This week marks the start of our second-to-last unit in the course, which I’ve entitled (after Ditmore’s introduction) “Beyond the Sex in Sex Work.” Since we’ve already read her introduction (see Week 2) and talked about what she means by this concept, you already have a general idea about the sorts of issues that we’ll be reading and talking about over the course of the next few weeks. After focusing on feminist debates over sex work, the various sectors of the global sex industry, and the tricky decoding of trafficking discourses, we now get to hear and concentrate on the voices and perspectives of sex workers themselves. These voices have been there, of course: Doezema is a former sex worker, and we’ve already been reading around in Nagle’s collection of writings by feminist sex workers on various aspects of their jobs. But now and for the rest of the semester, we’re really going to focus on sex workers’ perspectives, approaches, opinions and strategies.
For this week, it’s all about sex workers managing multiple roles: in their relationships, in their communities, in their other paid employment, in their political affiliations, etc. As Ditmore says, “sex workers are never only sex workers” (3), and part of our job this week will be to explore their other identities in addition to and/or other than as sex workers. And, as we’ve been reminding ourselves all along, sex work (particularly prostitution) is done predominantly—but not exclusively—by women, and this week’s chapters in Ditmore start us thinking about the issues faced by male and transgender sex workers (chapters 5 and 6, respectively).
When reading around in Section 3 of Nagle, you’ll notice that this section attempts to provide an alternative to the dominant discourse that assumes that commercial sex is always about “women providing compliant sexual services to men” (11). Chapters on gay male prostitution, the work of a professional dominatrix, feminist porn, heterosexism and homophobia at the Mustang Ranch in Nevada, and the pros and cons of “butch whoredom” draw attention to the various forms that sex work can take for a wide variety of reasons in an almost infinite number of circumstances. All of which we’ll talk about in class!
Two Reminders
Don’t forget about my office hours if you have any questions, would like to brainstorm about the Term Project, or just want to chat!
Also, as always, keep track of your CRPs, which are due at the start of class on Mondays. Details about the assignment can be found here. Be sure to include all the required components as described and also remember to bring a copy to submit to me as well as a copy for yourself so that you can refer to it during class.
I’ll see you all in class! In the meantime, happy reading, and please don’t hesitate to stop by during my office hours or e-mail me at kawilliams(at)mtroyal.ca if you have any questions.
