I was shocked to discover that Headway promote prostitution as a therapeutic treatment for men with brain injuries. Although the guidance is meant to be for both sexes the purchasing of another person’s body for sexual gratification is a sex specific problem. On the page entitled ‘Alternative Sex Services’ Headway recommends that:

‘In some cases, it might be useful to consider alternative sex services such as escorts, sex workers, or massage parlours that offer sex services and specialise in working with people with disabilities. Professionals such as occupational therapists, Clinical Neuropsychologists or sex therapists may be able to assist with finding safe and suitable sex services in the area. Close friends and family may also be able to assist with this, but might be less comfortable about getting involved’.¹

Professionals, family and friends can arrange to buy a prostituted woman in the area for your use? Although those trying to push the industrialised abuse of women try to argue that women purchase prostituted males at a similar rate and so equality of abuse renders abuse acceptable, it is not supported by the evidence nor is it a reasonable argument. If men and women enslaved people at the same rate, ‘women do it too’, would that make it an acceptable practice? A study endorsed by the Institute for Health was clear that ‘Sex workers are a heterogeneous group. Women make up the majority of the sex work population, with some estimates suggesting the proportion is around 85-90 per cent’.² The European Parliament Policy Department released a study which supported this and outlined how ‘Prostitution and sexual exploitation are highly gendered [sexed] issues with in most cases women and girls selling their body, either by coercion or consent, to men or boys who pay for this service. Accordingly, the majority of those trafficked for sexual exploitation are women and girls’.³

The rate of traumatic brain injury sustained by women and girls in prostitution means that Headway appears to be going against one of its charitable aims, ‘To initiate activities and campaigns which will reduce the incidence of brain injury’, by promoting the use of women in prostitution.⁴ A 2006 study found that ‘women who worked in prostitution have the same number of traumatic brain damage (from beating and kicking to the head, strangulation or beating the head against objects such as the car bonnet) as victims of torture’.⁵ A 2018 study by Melissa Farley, Martha E. Banks, Rosalie J. Ackerman and Jacqueline M. Golding which screened prostituted women for traumatic brain injuries found that ‘Sixty-one percent had sustained head injuries in prostitution’⁶. There is a similar statistical rate for head injuries among boxers, yet Headway campaigns for boxing to be banned rather than promoting uptake of the sport to assist in disabled men’s anger management.⁷

Headway is encouraging a form of violence against women. As Melissa Farley has argued:

‘Although clinicians are beginning to recognize the overwhelming physical violence in prostitution, the internal ravages of prostitution have not been well understood. Prostitution and trafficking are experiences of being hunted down, dominated, sexually harassed and assaulted. There is a lack of awareness among clinicians regarding the systematic methods of brainwashing, indoctrination and physical control that are used against women in prostitution. There has been far more clinical attention paid to sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among those prostituted than to their depressions, lethal suicidality, mood disorders, anxiety disorders (including posttraumatic stress disorder) dissociative disorders and chemical dependence’.⁸

How will Headway assist women with traumatic brain damage who have been prostituted? How could a woman trust a charity that has encouraged the paid rape of her? How could a woman trust a charity that has promoted and permitted the violence she has suffered to make men feel better? Farley relates how ‘violence is the norm for women in prostitution. Incest, sexual harassment, verbal abuse, stalking, rape, battering and torture are points on a continuum of violence, all of which occur regularly in prostitution. A difference between prostitution and other types of gender violence is the payment of money for the abuse. Yet payment of money does not erase all that we know about sexual harassment, rape and domestic violence’⁹. Subsequently, by promoting the prostitution of women and girls and associated violence against women, Headway may not be acting in the public interest and thus require investigation by the Charity Commission for England and Wales. As point 34 of the Charity Commission’s ruling on LGB Alliance’s charitable status made clear, ‘If the promotion of the rights of one group is to be pursued in a way which invariably involves the denigration of the rights of others, that purpose may not be for public benefit’¹⁰. Certainly, Headway is prioritising male interests over female rights, particularly in terms of those who access and use its services. But more than that, when we look at the evidence of the reality of prostitution it seems like Headway is encouraging a human rights abuse.

One of the authors of this guide, Dr Giles Yeates, is a supporter of the sex trade. He has stated “I support people to use escorts a lot in my work… There’s a lot of discomfort on the part of professionals, which is leaving service users high and dry to that dimension of their lives”¹¹. He bemoaned the struggles men faced with how lockdown prevented them from visiting prostituted women saying that ‘for those going to see escorts, the pandemic, particularly the lockdown, made it more difficult. “In the lockdown, people can’t access sexual services in the same way. One client was able to resume going to a massage parlour and get intimate care, but the massage therapist was wearing a facemask and nothing else – if it wasn’t complicated enough already, this has added to it”¹². ‘Massage parlours’, such as the one Yeates recommends, are recognised as the destination for a large amount of human trafficking victims in both the UK and America ¹³. This also raises another important point, if prostitution was a choice that girls and women just made, why are so many women trafficked into it to feed male demand? You don’t read about the raids on schools for trafficked teachers or the large numbers of women trafficked into accountancy.

Co-written by a man who at worst endorses the sexual enslavement of women and at best plays dumb around this practice, despite being able to improve his knowledge with a quick Google search, Headway then recommends the use of a charity which has women for sale on its website. Headway suggests that professionals, friends and family trying to facilitate access to prostituted women ‘could… consider contacting some services listed in the section Useful organisations for support with arranging sex services. For instance, TLC Trust is an organisation that offers a range of sexual services specifically for people with a disability. For more information, visit www.tlc-trust.org.uk’¹⁴. The organisation which TLC Trust is a branch of excludes some brain damaged individuals from its disabled people dating site stating ‘We welcome anyone over 16 years of age who is able to understand the concept of Outsiders and run their own affairs. This means people with learning disabilities and brain damage may not be able to use this club’¹⁵. How inclusive.

TLC Trust, who Headway advertise, advised Mr Justice Hayden in his recent Court of Protection ruling on 29 April 2021 that disabled men had a right to buy prostituted women and as such their carers had a duty to facilitate this¹⁶. Judge Hayden recorded how

‘Professor Claire De Than provided a statement in these proceedings. Professor De Than is the Chair of an organisation called ‘The Outsiders Trust’, a senior legal academic and a Jersey Law Commissioner. The Outsiders Trust is a social charity for people with disabilities, it incorporates TLC Trust which focuses on education and support for the provision of ‘sexual and intimate services’. The mission of the TLC Trust is described by Professor De Than as trying to ensure “that disabled people may use sexual and intimate services to help them learn about physical pleasure and may enable them to move forward towards personal sexual relationships”¹⁷.

Non-disabled teenagers and young adults don’t require the purchase of a prostitute to navigate this journey in life. Buying a woman for sexual use is teaching the wrong message about consent, mutual pleasure, intimacy and women’s status to disabled males. Men who buy women are more prone to violence against women. ‘Studies of men who buy sex (punters) show that they are significantly more likely than other men to rape and engage in all forms of violence against women. A US study found that punters were nearly eight times more likely to rape than other men’¹⁸. The study from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), found that men who have sex with female sex workers feel less empathy for them than men who do not buy sex.19 A study of criminal records of men who bought women for sex by Melissa Farley and Jacqueline M. Golding showed that they had a history of violence against of women¹⁹. The promoting of this practice to brain damaged men will significantly damage the men as well as the women they are being encouraged to buy. I know from personal experience that when you have brain damage you must relearn your place in the world and acceptable behaviour. You rely on social cues and social messaging to get up to speed quickly as you no longer have the luxury of childhood to understand your environment. These disabled men are being failed when they are taught to Objectify, commodify and dehumanise women and girls.

Conclusion

In their promotion of prostitution Headway are failing males with traumatic brain injuries, failing females with traumatic brain injuries and promoting a narrative that people, and men specifically, with brain damage are so undesirable and damaged that they can only have intimacy and sexual relationships if they buy the other person. Headway is failing in its charitable objective to reduce the incidence of traumatic brain injury by promoting a practice which increases it for women. I have personally been failed as a Headway service user. Did the money I raised for them go towards encouraging violence against women? Did my brain damage co-ordinator go straight from organising the purchase of a woman’s body for a brain damaged man to sitting in my home supposedly speaking to me as an equal? I asked Headway for comment on this issue on 3 May 2021 but they have so far ignored me.

The sex industry does not care about disability rights but rather uses disabled individuals to try and make the unpalatable acceptable. If the sex industry cared about people with brain damage they wouldn’t promote prostitution which is linked in study after study to the acquirement of a traumatic brain injury in women who are sold for sex.

¹ T. Ahmad & G. Yeates, ‘Sex and sexuality after brain injury’, Headway – the brain injury association August 2017), p. 22. https://www.headway.org.uk/media/4995/sex-and-sexuality-after-brain-injury-e-booklet.pdf

² R. Balfour & J. Allen, ‘A Review of the Literature on Sex Workers and Social Exclusion’, UCL Institute of Health Equity for Inclusion Health, Department of Health (April 2014), p. 4. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/303927/A_Review_of_the _Literature_on_sex_workers_and_social_exclusion.pdf

³ E. Schulze et al, ‘Sexual exploitation and prostitution and its impact on gender equality’, Directorate General for Internal Policies, Policy Department C: Citizen’s Rights and Constitutional Affairs, European Parliament (2014), p. 9. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/etudes/join/2014/493040/IPOL-FEMM_ET%282014%29493040_EN.pdf

⁴ ‘Aims and objectives’, Headway: The Brain Injury Association, https://www.headway.org.uk/about-headway/aims-and-objectives/

⁵ M. Smirnova, ‘Psychosocial changes in the image of women engaged in prostitution’, EDP Sciences (2012) p.3. https://www.shs-conferences.org/articles/shsconf/pdf/2012/02/shsconf_shw2010_00029.pdf

⁶ M. Farley, M. E. Banks, R. J. Ackerman & J. M. Golding, ‘Screening for Traumatic Brain Injury in Prostituted Women’, Dignity: A Journal on Sexual Exploitation and Violence, Vol. 3: Iss. 2, Article 5 digitalcommons.uri.edu/dignity/vol3/iss2/5https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/dignity/vol3/iss2/5

⁷ 61% is in the middle of this range: "Depending on the study cited, 27–93% of boxing injuries reportedly involve the head region" - T R Zazryn, C F Finch & P McCrory, ‘A 16 year study of injuries to professional boxers in the state of Victoria, Australia’, British Journal of Sports Medicine, Volume 37, Issue 4, https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/37/4/321 ‘Brain injury charity calls for boxing to be banned after another death in the ring’, Headway (25 July 2019), https://www.headway.org.uk/news-and-campaigns/news/2019/brain-injury-charity-calls-for-boxing-to-be-banned-after-another-death-in-the-ring/

⁸ M. Farley,’ Prostitution Is Sexual Violence’, Psychiatric Times (1 October 2004), https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/prostitution-sexual-violence

⁹ M. Farley,’ Prostitution Is Sexual Violence’, Psychiatric Times (1 October 2004), https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/prostitution-sexual-violence

¹⁰ Charity Commission for England and Wales, ‘Decision LGB Alliance - Full decision’ (20 April 2021), https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/lgb-alliance/lgb-alliance-full-decision

¹¹ J. Brown, ‘The couples therapist who rehabilitates love after brain injury’, NRTimes (10 September 2020), https://www.nrtimes.co.uk/the-couples-therapist-who-rehabilitates-love-after-brain-injury/

¹² J. Brown, ‘The couples therapist who rehabilitates love after brain injury’, NRTimes (10 September 2020), https://www.nrtimes.co.uk/the-couples-therapist-who-rehabilitates-love-after-brain-injury/

¹³ J. Doherty-Cove, ‘Naked clients and 'human slaves' found during police raid on brothel’, The Argus (24 October 2020), https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/18819641.naked-clients-human-slaves-found-police-raid-brothel/ E. Cruse, ‘Husband and wife jailed for running secret London brothels as massage parlours’, My London (27 February 2021), https://www.mylondon.news/news/west-london-news/husband-wife-jailed-running-secret-19928994 L. Hall, ‘UK REPORT: The Hidden Sex-Trafficking Trade’, Louise Hall Travel Writing and Editing, https://www.loulahalltravel.com/section.php/56/1/uk-report-the-hidden-sex-trafficking-trade F. Gillet, ‘Chinatown and Soho: 18 arrested in prostitution and slavery raids as police storm six 'massage parlours', Evening Standard (21 October 2016), https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/chinatown-and-soho-18-arrested-in-prostitution-and-slavery-raids-as-police-storm- six-massage-parlours-a3374971.html N. Kulish, F. Robles and P. Mazzei, ‘Behind Illicit Massage Parlors Lie a Vast Crime Network and Modern Indentured Servitude’, The New York Times (2 March 2019), https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/02/us/massage-parlors-human-trafficking.html

¹⁴ T. Ahmad & G. Yeates, ‘Sex and sexuality after brain injury’, Headway – the brain injury association August 2017), p. 22. https://www.headway.org.uk/media/4995/sex-and-sexuality-after-brain-injury-e-booklet.pdf

¹⁵ ‘About the Club’, The Outsiders Trust: Peer Support and Dating for Disabled People, https://outsiders.org.uk/club/about-the-club/

¹⁶ https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/A-Local-Authority-v-C-and-ors-judgment.pdf

¹⁷ https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/A-Local-Authority-v-C-and-ors-judgment.pdf

¹⁸ ‘FACT: Buying sex makes men more prone to violence against women’, Nordic Model Now, https://nordicmodelnow.org/facts-about-prostitution/fact-buying-sex-makes-men-more-prone-to-violence-against-women/

¹⁹ S. Wolpert, ‘Men who buy sex have much in common with sexually coercive men’, Newsroom UCLA (31 August 2015), https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/men-who-buy-sex-have-much-in-common-with-sexually-coercive-men

²⁰ M. Farley & J. M. Golding, ‘Arrest Histories of Men Who Buy Sex’, Justice Policy Journal, Volume 16, Number 1 (Spring, 2019).