Interested in becoming a member of National Ugly Mugs?
NUM services are completely free and will remain so for all sex workers. There are many reasons to become a member! You’ll be given access to our reporting and alerting systems so if you need to report harm done to you now or in the future you’ll now be able to do that. Access to our alerting system means you’ll be informed of any crimes or harms to sex workers that you consent to receiving, with as much information as we can give to help you avoid dangerous people and conditions.
We’re currently in the process of making registration easier with our new digital build, but until then here’s how to get through registration as it stands. Feel free to watch the video walk through or scroll a little further down to see the instructions written out for you.
Ready to register? Let’s do it. Watch the video below or keep scrolling for step by step instructions.
First of all, head to this page: https://uglymugs.org/um/wp-login.php?action=register
Your Username can be anything you like - your Professional alias is perfect, if you already have a sex work persona set up. However, this isn’t necessary. We advise against using your real name however. All our data is confidential, but that wouldn’t protect you if our database was subpoenaed for any reason. Your stage name or any other fake name is recommended. We’re trying to verify that you’re a real person and a sex worker - a stage name makes that easy for us, but it’s not necessary if you’d like to stay completely anonymous.
Your Email address can be any address you personally can check and read emails from. Again, we suggest that you do not make the email address your real name, since that cancels out all the work you just did picking a username. If necessary, make a new email address under your stage name.
How Did You First Hear About Us? This is useful information for NUM to have to work out where our outreach is working and where we need to improve. You do not have to answer this, but it would be helpful to us if you did.
Eligibility Criteria: You must check the box that reads “I am a sex worker/ member of a sex worker support organisation, aged 18 years or over and living or working in the UK” - This is ESSENTIAL. If you do not meet these criteria, you are not eligible to be a member of NUM.
Membership Types:
There are 3 different types of membership - Individual, Organisations, and Escort Site/Establishment.
- Individual membership is made for sex workers - regardless of how you work, if you are signing up on behalf of yourself you need to select Individual membership.
- Organisations are also allowed to become members. Choose organisation membership if you are a staff members for a support/outreach organisation working to help sex workers.
- Escort Site/Establishment membership is for representatives or staff of sex working establishments and websites. This covers agencies, brothels and online platforms.
After this, you’re given 3 more optional questions. These are used to make sure you are forwarded any alerts that apply to you. We ask for the type of work you do, the gender you work as, and your approximate location. If you choose to give us your approximate location, we can then tailor which alerts you receive. Members are also able to use our email and phone number checkers to screen client contact information and see if any alerts are linked to them. If you do not wish to give any of this information once you sign up we will send all alerts to you via your preferred method (more on this later.) If you feel comfortable giving us some of this information but not all, that’s also an option. This information is only used to determine whether some alerts are not relevant to you - for example, if you work in Scotland and do not tell us this, we will send you alerts from incidents all over the country that may not be useful to you.
Enter a mobile number if you wish you receive alerts via SMS. This is useful if you do not have a smartphone or reliable internet connection - all information can be sent to you as long as you have phone signal.
Enter an email address if you wish to receive alerts via Email. You do not have to use the same email address that you entered earlier - if there’s a better email you’re more likely to check, use that instead. Again, please don’t make it one that contains your real name.
It’s worth reading the Terms and Conditions before checking the box saying you agree. It has some further information on how we are GDPR compliant and the ways we use your data. It’s a short T&Cs page and written in plain language so hopefully all can read and understand. If you have any about the membership process you can contact email members@uglymugs.org or call 0161 629 9861
After that, complete the captcha and click register. To protect the security of our members we have a manual checking and vetting process for applications so it may take some time before your account is activated and we may request further verification.
Keep any eye out for your approval confirmation, and then you can start using all of the great features of NUM Membership!