I think that with all the backlash against the likes of the Scottish legislation etc, a candid interview with an intelligent, articulate, self employed business woman would be a good remedy for the "all sex workers are victims and deserve our pity and help" platform that some people in power support.

After all, if we would like people to stop harping on that we are all drug users/sluts/riddled with STIs/victims/being pimped or any other of the myriad of myths that surround the industry it seems it would be in our best interest to show an accurate depiction of the trade.

Yes indeed, wouldn't that be nice. However as Amy said in her post above, he seems unable to comprehend that 99.9% of current WGs would require annonymity in order to appear.  If he can't take that on board, there will be no programme.

We got all up in arms about the woman who proposed the bill to criminalise the purchase of sex in Scotland about never meeting/speaking to a WG, but if all she has seen or heard have been trafficking/drug abuse/pimping stories then no wonder she believes that.

I beg to differ - if she had really wanted to look behind the stereotypes she would have done so, but she didn't want to, simple as.

All that is entirely dependent on, as others have said, the documentary being completed as envisioned. But taking the OP at face value,  I wouldn't mind talking over the phone to help out (would not be comfortable with being seen mind!)

Yes my feeling is that it would end up concentrating exclusively on proposed criminalisation and those women experienced  violence from clients. (the OP did state these as some of his aims)

I doubt that a phone chat would be an option either, going on everything that has been said by the OP.

Also,

Can someone please point me in the right direction for any 'punters forums?'  A few people have mentioned them in on the boards but I can't see where the punters forum is.

Many thanks

Mobeen Azhar

Google "punter forums".

Where do I send the invoice for the consultancy work?

And bear in mind only a tiny number of clients use 'punter forums' they are certainly not representative of clients as a whole.  In fact sadly a high percentage of those on punter forums are those unsavoury clients most of us wouldn't touch with a bargepole.

Another point is that violence against indoor sex workers is comparatively rare, so if this is what you're concentrating on in the documentary it would be as well to make this absolutely clear in the title and summary, rather than trying to paint it as a general portrait of what the day-to-day job is like as it would then be misleading and disproportionate.

I'd be surprised if many here have much experience of violence. I've been robbed once in ten years, and that wasn't a particularly violent incident; I can compare this with a nurse I know who is threatened and abused by patients regularly when working (mainly in A&E) and is attacked several times a year, ditto police officers and teachers despite not often getting in anywhere as vulnerable situations with strangers as we do when we're working. Serious violent attacks on us are still relatively isolated events, and they are rarely perpetrated by punters; punters are people who turn up, pay and get their service; the people who attack us tend to do just that and have no intention of paying. Therefore they are not punters, they are robbers, rapists or both.

Amy, Anna,

Thanks for your feedback.  As I think I've stated earlier, the documentary aims to be as honest and real as possible.  If we find violence is not an issue for most/all sex workers it will not be focused upon in the documentary.  It has been raised as an issue by some of the sex workers that I'm in contact with and that's why I asked the question.  I'm interested to learn that your experiences have been different so thanks for sharing that.   

Once again, if you feel you can contribute or you have any genuine questions - feel free to get in touch.

Many thanks

Mobeen

To be honest I've endured more violence growing up in my neighbourhood and working in the retail business. But I'm just telling you my personal experience which may differ from other women.

Do sex workers suffer from violence? Sure they do. But women in general suffer from violence in our society in all sorts of forms, and sex workers are women - a lot of us working alone so of course we become more vulnerable to attacks. I work as an independant in a very safe (and er..."upscale" I hate that word) enviroment and i'm very good with my safety procedures but if I worked in the streets most probably I would have been subjected to quite some violence at this point. I've worked in the states for some time and I saw that  women over there don't report attacks while here in the UK they  do it (I guess because it's legal).

I think this is very helpful in illustrating what I was getting at, and why we are often so irritated by programmes made and articles published about our work - sex work does not exist in a vacuum and the often total lack of any context is one of the primary reasons why these depictions of us and our job are generally so useless. Will there be companion programmes covering other jobs, and how people who do them go about their day-to-day activities?

If you don't want to lead the people you engage with, might I suggest you don't blaze in with questions like 'tell me about any violence you have experienced' and so forth, because people will tell you about what you ask them about, and if that's all you ask them about it would be easy to assume that it is something which happens a lot. Why not ask them what a typical day or week is like, and let them tell you? This way you can get a realistic picture without manipulating anyone. Unless you actively want to, that is.

People who do not take security precautions, take silly risks and generally behave irresponsibly are more likely to find themselves in dangerous situations, but those who are more careful, have good security procedures in place and operate responsibly are far less so. What they do for a living (or a hobby, or for their holidays) is nothing whatsoever to do with that, and you seem to have already assumed that sex work is itself inherently risky. What is inherently risky is taking unnecessary risks.

People who put on a blindfold and then walk across the M25 are more likely to get run over than those who skip the blindfold and only ever step into the road at a pelican crossing. It isn't rocket science.

I have to agree, I think they would actually be shocked that the percentage of ladies who do this out of free will is higher than they assumed and the fact that a large majority of us enjoy it and for various reasons i.e  financial independence, confidence and the fact that some women just love a lot of willie.

I wouldn't paint it all rosie DND, there's also the economic pressure that makes sex work often the ?best? option for a woman with little or no options. I used to work my ass off in retail before I enter the sex industry and make a third of what I make now. Would I be in the industry if I were to make a third of what I do now? no way! I would be back in retail asap.