Any premises may be classified as a brothel if it is used by more than one man or woman for the purpose of prostitution, either on the same day or on different days. DC Nield explains: “A lot of the time we find out about pop up brothels because neighbours don’t want it on their street. The girls working in these premises are looked upon as a problem rather than human beings. Everyone surrounding them hates them because they are causing a problem in the area. And then there were brothels, in many cases operated with the tacit knowledge of the police as long as they were drug-free and didn’t use underage girls. One myth is that sex workers can’t be raped. I think it’s still common for people to believe that.”

He explains two of the very distinct problems - those working on the streets and those working in pop-up brothels. There are currently hundreds of young men across Manchester selling sex. Many are homeless or unemployed, dozens have recently been released from prison. MASH, which supports sex workers across the city, helped 350 women last year. Over the last six months, the charity’s homelessness worker has managed to support 14 women in getting off the street and into housing. Though some of the women are rough sleepers many sofa surf, stay with punters or remain in abusive relationships.It now represents more than 67 photographers from 27 countries - including China, India, Iran, Poland, Russia and Turkey where gay rights are repressed and queer lives under constant threat.

We need to stress the violence and stigma faced by sex workers who are all really brave, funny, kind women. Sammons, Scott (28 May 2015). "REVIEW: The Top 10 Best Gay Dating Apps". The Gay UK . Retrieved 13 January 2022. With support from Manchester Action on Street Health (MASH) police have managed to help street prostitutes.

But while dealing with illegal brothels is a key focus for GMP, working on the streets is the harsh reality for many sex workers - both men and women. They are hard to trace and even harder to shut down for officers faced with frightened women, who speak limited English and don’t trust the police.