In 2019, government started a debate on the decriminalisation and regularisation of prostitution in Malta. The main aim of the reform would be to “protect vulnerable people from being exploited as sex workers and at the same time further enhance the fight against the trafficking of persons”.
In November 2020, former Reforms parliamentary secretary Rosianne Cutajar said that a prostitution reform technical committee was taking care for the drafting of a legal framework with the aim of decriminalising sex work.
The Malta Independent on Sunday met with Jane*, a former prostitute who said she agrees with the decriminalisation of prostitution as these people should not be punished. She added that although the majority are in it for the drugs, some do it to provide for their children.
Jane spent nine years working on the streets. She says that, although her experience may come across as being hazardous to many, she was in it for the fast cash she needed for drugs.
The experience
It all started when she was in her late 20s and had just finished serving her prison sentence for drugs charges. During this time, she looked down on prostitution and prostitutes.
"I had just come out of prison. The inmates used to tell me that you could make €50 for sexual favours. They would say it was worth it, you get a lot of money and it’s better than stealing because you don't get imprisoned. I was like okay, I’ll try it."
Jane went to live with her girlfriend, where together they made use of drugs. She recalls that they did not have any money left to satisfy their craving one night and thus started to look at prostitution as her only solution.
"I still remember my first time very clearly. It was an old man. It was over in two minutes.” But she still recounts the experience as being disgusting.
Jane said that the first four to five months were the best, as she used to earn around €200 to €300 every day.
"In the beginning, when you are new, you make a lot of money because everybody wants to try you out."
Jane said that she only used to go out for three or four hours during this stage, which advanced to 12 hours per day, split between Marsa and Gzira. Longer hours were a result of a scarcity of clients on some days or because she had spent all the money she had earned during the first few hours on drugs and she needed more to sustain herself.
During this time, she said that she never felt scared for her life as there was always a partner, which acted as a pimp, waiting for her outside.
Asked whether prostitution put stress on her romantic relationships, she said that the most important thing for them was to have money to sustain themselves with drugs. "There isn't much love when there are drugs."
She says that, at the end of the nine years, she was really out of her senses as she did not care about anything. She did not even care about whether her clients used protection.
Her attitude about clients changed as well. Initially, she would refuse clients who were black, but in the end the majority came from this community.
"In the beginning, I used to only go for four hours, for example from 7.30 till 10.30 or 11.30. In the end, I was going from six in the morning till six in the evening."
Emerging problems
Every six months, she used to go to the Detox Centre in Pieta’ to make sure she had nothing.
She recounts how they used to either take her blood or when they suspected that there might be something more serious, they used to send her to the Genitourinary GU Clinic at Mater Dei.
Jane was still prostituting herself in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. She explained that nobody cared enough to be wearing a mask.
“I wish Covid was my only worry. I didn’t care about anything really ... AIDS, STDs … Whatever happened, happened, as long as I had money for drugs.”
She recounted how the more people she served, the more heroin and cocaine she needed to take, as they acted as emotional blockers.
“Nothing was a wake-up moment. I got raped as well. I went down there again the next day,” she said.
Mentioning her rape, which happened three years into her prostitution career, she recounts how it was just a typical day of her asking some guys sitting on a bench in Marsa if they wanted to profit from her service. After some persuasion, one of them accepted, against a fee of €20.
They went into Jane’s usual place, which Jane describes as being abandoned and filthy with human dirt.
“I don’t know what happened to him. He just flipped. He pushed me to the floor, picked up a brick and told me if you don’t stay quiet, I will put the brick on your head.”
In the end, he forced himself on her. Jane said that he left her €20 but took her bag with him, which contained her stash of money.
Her partner, who was waiting for her nearby, tried to defend her but the rapist punched him in the face, and he ended up on the floor crouched in pain.
Thinking about this experience today, she says that she feels sorry for herself as she did not know what kind of situation she had gotten herself into.
“How stupid I was at the time. You risk everything because you don’t care about anything.”
During this time, he used to set a profit goal for her. She said that she used to give him all the money she made during the day, of which he had total control.
She recounts how it was not the first time she fought with him over her cut or the goals he set. During days where she had had enough of prostituting for the day, she used to stop, which instigated a fight.
Jane said that her former partner emotionally manipulated her and was physically abusive.
Narrating an event, she said that he didn’t even hold himself back from punching her in the face while she was in hospital about to give birth to their daughter. She started to scream but by the time the security arrived it was too late and they did not witness the incident.
Three pregnancies
In total, she had three pregnancies, of which two took place when she was prostituting herself.
Only one of the pregnancies, which was unwanted, was the result of one of her clients.
“I was punching my stomach when I found out I was pregnant. I did not want it. I started searching where I was going to go and have an abortion outside of Malta,” she said.
She says she did not do her utmost to terminate the pregnancy. The money she had she needed for drugs.
The child was placed into fostering and Jane still has access to him. She says she adores the child and says he is not at fault for what happened to her or for how he came into this world.
During the pregnancies, she continued with prostitution, a job she says she could only do if she had access to strong drugs such as heroin and cocaine. This meant that the unborn children were not spared in this process, as they were exposed to these harmful chemicals. She said that this process did affect them along the run, as they now suffer from different conditions.
Life today
Jane, who is now in her late 30s, started nine drug detox programmes in total, never completing one. The latest one, the Komunita’ Santa Marija – Residential Drug Rehabilitation Programme, is the one she stayed in the longest. She did nine months in the programme.
She said that although she didn’t manage to finish it because she gave in to her drug addiction, it still helped her discover her worth.
When she started doing drugs again, it only lasted a month before she realised the damage she was doing to herself.
Recounting her time at this facility, she said that people in charge did a routine for them, which helped them prepare for a better life. From a fixed time for breakfast to a cleaning schedule, she said that these initiatives, paired with the right gang of friends who always wanted to get better, helped her get back on her own feet.
Jane said that she sometimes still thinks about prostitution when she is short on money.
Yet, the thought of losing everything that she has achieved and the relationships she has built since she left prostitution, scares her enough to stop her from going back.
“It’s a crappy job and a vicious cycle. They need to stop taking drugs to stop prostituting themselves,” she said as a message to those who are seeking to go down the same route.
Jane added that it is only when one gets out of prostituting themselves that they realise what they have endured and how degrading it is. But there is always hope, she says.
*name has been changed to protect the identity of the interviewee