University Students Turn To Sex Industry To Pay Fees

Many female students are turning to the sex industry to earn easy cash to pay fees and support themselves through university.

Forty Australian students interviewed by researchers said they preferred the cash-in-hand wages earned as strippers, escorts or sex workers to the pay and conditions of waitressing or other casual jobs.

Sarah Lantz of the University of Melbourne's Centre for Adolescent Health said her research exposed one of the unintended consequences of government reforms, with students squeezed to meet living expenses.

"For many, the shorter working hours and higher pay on offer in the sex industry was the best means for acquiring the finances needed to live, yet also allowing enough time to study", Dr Lantz said. Her study revealed that many of the 40 students could earn in two or three shifts as sex workers the equivalent of a full week's wages flipping hamburgers.

But their choice carries many downsides, including health problems and the occupational hazards of an industry that offers workers little protection from exploitation and violence.

Dr Lantz said the students also felt obliged to keep their jobs a secret from friends, leaving them isolated and vulnerable. Another concern was that women entered the industry as a short-term measure but found it hard to get out of once they started.

 � Copyright 2004-2015 The News Vault. All rights reserved.