KEY POINTS:
A Papatoetoe sex worker says forcing her off the street and out of business would mean she could not feed her children.
"I have tried other jobs but this is the lifestyle I have chosen," said the 30-year-old who did not want to be identified. "This is how I buy nappies. If I am off the street, I cannot feed my children."
Other South Auckland prostitutes who spoke to the Weekend Herald confirmed that disagreements flared up among those who earned their living selling sex.
There was a rule among sex workers that if someone did not have children to support, they did not belong on the street, they said.
Porcelain, who has been working as a prostitute for 20 years, said the council plan was heavy-handed.
And claims of waste left on the streets were exaggerated.
"All we need is a few more bins, for safe disposal of syringes, of condoms ... we are not dirty, we just do not have the facilities," said the 38-year-old who works "three, four nights a week" near Hunters Corner.
Porcelain said her experience showed sex workers were not necessarily safer off the streets.
"I had four ribs broken, not on the street but in my own home. There is a larger issue of violence in this society which keeping women indoors will not resolve."
