By Lucy Caulkett-
Online ads offering free accommodation to vulnerable homeless women are dangerous and should be avoided,
according to a British charity. The online ads stipulate as a basic requirement, that the women must prove they are ”stunning”, and attractive. The online ads on craigslist ”are targeting desperate women who feel they have no other options and women who feel they have no other options, and women who may already have experienced sexual or domestic violence”, according to homelessness charity shelter.
Some of the ads offer free accommodation for those prepared to return the favor in the form of sex. Any young female student prepared to act as a ”resource” in return should provide full personal details and a recent pic from their private mail, according to another, which emphatically adds that No pic, no reply”. Shelter has branded the ads a ” dangerous attempt to establish deeply exploitative relationships off the back of homelessness”, adding that this is a daily occurrence that has been noticed by the charity.
”Women are being asked to enter a space which is entirely controlled by someone else, a person who always has the right to be there, who can say who else can enter the property and on whom they are entirely dependent for shelter”, the charity said. This is the vile exploitation proposed by these adverts:that women who feel they have no choice enter an arrangement where they feel they never have the choice to say no”, the charity added. There are 288 free accommodation listed on the online ads, and 51 for under 10 pounds a month.
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The British charity has blamed UK’s housing crisis for the exploitation, stating that ”while it is a story of men trying to exploit women, the thing that makes the exploitation possible is unfordable housing and lack of appropriate support services and move on accommodation for those who do find themselves homeless”.
The online ads are a disgrace to those who set them up, and it is surprising really that the police have not already shut these sites down. It is beyond belief that these things actually exist, They are degrading to women, especially in the blatant way they seek to manipulate vulnerable women. Sadly, there will be some women who will respond to the ads, but this means those women have no respect for themselves if they agree to such degrading arrangements. Most women would not respond to the ads, but ads like these should not be allowed to stay online.
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