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Article Excerpt
The organised public presence of sex worker communities in recent times in Australia is a reflection of contemporary Australian sex work practices. These practices include exacting control and caution over the disclosure of one's identity, the use of pseudonyms, alteration of appearance, workplace skills (including the ability to interact with a diverse range of people), use of verbal and non-verbal communication, complex understanding of fantasy, use of iconic archetype when interacting with clients and consciously performing gender roles, all within the limited time frames of sex industry 'bookings'. (1) This article explores recent examples of public events organised by Australian sex workers and argues that the skills used to organise these events are closely linked to the skills and particular practices utilised in sex work. Sex worker organising is a positive reflection of the strength and resilience of sex workers in Australia today, and is an expression of community cultural development.
I have had ten years involvement in sex work: as a worker, peer educator, political activist, cultural archivist, elected representative and performer. Sex workers have complex and sophisticated understandings of public space and performativity, I hope that my contribution and analysis will add to the sea of diverse sex workers' voices that are correcting myths by documenting sex worker skills, strengths and complexities.
Individual sex workers in Australia have an incentive to stay out of the public eye. Sex workers who are known for their choice of profession may experience discrimination and vilification. (2) Sex work is viewed by courts in Australia as a reason to declare mothers unfit, by banks as a reason to refuse loans, by landlords as a reason to evict tenants, and by visa officials as a reason to deny visas to certain countries. Sex workers who also have positions in the public service are told that they are not 'upholding public standards,' and in some states of Australia it is still against the law to serve alcohol to a 'known prostitute'. (3)
Dominant social mores demand that sex workers are invisible. (4) Discussion, disclosure, recognition and visibility of the sex industry is perceived as evidence of a 'slight' on society, at best impolite and, at worst, to deserve micromanagement on the visual landscape with criminal penalty for non-compliance. (5) The stigma and discrimination sex workers experience when their sex work status is known, is a punishment for their 'indiscretion,' however it is hard to know if it is the act of sex work that is challenging to mainstream society, or the first-person telling of such acts, by sex workers in particular. Both the act of sex work itself and the disclosure of it attract a level of sex-panic.
Sex workers work in the public sphere; economically active as independent operators from their own home, rented apartment or hotel room, from brothels or escort agencies, and from the street. The ability to be public without being 'seen' is an incredibly important sex worker skill. Accessible to clients while also avoiding police and other social regulators, sex workers move in a sphere of commerce, sometimes without disclosure even to those closest to them (friends, family and partners). (6) Many brothel workers go to great lengths to alter their appearance for work, becoming unrecognisable even to those who might know them outside of work. Escort workers blend into public spaces in order to travel to escort jobs (either to hotels or suburban homes). Private sex workers work from residential areas without drawing the attention of their neighbours. (7) Street based sex workers will move and change their practises in order to avoid the police. (8) Most sex workers use a pseudonym.
Sex workers are highly skilled at interpersonal communication. (9) The daily work routine includes negotiating intimate sexual encounters with (often new) clients, communicating about 'taboo' issues relating to condom use, sexual behaviour and setting sexual boundaries. (10) The role of the sex worker is to guide the client to experience the mutual sexual encounter without transgression of the limits the worker has set. The sex worker skilfully mediates the gap between client expectation and reality, by invoking desire, imagination and fantasy. (11) An average 30 minute booking includes massage, oral sex, sex and two showers, making time management an important part of sex workers' skills set. (12) Furthermore, sex workers consciously use gender performativity in their workplace. (13) For female sex workers, including transgender, this is comparable to techniques used by drag performers. The exaggeration of aspects of femininity to communicate desirability, sensuality, sexual availability and prowess, are used to express archetypal characters to increase income. (14) Thus verbal and non-verbal skills, including presentation, dress and appearance, are part of the Australian sex workers' repertoire. (15)
Sex workers exact an extreme amount of control over their work environments, as evidenced in research with 95 private sex workers and 125 brothel workers by Roberta Perkins. Many of the interviewees had also worked in a street based environment:
They have created an environment in which violent problems are minimised. My research shows that sex work is not as dangerous as people think, and this may be due to the environment the workers create, or perhaps the men are not as violent as we think they are, whatever reason, the creation of that environment makes the worker feel safe and confident; and is a significant factor in worker satisfaction ... a sex worker is not going to stay working in an environment where they don't feel safe. (16)
Theories that maintain sex work is inherently unsafe are not evidence based. Perkins found that during a sex workers' working life, less than 10% of sex workers she interviewed had ever experienced rape by a client, less than 5% have experienced being bashed at work, and less than 3% have ever experienced violent crimes such as stabbing. Anti-sex work theorists have difficulty acknowledging the relative safety of individual sex work workplaces. (17) All positive aspects of sex work are alien to the framework of anti-sex work theorists, as Danielle Egan argues: 'women's sexual pleasure in the sex industry is ontologically impossible in radical feminist discourses.' (18) Sex workers are silenced and their experiences ignored in anti-sex work theory. (19) In opposition, I present the complex, public and extremely skilled examples of sex worker public protest and performance in Australia.
Sex Worker Action Group (SWAG) Christmas Eve Demonstration outside Northbridge Police Station, 2002
On Christmas Eve 2002, sex workers in Western Australia (WA) used the familial purity of Christmas spirit to challenge stereotypes while spreading the very serious message about increased police powers granted to WA Police by the then Police Minister Michelle Roberts. One year earlier, when Michelle Roberts was in opposition, her party had referred to the same police powers over sex workers as 'everything the police ever wanted for Christmas'. (20) Sex workers planned to exploit the hypocrisy of her actions by dressing up as Christmas Elves, delivering presents (the laws) from Michelle Roberts to the Western Australian Police Force.
Dressed in red and green,...
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