, of course, but more than that - looking at why she loathed herself enough to have sold her body for sex since she was 15.

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The Reality of Life As a Prostitute Starting at the Age of 15, Pam Sold Herself for 10 Years, During Which She Was Addicted to Hard Drugs and Raped. Tackling the Pain in Their Past Is the Only Way to Help Women Like Pam Escape a Cycle of Violence, Abuse and Self- Loathing. By Stephen Naysmith

She stopped after the time when she went with a punterwithout the cushion of drugs. The experience scarred her terribly, she says. Not just because the drugs weren't there to numb her, but without them she didn't feel she had "an excuse".

By 2007, new laws will be brought in to deal with the nuisance of prostitution. The old anomaly whereby prostitutes could be tried for soliciting, but their customers were doing nothing illegal will be ended. The soliciting law will be revoked and instead both the sex worker and her punterwill be liable for charges of offensive behaviour or conduct.

But in the meantime, in Glasgow, more extensive efforts than ever before are being put into helping women su...

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