An increasing number of students in the U.K. are turning to sex work to fund their studies as they struggle to deal with increasing debt and living costs, a new student finance survey has shown, according to BuzzFeed News. Student sex workers said they developed sugar daddy relationships who started selling intimate pictures and videos online because their maintenance loans fail to cover their day-to-day expenses.
The national student money survey, conducted by Save the Student, found that 3 percent of U.K. students are financing their studies with adult work, rising to 4 percent when they are faced with a cash crisis. The survey also found that almost 1 in 10 students use their body to raise money in an emergency, either through drug trials or sex work. According to BuzzFeed News, data suggests that one of the fastest-growing areas of student sex work is sugar daddy/sugar baby arrangements. In 2017, 75,000 U.K. students registered with the sugary daddy website SeekingArrangement. That is a 30 percent increase from the previous year.
For some students, having a sugar daddy is a means of enjoying a better lifestyle at university, allowing them to travel or party more. But for others, they sell sex as a way to survive.
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