LETTER:Prostitution facts
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.From Ms Maggie O'Neill
Sir: Angela Lambert ("Keep out. This is a private view", 26 September) reports mistakenly that I believe that "one man in 10 visits a prostitute". There is no reliable data in Britain to produce this kind of generalisation. When asked by Ms Lambert about clients, I did suggest that she talk to a project based in the West Midlands, where this figure had been extrapolated from numbers of contacts women had had with clients over a certain period. As a professional researcher and sociologist, I am not in the business of believing generalisations without reliable data.
Also, I have not been "collecting information on prostitutes since 1993". However, I have been engaged in researching prostitution as a cultural practice since 1990, and I have been engaged in action research, often with women and young people who are working as prostitutes, in order to help develop policy changes.
Yours sincerely,
Maggie O'Neill
Senior Lecturer in Sociology
Staffordshire University
Stoke-on-Trent
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments