hi thanks very much for having me so I’m
going to watch you today about sex alert
topic change and I want you to think
about what images conjure up in your
mind when you hear the phrase sex worker
certainly give you some examples of the
common answers that I hear students and
beyond when asking this question so on
one hand we have maybe you might
disagree or agree phrases such as
criminal suppose drug addicts victim
exploited conversely you might think
more Diary of a call girl builders
you’re asked phrases such as glamorous
rich and powered type of sexual even but
wait to think about this gap in the
middle of muddy hands quite often and
I’m sure perhaps this maybe isn’t
computes that live of something that
I’ve experienced when embarking on this
research topic stereotypes and
assumptions affect perceptions of
aspects of our life such as sex work
that perhaps we don’t have direct
experience in personally but we make
assumptions based on perhaps media
stereotypes based on stories that you
hear and so on but this middle ground in
centers is often overlooked
to think in these binary categories
these quite black-and-white categories
so when I asked you that question
initially did you ever think of a phrase
such as community neighbor friend
relative when you think of the phrase
sex worker
so those stereotypes and assumptions
create moral panics and then create
myths about the industry and I’m going
to cover three of these myths today and
then focus a little bit more on the last
one so one common myth one common
perception and this again is largely
based on how the industry is constructed
in the media either via docudramas or
indeed and fiction and so on that sex
work predominantly happens on the
streets that’s why often the common kind
of imagery that’s constructed in mind so
street corners for example stilettos and
fishnet stockings and actually on street
part of the of sex worth part of the
industry is what the minority of the
industry so although the figures vary
depending on sample size and
geographical location typically we’re
talking single figure percentage so
between three and ten percent of the
percepts working on streets and another
common assumption about this part of the
industry this particular space in which
sex what happens is that those that opt
to use this particular space will never
choose to do so that’s not that’s not
space the ideal it’s not space than the
the number one choice but there are
certain while that might be true for
some sex workers there are some sex
workers that do choose this particular
space they see it as perhaps a less
structured form of the industry and that
suits their their lifestyle they want
that flexibility they don’t want to have
to pay a fee for example to a brothel
model or offer whatever reason so there
is an element of choice there for some
sex workers so that’s myth one myth two
sexes have always involved human
trafficking and quite often in policy
and political discussions about the
industry about sex work these two
expressions these two phrases are
conflated so the scene is one saying
that it always took always involves
human trafficking now sex rate refers to
the consensual exchange of sexual labor
fibre money or goods human trafficking
refers to coercion refers to forced
labor whether or not I’ve evolved specs
but the focuses is the exploitation that
coercion so they are not the same thing
and it’s dangerous to conflate the two
for variety of reasons but I said to you
before about that choice evidence that
for those sex workers that do you choose
the industry perpetually constructing
them as a victim it raises that choice
and it raises that agency for those that
are chooses to do so and there are whole
host of other reasons which is another
tech talk mister why it’s dangerous to
play these two terms but one other
example is that trafficking figures are
very difficult to estimate and I’m sure
you understand why that is obviously a
very nasty thing to happen and indeed
it’s very difficult to restrooms
of that and if you do a quick Google
you’ll see that those numbers vary too
coming on who creates the figures and so
on
so it’s very important beside message to
be critical this big isn’t to look at
the source and tool for example size etc
ok myth 3 thought I’m going to focus on
in more detail shortly sex work is only
ever a nuisance either in on or off
street forms in West Georgia communities
and it’s constructed as a nuisance for a
variety of reasons some examples include
it attracts crime tracks criminal
activity and side effect of size that I
therefore feel for fearful of crime
happening to me in my community because
of potentially dodging clients and all
the associated secondary effects that
might bring and since such secondary
effects include for example that it
might affect the reputation of my towel
on my city it might reduce house prices
for example it might make people think
about where I live differently what I
hang around where I live and there are
that there are things that are
associated with that in the nuisance
framework so it attracts lots of traffic
it’s very noisy but largely he’s fallen
during moralistic viewpoint about the
industry rather than tangible evidence
so it’s often a fear rather than a
reality in terms of actual tangible
effects and those mentor communities now
if you have asked me in an audience such
as yourself a few years ago before
embarked on this research I would have
put my hand up and said yes I believe
all of these myths this is definitely
something that I associate with the
industry and I found that my research
really took me on a journey actually it
really made me question my own prejudice
it questioned my own critical nature or
lack of with regards to such evidence
being presented
I also learned an awful lot about the
relationship between sex workers and
most venture communities the story was
far more complex than is aged so I was
watching about my PhD research which was
focusing on a case study in Blackpool if
anybody’s ever been to black hole it’s
not very far away for one Casto to
photograph on the coast the coastal
resort and it has a collection of
brothels and that’s like clustered
together although I go to quite
prominent areas and why people work when
bottles are clustered just to give you a
quick insight into the legal context so
it’s not illegal and in England to be a
sex worker under certain conditions but
the Lord is making it very difficult so
it says solicit on street is an offence
to manage and operate in a brothel is an
offence and I need to involve any
coalition and such as neutrality is also
an offensive there are other for the
ones that don’t
– but brothels very in terms of how
local authorities implement that law so
quite often local authorities will turn
a blind eye to brothels being in the in
the urban landscape as long as they
behave in certain ways and there’s a
very much variances degree of variance
according to the local authorities
approach so if you move between
different areas of the UK that you’ll
find that there are varying degrees for
tolerance from Blackpool has a regulated
tolerance approach some of these
brothels have been there for 20 years
for example it is a morning in case
you’ve never come across a brothel
before or in case you having obscene
images of them here are some examples
behind me as to what the brothels look
like a black ball these are just a few
of them there’s quite a few actually so
on the left-hand side you’ll see a
doorway so some brothels will have an
open door so as you’re walking past as a
layperson you’ll notice a door open but
it won’t necessarily be directly obvious
that it’s a brothel unless you look
quite carefully through the corridor and
you see an image such as that on the
doorway and even then you might not
necessarily immediately think that’s a
brothel now this one on the left-hand
side has a business name have a business
aesthetic quite confident businesses
that it has a website sometimes will
have a sign in the window saying big
pieces for example of the looking for
new staff but you also notice it is real
carefully that there’s an intercom on
the interior door now one of my
prejudices was never be safe either for
the sex workers but actually what I am
to come to Jess and something that sex
workers confirmed me because I did go in
and speak to some sex workers in the
models that there was a degree of
vetting that occurred with clients so if
they see that maybe though they’re
drugged up or they’re they’re drunk or
too drunk then perhaps we’ll plug them
in so it was degree of safety and
security that in terms of the business
aesthetic of how
here in streetscape and say that has a
prominent business name as does the one
on the bottom right hand side that’s
called Twilight babes okay and it has
expertise and imagery on the outside but
there are also some that other pool as
obvious so the top right hand one is an
example so it hasn’t got any kind of
sexual imagery on the outside is just
colorful flower and I think it doesn’t
have a business name such as a street
name their number so why did was I spend
some time talking sex workers spend some
time talking to residents in and around
these these brothels they’re actually
called massage parlors in blackboard I
commented that labels happen and they
are very much well interspersed with
other non sex work related businesses so
their art was a jewelers down there for
example a couple of estate agents
Chinese community center as well as
flats and houses and in and around to
these two areas so they’re not in a
typical kind of red light district
bounded area where that’s the only type
of business or premise that fits around
their well interspersed with other
things so what should I wear what did I
learn about brothels in the community in
this community
I learn that brothels did not just fit
is nuisance narrative that dominated the
literature dominated research about the
industry they had a variety of roles in
the everyday lives of residences and
other non sex work businesses around I’m
going to talk to you quickly about three
okay trouble look at that this is
actually the title of my thesis so
resident said it’s really pretty
entertaining living here I enjoy the
fact that it’s different every day I
enjoy the fact that I can tell stories
about living here that it’s sometimes
the first question but new customers
will ask what new friends will ask that
having this visited me at home or at
work before it’s an element of community
building sort of the thing that I’ll
talk to you about any moment it’s better
than daytime television this was a chat
that was unemployed that had about it
bored of seeing in em all day and quite
enjoy peace airplane yes the punter so
there would be you know lots of
different people moving around and they
would just watch and see what was going
on other other workers in the area said
that it brightened up their day it’s bit
dole grantee it’s not a particularly
busy area like for this area and so it
can get quite quiet during the day and
so it had people interested in
entertained it was quite exciting to
them to live there and when I was
interviewing residents do sometimes feel
out the chest say somebody’s got to live
here basil do me
I can tell the story so that was one
role secondly and this really goes
against the narrative that they only
ever attract crime and they make me feel
unsafe
some residents actually report it again
partly probably because it was a quite a
quiet area that they were through a
vibrant presence in an otherwise dull
place to live or dull place to work the
24-hour light but it was quite a few
tomorrow from 24 hours and they are
fairly vibrantly left although there is
a degree of variance as I said in that
these light burning make me feel more
comfortable make me feel safer feel like
if there was ever in trouble I could
actually knock on a door and know that
they were sex workers in there to maybe
help me especially what the static can
do is around which if you know what hole
at all but it’s very much associated to
a secondhand use another quote that I
really liked was this somebody said it
makes me feel like somebody’s here even
in a place where even the pigeons don’t
frequent again what both very much known
for pigeons and seabirds and I thought
that was by quite revealing actually
about the role that they placed on those
those seconds in there I’m a community
safety role as well also related to
building camaraderie with customers so
they would come and new customs were
coming to talk to me about leadership
being here and it was almost like an
opener I felt like it was it was
something that kind of brought us
together it’s a topic of conversation
for is what my
and finally finally I’ll bring you back
to that that finery that I started at
the beginning and the fact that that
middle story is never really captured
they were also just ordinary neighbors
they put the bins out like everybody
else we have normal conversations I know
them all by name they’re my friends and
yes well there was an element of their
also quite undertaken and I quite like
laughing and when I quite not love the
sex workers by quite like play games
such as getting the planter and they
make my work life more interesting
they’re also just ordinary neighbors an
ordinary and ordinary peasants ordinary
role which again perhaps disrupts this
idea of it’s a nuisance framework always
being dominant always being prevalent
that okay they might annoy me sometimes
there might make me laugh sometimes like
other businesses like other residents
and for the neighbors but there are also
friends there also people that I’m
concerned about but also people that I
engage with our daily basis and that’s
really the message that I want to leave
you with the sex workers are friends
they’re relatives you might know some
might be some in this room they have
they should have the same rights and
respect that anybody else in the
community should do and in terms of
consulting them about things that affect
their lives such as policy such as where
they should operate as conversations
happen whether the source of
whether shipments they should be
involved in that conversation they
should be given that agency about right
as well and I hope the invisible change
that I’ve left you with today is if you
were in camp like I was definitely went
on a journey from not having any
evidence for my assumptions of my
moralizing to I know a minute the story
is very different where I thought at the
beginning I hope the invisible change
that I have left you with is that we do
consider this middle story thank
[Applause]
going to watch you today about sex alert
topic change and I want you to think
about what images conjure up in your
mind when you hear the phrase sex worker
certainly give you some examples of the
common answers that I hear students and
beyond when asking this question so on
one hand we have maybe you might
disagree or agree phrases such as
criminal suppose drug addicts victim
exploited conversely you might think
more Diary of a call girl builders
you’re asked phrases such as glamorous
rich and powered type of sexual even but
wait to think about this gap in the
middle of muddy hands quite often and
I’m sure perhaps this maybe isn’t
computes that live of something that
I’ve experienced when embarking on this
research topic stereotypes and
assumptions affect perceptions of
aspects of our life such as sex work
that perhaps we don’t have direct
experience in personally but we make
assumptions based on perhaps media
stereotypes based on stories that you
hear and so on but this middle ground in
centers is often overlooked
to think in these binary categories
these quite black-and-white categories
so when I asked you that question
initially did you ever think of a phrase
such as community neighbor friend
relative when you think of the phrase
sex worker
so those stereotypes and assumptions
create moral panics and then create
myths about the industry and I’m going
to cover three of these myths today and
then focus a little bit more on the last
one so one common myth one common
perception and this again is largely
based on how the industry is constructed
in the media either via docudramas or
indeed and fiction and so on that sex
work predominantly happens on the
streets that’s why often the common kind
of imagery that’s constructed in mind so
street corners for example stilettos and
fishnet stockings and actually on street
part of the of sex worth part of the
industry is what the minority of the
industry so although the figures vary
depending on sample size and
geographical location typically we’re
talking single figure percentage so
between three and ten percent of the
percepts working on streets and another
common assumption about this part of the
industry this particular space in which
sex what happens is that those that opt
to use this particular space will never
choose to do so that’s not that’s not
space the ideal it’s not space than the
the number one choice but there are
certain while that might be true for
some sex workers there are some sex
workers that do choose this particular
space they see it as perhaps a less
structured form of the industry and that
suits their their lifestyle they want
that flexibility they don’t want to have
to pay a fee for example to a brothel
model or offer whatever reason so there
is an element of choice there for some
sex workers so that’s myth one myth two
sexes have always involved human
trafficking and quite often in policy
and political discussions about the
industry about sex work these two
expressions these two phrases are
conflated so the scene is one saying
that it always took always involves
human trafficking now sex rate refers to
the consensual exchange of sexual labor
fibre money or goods human trafficking
refers to coercion refers to forced
labor whether or not I’ve evolved specs
but the focuses is the exploitation that
coercion so they are not the same thing
and it’s dangerous to conflate the two
for variety of reasons but I said to you
before about that choice evidence that
for those sex workers that do you choose
the industry perpetually constructing
them as a victim it raises that choice
and it raises that agency for those that
are chooses to do so and there are whole
host of other reasons which is another
tech talk mister why it’s dangerous to
play these two terms but one other
example is that trafficking figures are
very difficult to estimate and I’m sure
you understand why that is obviously a
very nasty thing to happen and indeed
it’s very difficult to restrooms
of that and if you do a quick Google
you’ll see that those numbers vary too
coming on who creates the figures and so
on
so it’s very important beside message to
be critical this big isn’t to look at
the source and tool for example size etc
ok myth 3 thought I’m going to focus on
in more detail shortly sex work is only
ever a nuisance either in on or off
street forms in West Georgia communities
and it’s constructed as a nuisance for a
variety of reasons some examples include
it attracts crime tracks criminal
activity and side effect of size that I
therefore feel for fearful of crime
happening to me in my community because
of potentially dodging clients and all
the associated secondary effects that
might bring and since such secondary
effects include for example that it
might affect the reputation of my towel
on my city it might reduce house prices
for example it might make people think
about where I live differently what I
hang around where I live and there are
that there are things that are
associated with that in the nuisance
framework so it attracts lots of traffic
it’s very noisy but largely he’s fallen
during moralistic viewpoint about the
industry rather than tangible evidence
so it’s often a fear rather than a
reality in terms of actual tangible
effects and those mentor communities now
if you have asked me in an audience such
as yourself a few years ago before
embarked on this research I would have
put my hand up and said yes I believe
all of these myths this is definitely
something that I associate with the
industry and I found that my research
really took me on a journey actually it
really made me question my own prejudice
it questioned my own critical nature or
lack of with regards to such evidence
being presented
I also learned an awful lot about the
relationship between sex workers and
most venture communities the story was
far more complex than is aged so I was
watching about my PhD research which was
focusing on a case study in Blackpool if
anybody’s ever been to black hole it’s
not very far away for one Casto to
photograph on the coast the coastal
resort and it has a collection of
brothels and that’s like clustered
together although I go to quite
prominent areas and why people work when
bottles are clustered just to give you a
quick insight into the legal context so
it’s not illegal and in England to be a
sex worker under certain conditions but
the Lord is making it very difficult so
it says solicit on street is an offence
to manage and operate in a brothel is an
offence and I need to involve any
coalition and such as neutrality is also
an offensive there are other for the
ones that don’t
– but brothels very in terms of how
local authorities implement that law so
quite often local authorities will turn
a blind eye to brothels being in the in
the urban landscape as long as they
behave in certain ways and there’s a
very much variances degree of variance
according to the local authorities
approach so if you move between
different areas of the UK that you’ll
find that there are varying degrees for
tolerance from Blackpool has a regulated
tolerance approach some of these
brothels have been there for 20 years
for example it is a morning in case
you’ve never come across a brothel
before or in case you having obscene
images of them here are some examples
behind me as to what the brothels look
like a black ball these are just a few
of them there’s quite a few actually so
on the left-hand side you’ll see a
doorway so some brothels will have an
open door so as you’re walking past as a
layperson you’ll notice a door open but
it won’t necessarily be directly obvious
that it’s a brothel unless you look
quite carefully through the corridor and
you see an image such as that on the
doorway and even then you might not
necessarily immediately think that’s a
brothel now this one on the left-hand
side has a business name have a business
aesthetic quite confident businesses
that it has a website sometimes will
have a sign in the window saying big
pieces for example of the looking for
new staff but you also notice it is real
carefully that there’s an intercom on
the interior door now one of my
prejudices was never be safe either for
the sex workers but actually what I am
to come to Jess and something that sex
workers confirmed me because I did go in
and speak to some sex workers in the
models that there was a degree of
vetting that occurred with clients so if
they see that maybe though they’re
drugged up or they’re they’re drunk or
too drunk then perhaps we’ll plug them
in so it was degree of safety and
security that in terms of the business
aesthetic of how
here in streetscape and say that has a
prominent business name as does the one
on the bottom right hand side that’s
called Twilight babes okay and it has
expertise and imagery on the outside but
there are also some that other pool as
obvious so the top right hand one is an
example so it hasn’t got any kind of
sexual imagery on the outside is just
colorful flower and I think it doesn’t
have a business name such as a street
name their number so why did was I spend
some time talking sex workers spend some
time talking to residents in and around
these these brothels they’re actually
called massage parlors in blackboard I
commented that labels happen and they
are very much well interspersed with
other non sex work related businesses so
their art was a jewelers down there for
example a couple of estate agents
Chinese community center as well as
flats and houses and in and around to
these two areas so they’re not in a
typical kind of red light district
bounded area where that’s the only type
of business or premise that fits around
their well interspersed with other
things so what should I wear what did I
learn about brothels in the community in
this community
I learn that brothels did not just fit
is nuisance narrative that dominated the
literature dominated research about the
industry they had a variety of roles in
the everyday lives of residences and
other non sex work businesses around I’m
going to talk to you quickly about three
okay trouble look at that this is
actually the title of my thesis so
resident said it’s really pretty
entertaining living here I enjoy the
fact that it’s different every day I
enjoy the fact that I can tell stories
about living here that it’s sometimes
the first question but new customers
will ask what new friends will ask that
having this visited me at home or at
work before it’s an element of community
building sort of the thing that I’ll
talk to you about any moment it’s better
than daytime television this was a chat
that was unemployed that had about it
bored of seeing in em all day and quite
enjoy peace airplane yes the punter so
there would be you know lots of
different people moving around and they
would just watch and see what was going
on other other workers in the area said
that it brightened up their day it’s bit
dole grantee it’s not a particularly
busy area like for this area and so it
can get quite quiet during the day and
so it had people interested in
entertained it was quite exciting to
them to live there and when I was
interviewing residents do sometimes feel
out the chest say somebody’s got to live
here basil do me
I can tell the story so that was one
role secondly and this really goes
against the narrative that they only
ever attract crime and they make me feel
unsafe
some residents actually report it again
partly probably because it was a quite a
quiet area that they were through a
vibrant presence in an otherwise dull
place to live or dull place to work the
24-hour light but it was quite a few
tomorrow from 24 hours and they are
fairly vibrantly left although there is
a degree of variance as I said in that
these light burning make me feel more
comfortable make me feel safer feel like
if there was ever in trouble I could
actually knock on a door and know that
they were sex workers in there to maybe
help me especially what the static can
do is around which if you know what hole
at all but it’s very much associated to
a secondhand use another quote that I
really liked was this somebody said it
makes me feel like somebody’s here even
in a place where even the pigeons don’t
frequent again what both very much known
for pigeons and seabirds and I thought
that was by quite revealing actually
about the role that they placed on those
those seconds in there I’m a community
safety role as well also related to
building camaraderie with customers so
they would come and new customs were
coming to talk to me about leadership
being here and it was almost like an
opener I felt like it was it was
something that kind of brought us
together it’s a topic of conversation
for is what my
and finally finally I’ll bring you back
to that that finery that I started at
the beginning and the fact that that
middle story is never really captured
they were also just ordinary neighbors
they put the bins out like everybody
else we have normal conversations I know
them all by name they’re my friends and
yes well there was an element of their
also quite undertaken and I quite like
laughing and when I quite not love the
sex workers by quite like play games
such as getting the planter and they
make my work life more interesting
they’re also just ordinary neighbors an
ordinary and ordinary peasants ordinary
role which again perhaps disrupts this
idea of it’s a nuisance framework always
being dominant always being prevalent
that okay they might annoy me sometimes
there might make me laugh sometimes like
other businesses like other residents
and for the neighbors but there are also
friends there also people that I’m
concerned about but also people that I
engage with our daily basis and that’s
really the message that I want to leave
you with the sex workers are friends
they’re relatives you might know some
might be some in this room they have
they should have the same rights and
respect that anybody else in the
community should do and in terms of
consulting them about things that affect
their lives such as policy such as where
they should operate as conversations
happen whether the source of
whether shipments they should be
involved in that conversation they
should be given that agency about right
as well and I hope the invisible change
that I’ve left you with today is if you
were in camp like I was definitely went
on a journey from not having any
evidence for my assumptions of my
moralizing to I know a minute the story
is very different where I thought at the
beginning I hope the invisible change
that I have left you with is that we do
consider this middle story thank
[Applause]
Please follow and like us: