Single mums turn to brothels and stripping
Editor: …and the award for feminist propaganda of the year goes to…
Anyone reading this pitiful excuse for journalism should start to hear a loud ringing noise in your ears, being the sound of your bullshit meter.
This bizarre piece about single mothers who refuse to engage in conventional employment when their child turns eight, but somehow find the time to become strippers and prostitutes, just defies common sense. It sounds like the typical feminist hysteria one would expect, in an attempt to conceal the true objection to these changes, that being that some people simply don’t want to work, but clever propaganda has made this into an attack on innocent and poverty stricken women.
Odds on that the Gillard government will now be bending over backwards to appease the single-mothers who feel betrayed by an otherwise sensible policy.
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Some single mothers hit by recent welfare cuts to parenting payments have turned to prostitution and strip clubs in order to keep a roof over their family’s head.
The payment cuts came in at the start of 2013 and affect 84,000 single parents, mostly mothers who received parenting payments.
The majority have been shifted onto the Newstart unemployment allowance when their youngest child turns eight.
More than 60,000 single parents now receive between $60 to $100 a week less under entitlement changes.
While the budget will look $728 million better over four years and make the system more sustainable, welfare groups have been concerned families will fall into poverty.
A spokeswoman from a Brisbane brothel told AAP there had been “influx” in applications from single mothers looking for work since the welfare changes came through.
She said there had been about 20 applications.
“They’re looking for extra cash to help cope following the cuts and Christmas and back to school,” said the spokeswoman, who did not want to be identified.
Women working at this brothel could make up to $1000 during an eight hour shift, seeing three to five clients, she said.
A spokeswoman from an inner-city Melbourne brothel said she knew of some single mothers, affected by the cuts, applying for jobs in strip clubs.
“They find pole dancing is a bit more palatable,” she said.
“It’s an easier step compared to going all the way with sex work.”
A woman from a St Kilda brothel said she had also noticed a huge increase in single mothers seeking sex work.
“It’s sad. They’re doing it to pay their rent,” she said, but also declined to give her name.
Single Parents Action Group spokeswoman Katrina Rae said she was not surprised women in her position were turning to sex work and stripping to pay the bills.
“I wouldn’t personally, but you would do anything to feed your family,” she said.
“The cuts have made people desperate.”
Ms Rae, a Sydney mother of four teenagers, said she had done her family budget on Sunday morning and was $287 behind for the next fortnight.
“I don’t have breakfast or lunch. If there’s not enough food for dinner I’ll have toast so the kids can eat,” she said.
“We look at our budgets and we cry ourselves to sleep.”
She said the federal government was “clueless” about how hard single mothers work to care for their families and pay the rent.
“We’re not sitting at home watching daytime television,” Ms Rae said.
“We run around like headless chooks.”
She said as a victim of domestic violence she didn’t choose to be a single parent.
“Society sees us as a bunch of teenagers who can’t close their legs,” Ms Rae said.
“For me the choice was continue to be a punching bag or get out.”
Ms Rae works a full time job in insurance, commutes 22 hours a week for work, and only manages to stay $25 above the poverty line each week.
“I’ve considered moving our family into a garage and living in the car,” she said.
“At the moment I sleep on a lounge so the kids can sleep in a bed.”
Comment is being sought from the federal government departments concerned.
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It’s not like mothers are only now turning to this kind of work.
I myself am a single mum and sex worker.
I earn 1000 a night. Wy the hell not !
Who’s to say its not a normal job ? Nobody has the right to judge.
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Tony Reply:
April 8th, 2013 at 4:04 am
What rot, people can, do and will judge everything. I know that a single father frequenting these services and drawing the attention of child welfare would be deemed as unsuitable to raise his children. The double standards and hypocrisy in this country is sickening.
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Not that finding a husband is any kind of reasonable choice.
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They cannot get a suitable job, not that they don’t want to. I don’t think these women had job offers that they rejected. When child turns 8 a single parent is supposed to start ‘conventional’ employment from 9am to 5pm while it is a criminal offense to leave a child under 12 alone when schools finish at 3pm. So what options do these parents really have in the job market where 80% of jobs are not advertized, a part-time job isn’t enough to survive, unemployment rates are falsified, and neither tenants not employers want to deal with single parents? I agree that single women should be cooperative and make better decisions, but employers and tenants must be socially responsible and treat applicants equally.
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They cannot get a suitable job, not that they don’t want to. I don’t think these women had job offers that they rejected. When child turns 8 a single parent is supposed to start ‘conventional’ employment from 9am to 5pm while it is a criminal offense to leave a child under 12 alone when schools finish at 3pm. So what options do these parents really have in the job market where 80% of jobs are not advertized, a part-time job isn’t enough to survive, unemployment rates are falsified, and neither tenants not employers want to deal with single parents who were unemployed for the last several years? I agree that single women should be cooperative and make better decisions, but employers and tenants must be socially responsible and treat applicants equally.
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It is time to intervene and actually go and look at each inidviduals case. I am convinced that these single mums are not as destitute as it appears and an isolated threat of going to sexwork to survive is a statement to gain teh sympathy of the “normal” population.
The single mums should team up together and get 4 jobs which can be rotated between 5 persons so that one person can look after the kids. Before Ms Rae moves into a garage she has to sell the car, and use public tranport.
It seems that no single mum takes initiative for their own welfare.
It is also not my fault that they are a single mum as a result of domestic violence. Why should I pay for their lifestyle.
I tend to agree that the single mums do not want to work. They have a fairly social life and do not want to lose that.
They must rely on their extended family and ex inlaws for support, and if tehy refuse the couts can order the family to pay maintenance. It might be a deterent to engage in relationships when partners are anti-social or mal-adjusted.
Females must make better decisions.
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Tony Reply:
January 20th, 2013 at 5:53 pm
Team up and split four jobs between five? (you aren’t thinking of Menzies are you Herbert?) For a start you assume that there are four jobs to split up, you assume that the “Mums” are all qualified for the job as well. Finally you assume that the employers going to allow employees to delegate and control who’s working for them.
Try living in a regional area with virtually no jobs for those who are well qualified. Despite the promises of more jobs in regional areas by both sides of politics we see the job markets shrinking. So whats the answer blame the single mothers, blame the unemployed, don’t question the politician who promised employment, what a joke. And all this in a time when our economy is considered the envy of the world?!
Making in-laws pay? Is it the in-laws responsibility too? I don’t think so. Making the other parent responsible for payments, you obviously have no idea about the workings of the court system or Child Support Agency. The procedure is tedious and slow, and more often than not there is no result for ongoing support made or subsequently enforced. Additionally, the payments from the other parent can stop due to appeal or simply moving to another area, requiring starting the whole process again.
So what is the single parent to do for finance in the meantime? Live on air? For the record Herbert, I’m currently trying to finish a degree in education, this hardly allows time to raise children and find a job that is flexible enough and doesn’t even isn’t even exist. Also for the record I’m a single father too. That doesn’t quiet fit into the stereotyping you make here does it.
By this comment here and the majority on the National Times article, I hardly recognize what this country has become. It’s a very shallow and uncaring society compared to the one I use to know.
I believe everyone that is able to work and support their families should. However how can hardly blame them if they are unable to do so and as is so often the case use them as a scapegoat to all life’s ills. It’s always easier to shift the blame to those in the community that are least able to defend themselves isn’t it.
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