Hawa Bangura, the mentor and ‘Mammy Queen’ of a group of commercial s**x workers at Lumley, said that the asking prices have gone up to a minimum of NLe 70 from NLe 30 because of the current economic hardship and the hike in prices of basic commodities.

However, she maintained that their increased prices are negotiable.

To ascertain the facts about the change in price and to verify the increase in the minimum price asked for by commercial s**x workers, it was discovered that the sex workers in response stuck to their new prices.

Hawa, a single mother, said giving s**x for money is her only means of survival and financing Her son.

She said, “My son will resume school in a week’s time. I have to buy him school-going materials like bags, books among other items, which are very expensive now.”

She reports that the increase in their asking prices has caused a faļl in the number of customers she transacts with per night because of the new price as they are used to paying NLe30 per session. “Many of them negotiate the prices.”

In pleading for the service of commercial s**x work in a WhatsApp group where constituents ask for and give s**x for money, Mariam Turay (not her real name) who stayed in Grassfield in Kissy requested NLe350 instead of Ne 250 used to ask for months ago.

When asked why the new prices, She answered that contemplating the distance and the transportation cost from Grassfield to Lumley and the current difficulties by general boosts in prices, she was minded to raise her asking prices or else she would not have been competent to meet the ends for which she works as a sex worker.

It has been scrutinized that most young girls pertained to commercial s**x work to meet their private welfare. Most women said that they committed to sex work to care for their families: children, parents, and siblings. Regularly send money to families, and the amount of more they send depends on how much they earn.

In Freetown, the capital city of Siera Leone, Aberdeen/Lumley Beach is the hub of the commercial s**x trade. The long stretch of the beachfront and its environs, with dozens of hotels, guesthouses, and entertainment spots like beach bars, restaurants, and gyms offer the setting and an atmosphere of social interaction for the sex trade to thrive