Webinar 16th November 2020

1. University of
Roehampton
SEX
WORKERS
AND
RESEARCH
ERS:
A
CONTENTI
OUS
RELATION
Victoria Holt

2. How can I get
sex workers
to engage
with this
project?
Researchers Sex workers
Why do
academics
keep trying to
engage me in
their
research?

3. We’re hard to find
Resource to exploit
Compensation
Researchers not committed to issues politically
Propagating stereotypes

4. “The whorearchy is the hierarchy that shouldn’t – but does
– exist in the sex industry, which makes some jobs within it
more stigmatized than others, and some more acceptable…
It’s driven by assumptions and prejudice.”

5. Disabled clients’ right to buy sex
How sex workers stay safe
How sex work, or paying for sex, is queer
Police funded research
Bad practice

7. “They want our experience, our story, but the research it
is influenced by money, by careers, not of what is needed
for our struggle. The research, it is just for themselves…”
- Natalia, trans sex worker

10.  NSWP - Smart Guide: Recognising Sex Workers as Experts
 http://transactions.space
 Van der Meulen, (2012): ‘When Sex is Work: Organising for Labour Rights and
Protections’ Labour / Le Travail 69(1)
 Bella Matos and Lola Haze (2019) ‘Bottoms up: a whorelistic literature review
and commentary on sex workers’ romantic relationships’ Sexual and Relationship
Therapy, 34(3)
 Eurydice Aroney, Penny Crofts (2019) ‘How Sex Worker Activism Influenced the
Decriminalisation of Sex Work in NSW, Australia’ The International Journal for
Crime, Justice and Social Democracy, 8(2)

12.  Do sex workers have an opportunity to assess how the research has been presented?
 Will this research perpetuate hierarchies within the sex worker community itself?
 Will you be employing sex workers to help shape or collate the research, or to legitimise the research?
 If this research will be informing policy, how representative of sex workers is it?
 If you are a sex working academic, am you conscious of the whorearchy?
 What are sex workers are saying are the key research questions worth exploring?
 How do I support sex workers in ways which they have identified?
 How can I ensure that my research incorporates diverse voices and sex work lived experiences?
 How can I ensure that the researcher and sex worker relationship is as honest, transparent and ethical
as possible?
 If there are no sex workers on the panel, or invited to the discussion, should I be going?

13. VICTORIA
HOLT
 holtv@roehampton.ac.uk
@victoriabee27
 https://forgedintimacies.wordpress.com/