Originally Posted by
Curvaceous Kate
I spoke to a client recently who seems to be quite a prolific booker of young foreign ladies. He said he met with one young lady who was 19 and unbeknownst to him pregnant when they first met. She had her baby and then came back over to work intermittently to support her family. Now I think that is going to be hard for anyone to do and if there were other choices, then maybe she would take them, but... is it not better to be able to survive, to not starve and to be able to support your family doing something you are able to do, than to have no choice at all?
In an ideal world countries would not be struggling financially and there would be more choices, but most of us are in the same boat to some degree and it affects everyone, not just underprivileged people. We're all having to think on our feet and use our assets the best we can. It still doesn't mean we can't give consent and the fact that they work together while having English as a second language, means that they are not totally isolated and can speak in their Mother tongue when not working. You also learn a second language a damn site quicker when living in that country, so it isn't a permanent problem and would get easier.
The answer for me is to enforce harsher penalties on those that are abusing others and taking them against their will. Anyone working without consent needs to be protected and freed from their situation. People that are working willfully and with consent should be able to do so without fear and again the new law does not ensure that. The focus is all wrong.
Finally the rate for some of these girls sounds dreadfully low, especially for those of us that deal with sterling, but the euro has a different value in different countries and in some it stretches a lot further and it's value a lot higher. This all needs to be taken into account. If you come from a country were 300e a month is a fair wage, then all of a sudden 50e for half an hour seems a lot more reasonable. (I'm not sure that is correct, but using it as an example).