DEFINITION: the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purpose of sexual arousal. Media: books, magazines, postcards, photographs, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video, and video games.

DEFINITION: piecewise presentation of pornographic films or a live sex show which is viewed through a viewing slot, which shuts after the time paid for has expired. The viewing slots can be operated by a money box device, or paid for at a counter.

DEFINITION: A striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner.

DEFINITION:
A lap dance is a type of erotic dance performance offered in some strip clubs either in immediate contact (contact dancing) with a seated patron or within a very short distance of a seated patron, which is sometimes called a table dance.

DEFINTION: Pole dance is a form of performance art, historically associated with strip clubs and dance clubs, which combines dance and acrobatics centered around a vertical pole. Since the 1980s, the dance pole has increasingly been incorporated into striptease routines, and Go-Go or lap dancing, first in Canada and then in the United States.

Running into a client outside of a work context.

Freedom from funding politically disagreeable corporations.

Specific Fetishes / Fantasies difficult to meet expectations

"Porn chic" as a critique of patriarchal types of morality + adornment, body becomes basis of empowerment + authenticity

During Victorian period, 1857 Obscene Publications Act (England + Wales) - potentially "deadly" impacts of pornography on working classes + working class women.

Majority of migrant sex workers do so as a way to avoid exploitation experienced in previous non-sexual jobs

Does pornography, particularly material that explicitly eroticizes violence and/or domination, result in sexual violence against women, children and other vulnerable people?

Negative effects of the sex industry (addiction/compulsion): Financial (maxed out credit cards), lost sleep, neglected responsibilities, neglected loved ones.

women involved in sex work are “prostituted women”, abused under a patriarchal society of male domination + sexual exploitation

polices - support decriminalization for victims, stiff penalties / interventions for pimps or traffickers + customers. social service programs to help women address their needs w/ substance abuse treatment, shelter, transitional housing, case management, trauma treatment, group work, interpersonal counselling, education, job training programs, efforts focused on moving women from victim to survivor. long term goals of primary prevention + early intervention.

reduction of violence against women, view that prostitution is violence against women. not a choice, chosen for women because of impoverished circumstances, abuses in past, blocked opportunities at conventional economic success

no difference between a woman who sells her vagina for intercourse + one who sells her hands for dishwashing, body for modeling, or brain for calculating

to view that all women in prostitution as exploited is to reject a fundamental feminist principle of valuing + accepting existence of multiple realities in women’s lives. view that to dismiss sex worker’s claims that they are not exploited is to deny their reality, is maternalistic and services to silence their voice

prostitution as a crime oppresses sex workers and prevents their right to self-determination + denied basic human right to control their own body

why is sex work among consenting adults demonized by society? women and male ownership of a woman’s sexuality through marriage or commitment. sex work challenges the system built to maintain status quo

prostitution is one of the few experiences where women dominate field, challenge beliefs about gender + sexuality = stigmatized + unaccepted, pushes sex work underground where it becomes dangerous psychologically + physically

legalization not popular as it means state control of women’s activities, may involve taxes, restrictions, regulations on when, where how to work, mandated licenses + registration, other costs designed to be financially coercive

sex work may be temporary but require health care, prevention, awareness, interventions to keep them safe, healthy and prosperous.

support harm reduction programs to prevent/reduce violence, hiv, poor health outcomes, promote health safety, overall wellbeing

attempting to rescue women who are not victims is viewed as demeaning and disrespectful

acknowledge that street prostitution is fraught with violence, hiv, poor mental health and drug addiction

violence against sex workers would be reduced if such work were viewed as a legitimate profession

why should sexual material be “offensive”?

"‘Did we respond to the film the way you thought we might?’, ‘Did you?’, or ‘What did you notice about what we said?’ or ‘How did we respond as a group to the film?’ ‘What was it like for you, Bobby, to be in the space with us through that performance?’."

" Furthermore, are we really warning students, and anyone else who attends talks like this one, to guard them from being offended? Or is the real threat the possibility of sexual arousal? "

the stigma and violence faced by sex workers are far greater harms than sex work itself

Late 19th century - terms such as prostitute and homosexual arise to transform behaviours into identities.

assert that sex workers looking to speak / debate on their own behalf are "not representative", "sex industry lobbiests" or working on behalf of pimps / traffickers

“unenthusiastic consent,” - as pleasure is not an indication of consent, absence of pleasure is not a withdrawal of consent

In sexual labour, consent also concerns legal safety, consent to work, consent to choice.

how different might our analysis of the relationship between sex, value, and womanhood be if we could see through the panic of sexualization to the tectonic social and economic shifts that have pushed commercial sex and its representations up the service?

How can we make the concept of female-body-as-commodity and the dominant images of femininity materially and socially valuable to girls

What does it mean for feminists to speak about the personal as political in a networked society that encourages women to 'represent' through confession, celebrity and sexual display, but punishes too much visibility with conservative censure and backlash?