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How God lifted me out of the sex-trade ‘rat hole’

5:51am Sunday, 6th November 2011

Joshua Maule

A former prostitute who has run a shelter for recovering sex workers in Western Australia for more than a decade, is looking to relocate to a farmhouse. Linda Watson and the Perth Catholic Archdiocese recently sold Linda’s House of Hope, a Christian outreach which has operated since 1999. As Watson searches for a new location, she continues to run an adjoining assessment centre in Perth.
“My dream is a farm,” says Watson. “The girls could stay as long as they needed to.”
Featured in Philip Yancey’s most recent book What Good Is God?, Linda’s House of Hope has had varied responses. Watson says some have had the attitude of “serves them right, they put themselves there so they deserve to be there”.
But she knows that is not the case. Having been both a prostitute and a madam for 20 years, she knows first hand how hard it is to break out of prostitution. “These people are being lured to the slaughterhouse.”
It was out of compassion for other sex workers that Watson found her calling.
Many prostitutes, the majority of them addicted to drugs, have been through the doors of Linda’s House of Hope in the last 13 years. “98% of the girls end up with an addiction; not just to prostitution but alcohol, drugs, dope, ecstasy. You name it, they’ve got it,” Watson says.
Some have stayed only a short time, others for months - the longest was there two and a half years. “They had to show that they were keeping their goals.” These included not working in the sex industry, and making steps towards a restored life. “I love to see those victories,” she says.
But the losses weigh heavily. A number of the women have returned to work in brothels. Tragically in 2002, six women died over six months. “Yeah,” she sighs, “it’s very sad.”
Among those who make progress, Watson points to the importance of “spiritual awakening”. “Many of them come from religious backgrounds already. But without a spiritual change, there is very little hope.”
As the residents look at the life of Watson and others, they see deliverance is possible. Volunteers distribute Bibles to those who want them and read stories of Jesus’ life.
Watson says, “Nothing is impossible for God,” which seems to be the driving theology of her mission. God can sort it out. He is powerful. She adds, “And the most important thing is: they need to learn to love themselves and forgive themselves.”
As well as the personal ministry, Watson took up a political battle against prostitution. It is part of the reason Women’s Weekly magazine named Watson “Australia’s Most Inspiring Woman” in 2002.
In Western Australia, a bill to legalise prostitution will go to Parliament in the coming months. Watson is campaigning for brothels to remain prohibited.
A spokeswoman for the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL), Michelle Pearse, stands by Watson. “When you legalise or decriminalise prostitution, it sends the message to men that it’s OK to purchase women for sex.”
The ACL says when prostitution was legalised in Melbourne, the number of illegal brothels tripled. In New South Wales, where prostitution is decriminalised, the same number of brothels exist as in Amsterdam, according to the ACL. And they say 90 percent of brothels in Queensland are run illegally. “It’s a harmful exploitative business,” says Pearse.
A recent investigation by Four Corners and The Age newspaper in Melbourne has exposed a ring of both legal and illegal brothels with links to sex trafficking and crime. If nothing else, the findings raise questions about the ability of both state and local government to control a legalised sex industry.
Linda Watson says criminal activity is rife in the red light scene. And she is fighting hard to stop political acceptance of prostitution. “They keep telling us it’s a safe workplace. They don’t care. But they’re leading the children to slaughter.”

Phone Linda Watson on 08 9358 2544
To donate, make cheques out to: Linda’s House of Hope. PO Box 5640, St Georges Terrace, Perth, 6831