The London students turning to sex work

As the cost of studying in the capital soars, students are pursuing higher paid — and riskier — options

Illustration by @cllmrolodex

Morning — student loans and London living costs don’t add up. Today you can get roughly £600 per month on a maintenance loan, versus an estimated cost of £1,200 a month to study in the capital. So a part-time job is a necessity for many undergrads. But with pay from traditional student work, like bartending, also so low in London, some are turning to a hidden and sometimes dangerous trade to make up the difference: sex work.

Today we’re bringing you an investigation by journalist Maddy Fry, who’s been speaking to London students who moonlight as sex workers. Some work online, on sites like OnlyFans, while others are meeting clients in person, as sugar babies, dancers or escorts. It’s more common than you might think. One recent study found 4% of students (one in 25) had engaged in online or offline sex work.

That doesn’t mean the subject is any less taboo. As Maddy has encountered, the city’s universities are reluctant to talk publicly about the issue. Academics who’ve attempted to research sex work among their students have been blocked. Meanwhile, the students in question face a particular set of risks. Sex work can mean academic expulsion, or worse, as in the case of one student, Gabriel, who spoke with Maddy.

Her report on London students and sex work is below.

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Bartending during term time, escorting during the holidays: The London student sex worker

By Maddy Fry

Photo credit: PA Images

When Gabriel Pereira woke up on a beach in Tuscany, he had no memory of the night before. The yacht party he’d attended was a heavy one. He had been plied with drugs and drink by his friends from Birkbeck University, one of whom was part of the ruling family in Kuwait. Another was a bodyguard to a prince in Bahrain.

He had been brought there as an escort. In exchange for travel, gifts and recreational drugs, he was forced to sign an NDA. His clients were powerful men who didn’t want it known that they used male sex workers.