Queer Sex Work

This is an Author's Original Manuscript of an article whose final and definitive form, the Version of Record, is forthcoming in Queer Sex Work (London: Routledge, 2015) [copyright Taylor & Francis], full details at http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415704557/ 1. Being, Thinking and Doing ‘Queer’ in Debates about Commercial Sex Nicola Smith, Mary Laing, and Katy Pilcher THE QUEERNESS OF SEX WORK DEBATES Commercial sex work is the subject of significant contestation in contemporary legal, medical, moral, feminist, religious and social debates. Across the world, regulatory frameworks and legal systems are in flux, as governments negotiate complex discursive and material practices of commercial sex, and seek to shape law and legislation centred on notions of sexual citizenship, health, safety, human rights, exploitation, violence and morality. In addition, there is now a wealth of research that interrogates and documents how sex is sold in a plethora of spaces, through multiple mechanisms, by a multitude of actors, for diverse reasons (see for instance Agustín 2007; Kotiswaran 2011; Weitzer 2005). In highlighting the complexities of commercial sex in analytical and empirical terms, this literature has done much to expose and challenge the entrenched polarities - such as those between oppression and liberation, violence and pleasure, and victimhood and agency - that have long underpinned political and philosophical debates surrounding the sale and purchase of sex. For example, commercial sex has been theorised in terms of a wider discourse of 'intimacy' and central to this has been an emphasis on how understandings, experiences and 1 performances of intimacy are not fixed but instead change over time and space, in quite complex and often contradictory ways (see especially Bernstein 2007; Zelizer 2007). It is thus surprising that the extant body of work remains focused on the sale of sex by women to men, be it on the street, over the telephone, in a brothel, via escorting, on the internet or through other means. While these debates are exceptionally valuable in furthering conceptualisations of intimacy, gender, sexuality and sexual encounters, notably, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans* and queer (LGBTQ) sex work is rarely treated as a matter of substantive concern. This erasure of non-normative identities, performances and embodiments in debates about the sex industry not only restricts the potentialities of the political agency of queer and trans* sex workers but also reinforces the very gender dualisms that many feminist and queer scholars would wish to challenge, i.e. by reproducing heteronormative assumptions that there is a ‘natural’ gender order in which women are sexual objects and men are sexual subjects (Smith 2012). A queer focus, going beyond the hetero-centric gender norm, is important for developing fresh insights into how gender, sex, power, crime, work, migration, space/place, health and intimacy are conceptualised and theorised in the context of commercial sexual encounters. QUEERING SEX WORK: THEORIES, PRACTICES, METHODOLOGIES The overarching aim of this collection, then, is to ‘queer’ debates about the sex industry by enriching the existing body of scholarship in empirical, conceptual and methodological terms. First, we aim to shine a spotlight on queer sex work (using the term ‘queer’ as an adjective) by exploring diverse forms, practices and embodiments of non-hetero/ homo-normative sex working in order to broaden the empirical focus beyond that of analyses which, whether 2 explicitly or implicitly, are predicated on the imaginaries of the female worker and male client. Although there is undoubtedly an extant literature on men who sell sex to men (see inter alia Aggleton 1999; Altman 2002; Morrison and Whitehead 2007; Whowell 2010; Logan 2010; Mai 2012; Minichiello and Scott, 2014), other embodiments and performances of queer sex work remain largely unexplored. The contributions in this collection cover a diversity of empirical case studies – including studies of erotic dance venues, online sex working, pornography and grey sexual economies – whereby sexual services are embodied and exchanged through non-normative practices, such as performances of queer strip tease and the purchasing of sex through on-line avatars. Second, we seek to queer sex work (using the term here as a verb) by exposing, interrogating and disrupting the heteronormative gender logics that continue to underpin academic and policy debates about commercial sex. Commercial sex is often assumed to reinforce dominant norms surrounding gender and sexuality and yet, as many of the contributors in this volume explore, it can also be considered ‘queer’ and 'outside of the (hetero)norm' (Smith and Laing, 2012: 517), whilst also being (re)productive of heteronormative gender logics (Scoular, 2004: 348; Pilcher, 2012, and this volume). Contributors thus examine the ways in which commercial sex is ‘queered’ by both workers and customers/consumers in commercial sexual interactions. We consider, through a focus on the plethora of spaces in which commercial sexual interactions take place, how spatial and temporal constraints, together with the requests and experiences of customers, the ways in which sex is regulated in law and in practice, and the identities and work roles constructed by sex workers, may affect the ways in which participants in commercial sex can 'be', 'do' and 'imagine' queer performativities and sexualities. Queering sex work not only provides room to examine the potential fluidity and contestability of gender and sexual power relations in the interactions between sex workers 3 and their customers, but it also provides scope for considering the implications of people’s engagement with (and challenging of) heteronormative discourses more widely. Third, queer methodologies are a key focus in this collection, indicating how different research methods can be put to the task of questioning normativities (Browne and Nash, 2010). Contributors are drawn from a variety of social and political disciplines such as history, geography, sociology, criminology, and political science as well as including contributions from self-identifying queer sex workers, activists and practitioners. Our aim is to bring a multidimensional and multidisciplinary voice to debates about the sex industry that moves beyond preoccupations with commercial sex as a moral issue, and attempts to document empirically 'a rich field of human activities, all of them operating in complex socio-cultural contexts where the meaning of buying and selling sex is not always the same' (Agustin 2007: 403). These explorations of queer sex work move away from the malefemale, on-street-off street, tactile-non-tactile binary considerations of erotic labour and instead address a wide variety of diverse theoretical, empirical and political concerns around the theme of queer sex work. STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK The book is broadly split into five substantive sections around the themes of: sex, work and queer interventions; queer embodiments, identities, intersections; new spaces of/and queer sex work; commercial sex and queer communities; and activism and policy. We should immediately acknowledge that attempting to impose order on a 'queer' text is in itself paradoxical. As Browne and Nash (2010) note in their collection of queer methodological papers, attempting to place a rigid order or structure on a queer text somewhat defies the idea 4 of 'queering' the text, and also imposes artificial boundaries where they may not be needed. Rather, this book attempts to structure the papers around certain themes and meanings which are reflected within and across the five sections and each section presents a variety of theoretical, methodological, and empirical papers in a way that enables chapters to speak to each other rather than them being separately 'categorised'. Our aim, therefore, is to create a space for a multiplicity of voices to reflect upon what it means to ‘be’, ‘think’ and ‘do’ queer in debates about the sex industry. Sex/Work and Queer Theorising The first section of the book, on the theme of sex, work and queer interventions, covers a multitude of approaches to what it means to be, practice and theorise ‘queer’. Smith opens the collection with a piece exploring what it might mean to queer the study of global sexual economies. Arguing that it is not enough to ‘add queer and stir’; she suggests that we need to ‘do queer’ in order to reveal, contest and resist the heteronormative gender logics inherent in much scholarship in international political economy. In her chapter exploring identity, authenticity and laboured performance, Berg suggests that ‘queer’ should be situated as a way of thinking rather than a marker of identity; and that rather than taking queer as an authentic identity, we must think more ‘queerly’ to unsettle the normative scripts of capitalist labour discourse in the context of sex work. Hester does much to interrogate the critical frameworks positioning sex work as a form of erotic labour within pornographic industries and explores notions of queerness within this. She seeks to question why porn studies has, ‘struggled’ to address issues of sex work, and offers future research ideas and directions including those centred on more queer readings of sex work to address this. McNamara, Tortorici and Tovar’s engaging piece reproduces an online conversation about how the authors’ 5 engagement and experiences of selling sex, manifests and relates to bodies, performances, scholarship and activism. They unpack the notion of ‘werq’ as well as exploring a range of other issues including the politics of dealing with sex and sexualities in academic work. Patterson’s chapter contributes an international imaginary of how sex work can be queered. Exploring representations of (queer) sex work in literary works, he argues that sex work should be considered within and, fundamentally, part of capitalist development rather than being considered as antagonistic in this context. Sex Work and Non-normative Bodies, Identities, Intersections The second section of the book broadly focuses on sex work, queer identities and embodiments. Stardust’s chapter explores how erotic labour provides spaces for dialogue, learning and resistance in a multiplicity of forms. She describes the role of sexual labour in destabilising normative understandings of objectification and the disruption and queering of client expectations by performers. Exploring issues as diverse as ‘straight for pay’, the inversion of gender norms, negotiating boundaries, and femmephobia, she concludes by arguing that erotic labour is absolutely and inescapably queer. Holt’s reflective account of professional submission offers insight into the under-researched area of commercial BDSM and how this might be understood in relation to existing academic conceptualisations of sex work. Avenatti and Jones’ chapter discusses and highlights the ‘powerfully positive’ role of sex worker activism, its demand for rights and respect, and its power to heal. They also describe spaces and practices of sex work and BDSM as therapeutic for both clients and sex workers and the broader sex working community; arguing that ‘[Q]ueer sex work has the power to create a new language for bodily autonomy and consent, and to transcend traditional 6 approaches to working through trauma towards self actualization’. Stryker’s chapter deconstructs normative notions of identity and sex work, and offers a discussion centred on her self-identification as a ‘fat girl’ and the role and performance of complex identities and the self in the context of sex working. She discusses the interlinking of her self, body and politics; arguing that what is considered the ‘erotic ideal constructed by the male gaze is not truly the ideal at all’. Following this, Sanders reflects on findings derived from a large scale research project on men who buy sex in the UK. Seeking to challenge the perception that older men, and those with disabilities, are a-sexual and un-gendered; she offers an analysis of how the experiences of these men purchasing sex has potential to de-stabilise normative narratives of ‘successful ageing’. Owens’ chapter offers a second analysis of disability and sex work. Owens’ describes her role within Outsiders and the TLC trust: both organisations work with disabled people on issues of sexuality, and the TLC trust more specifically on sex work. The chapter reflects on sexual stigmas experienced by disabled people and the importance of access to information and support about sex and sexualities where needed. Sex Work and Queer Geographies Part three of the book focuses on the theme of new spaces of/and queer sex work. The chapters within this section take as their focus specific contexts and spaces within which sex and intimacy is bought, sold and exchanged in queer/non-normative ways. Collins’ chapter addresses the neoliberal relations of queer travel, and the potentialities of queer sex work interactions within tourist experiences. Collins’ analysis crucially points to the complexities of queer tourist/sex work intimacies. Highlighting the relations within tourist spaces which might be seen on the one hand as transformative, she also illuminates the potentially 7 ‘exclusionary relations’ within sex work/tourist interactions. These more troubling relations, she suggests, ‘arise out of differently positioned bodies that are racialized, sexualized and differently placed within positions of objectification and service’. In a similar vein, albeit in a different spatial context, Pilcher’s chapter attempts to question to what extent a lesbian erotic dance venue can transcend normative gender and sexual roles for women. Drawing upon the historical context of this leisure space, together with more contemporary observations, she argues that non-heterosexual erotic leisure spaces are not necessarily ‘queer’ by definition. Rather, in considering embodiment, conceptions of space, and the politics of the ‘gaze’, her chapter highlights the tensions around subverting heteronormativity, alongside the potential to read ‘queer moments’ within erotic dance encounters. Tyler’s chapter similarly speaks to the issues around breaking down the logics of binary thinking in commercial sex work debates. In his analysis of MSM and M$M on a social network, he seeks to trouble the boundaries between the ways in which men ‘advertise’ their bodies online for both personal and work-related intimacies. Tyler argues that these experiences have queered both the social network landscape and the meanings of selling sex. Interestingly, both Tyler’s and Pilcher’s chapters focus on the politics of looking, and who is being seen/sees in commercial sexual encounters. Both authors seek to point out that sex workers can simultaneously experience ‘being’ subjects and objects at the same time, suggesting a more complex conception of the ‘gaze’ that is enabled in specific spaces, than in previous accounts (e.g. Mulvey, 1989). Procter’s chapter examines the online space of ‘second life’ through ‘queer eyes’ in an attempt to understand the ways in which participants in this space engage with, and construct meanings around, sex work; namely exotic dance. She argues that the ‘pseudonymity’ permissible within this space not only ‘troubles the margins’ of boundaries which are predicated upon offline sex work interactions, but it also reveals important insights about the intimate opportunities available to sex workers and clients in online spaces. Her chapter 8 highlights the ways in which interactions on second life simultaneously ‘parody and expose’ gender and sexuality norms from ‘real life’. A commonality between chapters in this part of the book, we argue, is the ways in which they highlight the contestability of sex work spaces and contexts. Indeed, as Massey (1994) argues, ‘places do not have single, unique, ‘identities’; they are full of internal conflicts’, and in this sense, the ‘specificity’ of place is ‘continually reproduced’ over time and through different social relations (Massey, 1994:155). This would suggest that sex work spaces, places and contexts themselves are not ‘erotic’, or indeed ‘queer’ by virtue of their existence but, rather, that it is the moments and interactions within these spaces that can engender meanings that can potentially challenge heteronormative logics. In this sense, the chapters suggest that sex work spaces – both online and ‘off’, are contestable, fluid and their meanings are actively produced and reproduced by those participating in them at different times and moments. Queer Sex Work and Communities Utilising the term community in its most heterogeneous and of course queer sense, this section presents a variety of pieces exploring issues as broad as ‘community sex work’, porn audiences, resistance and strategising by sex worker groups, and storytelling. The section begins with Miller-Young’s engaging interview-style piece with Nenna Feelmore Joiner – erotic activist, queer feminist porn maker, award winning adult shop owner and outreach worker – which offers a compelling discussion around Joiner’s ‘community sex work’. Within the interview, the concept of sex work itself is complicated and reconceptualised to apply to a wider range of labourers who work either in, or alongside, the sex industry. 9 Contending that sex educators and academics, as well as those who sell or exchange sex, can be sex workers, Miller Young argues: ‘You know we're all, in a way, hustling. Those of us who are working in the sex trade in different ways, including academically, we're really all kind of sex workers’. Smith et al.’s chapter focuses on a set of findings from a groundbreaking large scale online survey of porn customers. Exploring what the findings say about queer pornographies, orientations, readers and readings, they argue that for many users ‘porn plays a vital role in their expression of sexuality, cultural allegiances and politics – these are not separable’. In the following chapter, Ross describes the ‘short lived outdoor brothel culture’ which provided a temporary ‘queer bulwark’ for sex workers working in Vancouver’s west end in the 1970s. She describes the experiences, as well as the racialised, sexualised and gendered choreographies of three trans sex workers, and the role they played as ‘fesity ‘whoreganisers’’ in resisting their expulsion from the emerging ‘queerscape’ in a gentrifying city. The final chapter of the section seeks to re-conceptualise how we understand the commercial sexual exchange; Atkins explores the encounters of men ‘doing business’ in Manchester, and through this troubles normative representations of the exchange of sex/intimacy/time for money and other goods and services. Queer(ing) Activism and Policy Practice The final section of the book focuses on what queer bodies, actions, performances and discourses can bring to debates on policy and activism. The first chapter in this section authored by Cole et al troubles the normative notion that sex work is often constructed as a type of queer heterosex; often without consideration of sex work in and by queer communities. Crucially, this means that queerness in the context of sex work is often invisibilised both materially and discursively. Panichelli et al’s insightful chapter calls for an 10 anti-oppressive and intersectional approach to sex work activism, seeking especially to challenge and unsettle cultures and practices of white supremacy in sex worker movements. Arguing that there is a tendency for white, privileged sex workers to frame the discourse and agenda within the heterogeneous sex workers rights movement - they seek to engage in intersectional organising, which they argue queers sex working as well as destabilises racism and other forms of oppression. Following this, Bryce et al discuss the importance of accessible reporting mechanisms for male, trans* and queer sex workers. The chapter presents data and case studies from the National Ugly Mugs scheme, a national mechanism for reporting violence against sex workers in the UK. Bryce et al contend that in addition to the multiple barriers faced by male and trans* sex workers to reporting violence and criminality; radical feminist discourse and the positioning of sex work within a hetero-sexist matrix further serves to marginalised and disempower sex workers. They argue that a queer conceptual framework to facilitate more nuanced readings of the complexity of sex work experiences is essential for progressive policy and practice. Following this, Schreiber’s chapter explores the queering of sex work through notions of perceived and material sex worker identities, and describes a media campaign which she co-created for the St. James Infirmary in San Francisco, a free occupational health and safety clinic for sex workers and their families. Challenging normative and negative stereotyping of sex workers, the media campaign seeks to ‘upend the stereotypes of sex workers as desperate drug addicts lurking in the shadows’. Images created through the campaign are presented in the chapter, alongside a discussion of how individual sex workers who contributed to the campaign perceive their sex working practices as complex, queer, intellectualised and beyond ‘stereotypical binary identities’. Discussing a different yet equally important strategy for resistance and recognition, Bewley’s chapter on the exclusion of gay, bi and queer male sex workers from rape and sexual violence services offers a powerful insight into the heteronormative gender 11 logics informing dominant conceptualisations of rape in service provision for victims of sexual violence. Arguing that LGBTQ communities have long battled to have sex with who they want, in the way they want, Bewley states that services for queer people must understand this cultural and political context when offering services. Maintaining that trading sex for money or otherwise does not mean ‘putting up with sexual violence’; she states that queer male sex workers must reclaim ground for themselves ‘with language and concepts that apply to them’. CONCLUDING REMARKS As will become evident throughout the collection, the contributors engage with the idea of ‘queer’ in multiple, and sometimes, contradictory ways. Rather than seeing this as a hindrance, however, we seek to pull together the complex ways in which queer theory, queer bodies, queer performances, queer experiences, and queer feelings infuse the thoughts of those contributing to this collection. The book includes chapters from those who have been drawing on the notion on ‘queer’ for a substantial period of time, as well as those who have taken a step back to think about the implications of how their own sex working – or their engagement with sex workers, sex work organisations, and sex work customers – can be conceived of as ‘queer’ in the sense that it might trouble or ‘twist’ conventional, and potentially heteronormative, ideas about sex work. 12 Even as editors, our own work reflects very different research agendas, intellectual histories, disciplinary backgrounds, and professional experiences. But what brings us together is our collective commitment to a queer, and self-consciously feminist, political agenda that aims to open up rather than close off space for difference, both as an outcome of politics and as a means of its expression. As academics involved in political activism and policy guidance, we have not always found it easy to negotiate and to do justice to different and sometimes competing expectations, world-views, personal histories, and political projects – and we are keenly aware that the inclusion of some voices can mean the exclusion of others (indeed, it was with this in mind that we decided to issue an open call for papers for this collection rather than just pre-selecting ‘known’ contributors as is the usual practice for edited volumes). Ultimately, our aim in collating this book is to disrupt rather than to reproduce the oppositions, dichotomies and polarities that so frequently frame debates about sex work, and to challenge rather than to reinforce the politics of silencing in which critical engagement with different perspectives and approaches is foreclosed. We hope that this book goes some way – even if there is undoubtedly still a long way to go – in advancing a queer politics of sex work and that this politics might, in the words of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (1993:xi), represent something that ‘feels queer, and good’. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This Introduction draws in part on Smith, N. and M. Laing (2012) ‘Introduction: Working Outside the (Hetero)Norm? Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBT) Sex Work, Sexualities, 15: 5, 517-20, http://sex.sagepub.com/content/15/5-6/517.full.pdf REFERENCES 13 Aggleton, P. (1999). Men Who Sell Sex: International Perspectives on Male Prostitution and AIDS. Taylor & Francis. Agustin, L. M. (2007). ‘Introduction to the Cultural Study of Commercial Sex: Guest Editor’. Sexualities 10 (4) (October 1): 403–407. doi:10.1177/1363460707080974. Altman, D. (2002). Global Sex. University of Chicago Press. Bernstein, E. (2007). Temporarily Yours: Intimacy, Authenticity, and the Commerce of Sex. 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