Students and Sex Work

Four hours into a long drive last night we stumbled across Radio 1's programme about student sex workers. What was said to be exploring claims that rising university costs has gone hand-in-hand with an increase in students working in the sex industry, the programme committed a school-kid error (and something a number of my students are guilty of)...it concluded in the introduction. It was pretty clear from the start that the programme was positioning itself with the argument that a rise in tuition fees has been responsible for this employment pattern and what followed focused on money as the driving factor. The programme cited research and so intrigued I did delve a little deeper this morning. In particular there is the The Student Sex Work Project but I also came across a research report from Durham University which considered attitudes towards sex work amongst university students. It was clear from this that financial factors are not perhaps the main reason behind an increase in student sex workers and that there are cultural factors at play. This was completely missing from the Radio 1 programme. Why is it, for example, that students in contemporary society feel that sex work is an acceptable substitute for other part-time employment routes? Why is it that statistics show predominantly it is female students engaging in such work? I'm suggesting an examination of the wider cultural beliefs and practices (as I'm sure others might also), rather than dismissing this as a 'sign of the economic times'.

Feminism in London 09

Saturday 10th October saw Feminism in London 2009 take place at Conway Hall. Though I cannot speak for the range of panels and workshops on the day, I just wanted to discuss my own experience of the day and welcome discussion/further insights.

Opening speakers this year were Beatrice Campbell and Susie Orbach ('Fat is a Feminist Issue'). This was my first encounter of Beatrice Campbell but I thought she was absolutely marvelous. A real character and what she spoke about really hit home with me. Beatrice spoke of 'neo-patriarchy' and the suggestion that whilst in society we now have knowledge (even acknowledgement) of gender issues, we have seen no change (for instance the gender pay gap still exists though we have increased awareness of this issue). Another example was of the working mother; the fact we can now be included in full-time employment but this is coupled with childcare. Beatrice spoke of the narrative of the 'work-life balance' in society which assigns this problem to us rather than tackling the problem. Beatrice talked also about the link between masculinity and violence which is never tackled as society masks the link under the disguise of youth violence and so forth. I found her talk really interesting and refreshing. It was intriguing that on my way out after, however, I overheard two women commenting that they disliked its complexity and academic nature so it didn't appear to be to everyone's taste.

When Susie Orbach spoke I really felt wanting more. It was a shame that it seemed time ran out, it would have been good to have heard more from her. But again, the issue of violence emerged and she linked the interalisation of women's oppression though body insecurities. I definitly want to read her latest book now to find out more.

During the day I went to a slide show/talk, a workshop and one panel. The slide-show was on anti-porn and namely the pornification of culture and the 'grooming' of young children by such culture. A lot of concepts were covered like the idea of the pseudo-child in pornography, the sexualisation of father-daughter incest, the model of normalization, sexualisation of disney and compliant victimization. It pretty much confirmed feelings I had already regarding the sexualisation of culture and how it targets children but I think it really made clear my thoughts on pornography as a whole. The workshop I attended after followed a similar theme "Raising Children in the Age of Porn". I hoped to come away from this with an idea of maybe strategies for dealing with such an issue but I don't think I got as much from it that I would have liked. One idea positioned by a fellow attendee did really get me thinking though and that was the stress now, it seems, in society on childrens' physical safety (worrying about kidnapping, pregnancy, perhaps even obesity) whilst other areas they aren't as protected (exposure to tv, internet and such).

The panel was 'Motherhood and Poverty' which was good and covered quite a bit of ground. After this was the closing speakers: Mawete vo Teka Sala, Hannana Siddiqui and Finn Mackay. I must admit that by this time my eyes were getting quite droppy (I had had to get up at 4am that morning for my train to London afterall!) so though I enjoyed the first two speakers I did not make any notes nor do I have any further comements. Finn Mackay's closing speech truly perked me back up again with the sheer emotion and enthuasiasm involved, it was such a shame it had to be cut short. But it was an excellent note to close on, especially the comments on the recession and women's part in this state in response to which I ranted to my friend later that evening - "No, we didn't make the decisions that got us where we are! But look at what cost we're paying for someone else's choices!" Food for thought indeed.

A WI Lady's Guide to Brothels

Last night I watched A WI Lady's Guide to Brothels on Channel 4. The programme, I think, emphasised for me that despite disagreeing with prostitution, lap-dancing, strip clubs and so forth, I do agree that if such things are going to take place that legislation should be in place to protect those involved. I was speaking to my partner during the programme and he doesn't seem to have such a strong opinion as I do. I did try to put across to him though the fact that such things as lap-dancing clubs further emphasis the opressed position of women in society. It's saying it's ok for men to pay to ogle at women. It's ok to understand women as purely sexual objects which are a commodity. It's the same mentality of magazines such as Zoo and Nuts. Some people might argue that that's not the case, that it's just some fun and the women do it for themselves; it's not a reflection of women's position in society, nor is it derogatory. If that was the case then why is it that women are in the sexualised position and not men? Do we have women's magazines on the smale scale as lad's mags (well, ok, More sometimes verges on this but still not as bad...)? And why is it then where I live that there are strip bars/lap-dancing clubs featuring women but men are absent from this objectification?

Lad Mags Age Restrictions

Whilst in Co-Op today I saw that some lad mags have now been given an age restriction with the buyer having to be over 15. I'm not sure whether this is an national move or just a move by Co-Op, but it's definitely a move in the right direction in my eyes. What concerns me, however, is the age they have chosen - why 15 or over? I'm not too up on laws in this area but isn't the age to watch hardcore porn/purchase porn from licensed sex shops 18 or over? I not implying that what features in some of these lad mags is close to hardcore porn, but they still feature the exploitation of women's bodies which is inherent within porn. As individual cases go, some people are maturer than others and so forth, but perhaps 15 should be raised to 18* - especially since to buy alcohol we have to be 18 and we now have to be to buy tobacco. At 15 we shouldn't be presenting the kind of values featured in lad mags to boys who are in the process of growing up and forming their own ideas about life.

*in an ideal world we wouldn't have lad mags but here I'm just stating that since they do exist, whilst they are circulation this is one way I see of combating certain problems with them.