Desperate prostitutes forgoing condoms

A market under pressure has led to more risks being taken

A rising number of prostitutes in Denmark are dropping condoms and having unprotected sex with their customers, according to a warning from the sex industry and groups working to help improve their working conditions.

According to the independent private institution combating human trafficking and victims of human trafficking Reden International, the reason is because the market is under pressure and there are fewer customers to cater to.

"At the moment, there are about 70 women from Nigeria on the street so the competition is fierce,” Malene Muusholm, a co-ordinator and social worker at Reden International, told Metroxpress newspaper.

”And the women have to pay their pimps and their families and they need to be able to afford food and a roof over their heads.”

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Fewer customers
Christian Groes-Green, a researcher in prostitution and a lecturer at the Institute of Culture and Identity at Roskilde University, contends that the problem hinges on the financial crisis.

”The financial crisis has impacted consumer goods such as prostitution,” Groes-Green said. ”The crisis has affected how many people go to prostitutes.”

A YouGov survey from late September this year showed that 14 percent of Danish men had purchased sex from a prostitute at some point in their lives, and that 14 percent of those had done so between 11 and 100 times.