Only 10 have replied so far, and four of these identified children at risk. Researchers gleaned the information from sending out questionnaires to 120 agencies working with children. Of the 15 young people identified in the survey carried out over the last couple of months, five were male. A small-scale survey carried out in Newcastle last month showed that around a third of children known to have been abused through prostitution were boys. The little research that has been done into the problem exposes this feeling as a lie.
As a nation we want to protect young women but there is a feeling boys should be able to look after themselves,' said Ady Davis, an outreach worker with the children's charity Barnardo's based in Newcastle upon Tyne. If they register in society's consciousness at all it is as 'rent boys' of popular fable, the willing, homosexual prostitutes who earn a mythical fortune in the backstreets of London's Soho.īut an Observer investigation in UK cities reveals that hundreds of boys, some as young as 10, are being forced to prostitute themselves daily while society looks the other way, reluctant to confront the issue. They cannot be found huddled under the sodium lamps of red-light districts. Young boys forced into prostitution are perceived not to exist. Faecal stains and blood mark the toilet walls, delineating territory. Many of the phone numbers are inked over by boys trying to see off rivals. Prices range from £5 to £20, depending on the 'trick' performed and the cost of drugs in whichever city the transaction is taking place.