They can be really scary people
Durham University has defended its decision to offer training sessions to help students involved in sex work.
Further Education Minister Michelle Donelan had accused it of “legitimising a dangerous industry which thrives on the exploitation of women”.
But the university said it was acting responsibly by offering students advice on how to stay safe.
Last week its students’ union offered staff and students guidance for people involved in the sex industry.
The best way to stay safe is not to sell access to your body to anyone willing to pay. The danger is inherent.
Last week Durham University defended its students’ union’s decision to offer training sessions to those working in the industry alongside their studies.
Anna said she would have found training helpful as “there were times where I felt quite scared of what I was doing”.
She said she had a support network of other sex workers her age but said many felt “quite isolated” and she was sometimes threatened.
“They can be really scary people and you can find yourself in scary situations that you get yourself into through this line of work,” she said.
Which is why you should avoid this line of work.
Yesterday:
Many johns are telling her how wrong she is.
One of my nieces has just started at Durham. It’s weirdly disquieting to think of her having this training, although there is no chance that she will.
Some students are certainly going to do sex work of various kinds to make ends meet, they have since at least my day and presumably long before. It’s right that resources should exist to help them reduce their risk if they have no option.
But it shouldn’t be presented as a reasonable alternative to working in a bar or McDonalds.
And there should be resources to help them find other options. I was briefly on a committee at one university to do just that: it allocated small loans and helped students sort out their finances and to apply for occasional jobs. I’d like to hope that these courses at Durham are like that, but I have my doubts.
Yeah…. I mean, I can see how, properly framed, this sort of thing could serve a real need. (“Proper framing” = “Look, this shit is dangerous as hell. Even if you follow all of our advice, you run the very real risk of violent assault, rape and murder. And even if you don’t experience any of those, the vast majority of sex workers report psychological trauma from the stress of selling their bodies. And we do at least try to provide alternatives and other resources for you–see the attached brochure, come see me after class. But if, despite all of this, you feel that this is your only option for going forward, we’d rather increase your odds of survival, so here’s what we know about risk-management.”
And yes, I strongly suspect that they are not engaging in this sort of framing. The mere language that they were ‘offering advice on how to stay safe’ indicates that they aren’t grappling with the core issue–this isn’t safe, and probably never will be. You may be giving them advice on how to reduce danger, but that’s all you can ever do, and that only works if you ALSO include a full dose of all the risks involved.
Freemage, yes.
Don’t forget that these young women grew up being told from all angles that sex work is work just like any other. Some are going to believe that. If the university can disabuse them of that idea, then that’s perfect. But if they can’t, then there should certainly be resources those women can access on how to minimise the risks.
It looks as though Durham, however, is more in line with the ‘sex work is great, even though we have to tell you about all these risks that we wouldn’t have to with any other work, which should give you a teensy fucking clue that something’s amiss’ narrative.