In Sweden it is not a crime to sell sexual services, but it is a crime to buy another person’s body for sex. We know that selling sex can be hard and riskful in many ways. Therefore we are here for you and want to support you according to your needs.

To sell sex

People sell sex for different reasons, usually because it is hard to find another job, but sometimes women are forced to sell sex even though they do not want to.

Ways we can help

Therefore, we wish to offer help and support to anyone that is selling sex but does not want to do that anymore, or to anyone who is not able or does not want to stop selling sex but need some other type of assistance.

You are in safe hands

What you share with us is confidential; we will not share your information with anyone unless you want us to.

How we can help You

 

If you contact us it is on your terms, and you can choose how you want to meet and what to talk about.

We can meet for example at a coffee shop and talk about your situation, how we can help you, or whatever you want.

We don’t have to meet; we can keep having contact on the phone.

We always help with

Medical assistance

We can help you to get a health check-up and medical care.

Emotional support, friendship

We have a lot of knowledge and experience about what you are going through, and we are here to listen.

If you wish to leave prostitution we can help you with

Safe place to stay

We can help you look for a safe place to stay while you decide if you want to return home or try to seek asylum in Sweden.

Contact with authorities

We can help you with contacting the relevant authorities and with legal advice for your case.

Safe return home

If you want to return home we can try to find people or organisations in your home country that might be able to help you and provide safety for you once you arrive home.

Seeking asylum

We can help you seek asylum in Sweden, and if you get asylum we can help you to find a job, learn Swedish, get therapy etc…

Story of Andrea

Andrea is from Romania. She lives with her mother and struggles to support herself and her daughter whose father left the family when the baby girl was born. One day Andrea meets a man who she falls in love with and who says that he can support them. He has a big house and is kind to her and her daughter, so they move in with him.

After a while he begins to make demands on Andrea to help pay the bills. She has no job or education so she does not know what to do. One day Andrea’s boyfriend says that she has to sell sex to earn money if she wants to continue living with him.

After a while he says the money that she is earning is not enough, and tells Andrea she must go to Sweden to sell sex where she can earn even more money. He threatens to hurt her daughter and mother if she doesn’t go. Andrea therefore leaves the girl with her mother and goes to Sweden. In Sweden Andrea sells sex on the street and online. She does not feel like she has a choice; she is afraid of her boyfriend and he has friends in the city where she is staying who come and check on her to see that she is doing what the boyfriend wants. Andrea is allowed to keep some of the money that she earns and sends as much as she can to her mother and daughter back home.

Story of Nong

Nong is from Thailand, and one day she met a Swedish man in Bangkok. He became her boyfriend and he asked if she wanted to move to Sweden with him. Nong said yes and together they applied for a visa to Sweden for Nong. 

Once they arrived in Sweden Nong’s boyfriend started acting very differently and treating her badly. . He became very angry and told Nong that she owed him money for the visa and for the plane tickets. He told her that if she really loved him she would do anything she could to pay the money back.

He wanted her to have sex for money with some other men that he knew so she could pay him back. Nong had no money to return home, and she was too embarrassed to call and ask her parents for help. After a while, because of the high demand for employment in Thai massage parlors, Nong starts working in one of the parlors and is forced to offer “Happy ending”. 

Story of Joy

Joy is from Nigeria. She has one daughter, but her husband has passed away. Joy met a woman in her village who said that she could help Joy find work in Europe as a hairdresser for three months and then return home to Nigeria. The woman offered to pay for the trip. She also took some of Joy’s blood and a picture of her to perform a ceremony for good luck for the trip. Joy said goodbye to her daughter as she was going to stay with Joy’s mother while Joy worked in Europe.

First she came to Italy, where she met a friend of the woman in Nigeria, who took her to an apartment where she was going to live. There Joy was told that she had to sell sex to men on the street instead. When Joy refused the man hit her and said if she didn’t do it something bad would happen to her daughter at home. After a few months in Italy, Joy came to Sweden, where she received help to return home safely to her daughter.

 

Selling sex and what it is like to leave that life

Most people that sell sex are women, and usually they do so because there are no other jobs available for them in order to provide for themselves and their families.

Other women have been tricked into prostitution, either through being promised a job in another country or through a boyfriend who promised another life together in another country. Sometimes women are being forced to prostitution though threats against themselves or their families.

It is very common that women from Eastern Europe, South Asia, and different parts of Africa travel to Sweden, and once they get here they are forced into selling sex.

Feeling trapped

Oftentimes women in this situation feel trapped, maybe their passports have been taken from them or maybe they are in debt to the person that brought them to Sweden. Often they might not want to sell sex, but are afraid to leave because of threats or witchcraft.

Maybe they don’t speak the language in the country, and they are scared of contacting the Police. Maybe they are scared that someone will look for them and find them if they try to leave prostitution, or maybe they cannot leave prostitution because they have no other way for getting money for themselves or their family.

Contact

Email: noomi@helamanniskan.se
Phone: +46 73-731 37 94
Phone: +46 73-322 85 41