ABSTRACT
This exploration of violence against indoor sex workers focuses on the situation in London since there is ample information regarding the indoor sex industry in this area, but examples from other areas will also be given. The primary source of information is the LUML, which collates reports of attacks on sex workers from different parts of London. The LUML is uniquely useful as it constitutes by far the largest volume of such reports from indoor sex workers (often sparsely represented in other areas), and the information is presented in a reasonably consistent format, allowing for a number of variables to be explored. Ugly Mugs do not give any details about those who have been attacked, except the kind of work they were engaged in at the time, so they cannot give a demographic profile of those reporting violence nor of how this profile has changed in recent years. Neither can the LUML reflect the extent or distribution of either sex work or violence in London, since not all sex workers are in touch with a project that contributes to the list, but it does reflect the range of incidents which sex workers themselves regard as sufficiently dangerous or disturbing to warrant alerting other sex workers to the perpetrators. The picture that emerges of work-related violence against indoor sex workers should also help dispel some misconceptions about their vulnerability and the extent to which clients threaten their safety.
