A project which tackles sexual exploitation in Glasgow is to get almost half a million pounds in funding from the Scottish Government

The Women’s Support Project will receive £421,000 for its work in helping support women involved in selling sex or sexual images.

It is the biggest allocation from more than £600,000 for projects dealing with violence against women in its many forms, including prostitution.

Heather Williams, National Coordinator of the Women’s Support Project, said: “We welcome the Scottish Governments commitment to addressing the needs of women involved in selling or exchanging sex or images and the continued recognition of this as form of violence against women and girls.  

“This funding will help ensure women are able to access specialist support to address their practical and emotional needs, it will also contribute to work to raise awareness of the impact of commercial sexual exploitation and help improve practice within statutory services based on what women have told us they need.” 

Other projects to receive cash include Edinburgh based Sacro to improve the health, safety and wellbeing of women involved in prostitution.

More than £110,000 will go to the UK charity, South West Grid for Learning Trust to help fund the roll out of its Revenge Porn Helpline across Scotland and to further its work to get illegal intimate images removed from the internet.

Ash Regan, Minister for Community Safety, said “This funding signals the Scottish Government’s unwavering commitment to challenging all forms of men’s violence against women and progress our outcomes in the Equally Safe Strategy.

“Prostitution is a form of violence against women.  The harsh reality of the risks commonly encountered are violence, sexual victimisation, poor mental health and sexual health, manipulation and sexual exploitation.

“The pandemic, stigma and the hidden nature of prostitution has created further barriers to getting help and I am therefore pleased to announce this additional funding for specialist services, designed specifically for women involved in prostitution and those who have experienced illegal images being uploaded to the internet.”