<<<Update>>>

I would like to thank those of you who contacted me for an interview. I'm about halfway to my total interview goal.

I need to slow down on interviewing so that I can transcribe and clean data and make it anonymous. This way I can delete any audio files and keep people who have been interviewed 100% safe.

See blog for details https://dualitystudy.blogspot.co.uk/

Phase Two of interviews will run October 3rd through to December 9th, 2016.

I will re-post then so that if you missed this round or you know someone who might like to participate I can interview them then.

Alternatively, if that timing doesn't work for you and you would like to do an interview now (Aug-Sept), please don't hesitate to contact me to arrange:)

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My name is Raven, I've been an advocate for sex worker health, safety and recognition for many years in Canada. I used to run a sex worker organization called PACE Society in Vancouver and I coordinated the BC Coalition of Experiential Communities, a regional sex worker research and advocacy group. My most recent advocacy project was Hooker Monologues, performed March 2016 in Canada. I'm now at the university of York doing my PhD and I'm proud to be on the board of ScotPEP. See my Bio york.ac.uk/sociology/our-staff/students/raven-bowen/

My past academic work had been about how people transition in and out of sex work, deal with 'whore stigma' and challenge those who only see sex work only as harm. I highlight that some people are not entering or leaving sex work, instead they find ways to balance jobs in both sex work and square (non sexual) work at the same time. I call this 'dualty.' 

I'm seeking participants to interview to explore how people manage information about themselves, decide who to disclose to and who not to, carve out different work identities, keep secrets, switch back and forth between jobs, and how experiences in either job to helps or hinders the other. We will discuss the benefits and challenges of working in this very versatile way and discuss tips and strategies to help others who do the same. More details are on the project blog dualitystudy.blogspot.co.uk but here are the basics:

Participants must:

--be over 18 years old
--work in the off-street sex industry
--hold at least one non sex work paid job (all other paid work included, casual, part or full-time, self-employed, etc.)
--live and work in the UK and
--have relevant experience juggling both kinds of work


Other info:
--This study is open to all genders and nationalities. Since everyone has such busy lives, I am very open to doing interviews over the phone or via Skype?, or face to face where possible.
--Participants will receive a ?25 Amazon gift card or an electronic Amazon gift card if you've done a phone or Skype? interview as a thank you for providing your insights.
--This study received ethics approval on May 13th 2016 and I will do everything possible to make sure your participation is safe. I will not collect or disclose personal information about participants outside of an email address to send a gift card as needed.


The goal of the study is to expand the ways that people define and describe sex work and sex workers. Some discourses discuss sex work as something that someone is 'trapped' in or has 'survived' or as something that people are either in or out of. There is very little academic work on strategic involvement in sex work and few studies challenge mainstream notions of who a sex worker is or can be.

I argue that sex workers participate in all kinds of skilled work across jobs in sex work and square work and unless outed, most people can be in a room with or work with sex workers and not know it...and for good reason. The violence of stigma perpetrated by mainstream society keeps people in hiding, hence the title of the study 'In Plain Sight: an examination of 'duality', the simultaneous involvement in sex work and square work.' This study will be a way to talk about duality safely and challenge the simplistic understandings of people who do both kinds of work and the biased representations sex workers.

If you're interested, email me at dualitystudy@gmail.com



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Hi Everyone,
I'm looking for participants for my second phase of interviews for my PhD research project on Duality (people who do sex work along side square work). This phase will run Oct 7th to Dec 9th 2016. I had the pleasure of interviewing some of you a few months back and it was a very enriching experience. You'd be happy to know that some of the challenges and benefits of doing sex work alongside square jobs are very common and there are a lot of people around the world who work this way.

I'm looking to interview 10-12 more participants who live in the UK.  I will be asking about the different jobs people hold across sex work and square work, and the strategies, challenges and benefits of duality. As before, I'm very happy to do phone, Skype? (with or without the visual component) or Whatsapp? interviews or meet where possible.

UK participants will receive and Amazon Gift Card/ eCard in the amount of ?25 to respect your time.

Just a note that I have been involved in sex work activism and research for 20 years in Canada and now in the UK. I'm on the board of ScotPEP and I help administer the Sex Work Research Hub at the University of York. I'm not affiliated with any recent journalism on this topic, although I was contacted by someone from Cosmo in September who posted here on SAAFE and who uses the terminology found in my research, such as the term 'square work.' This is a North American phrase that sex workers use to describe transitioning out of sex work. I chose it for reasons that I will explain later in my thesis.

Obviously I would not speak to media about study participants but I suggested that she post here and other places to find people to interview for her magazine article. It's great to see interest in the innovative ways that people work.

I am conducting an ethically approved research study where the safety and confidentiality of participants meets current university standards.

Contact me if you're interested in chatting!

Check out my bio www. york.ac.uk/sociology/our-staff/students/raven-bowen
Visit my Study Blog  https://dualitystudy.blogspot.co.uk/
or Email me at dualitystudy@gmail.com



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I'm adding another data collection phase to my Duality study. This was not planned.  It will be short...maybe 30 days. I was struck by an interview that I had with someone who was on a zero-hours contract and supplementing income through sex work and then on December 23rd 2016 a Sussex police officer was sacked because he was doing sex work while on leave from the department [link removed - do not post these here]. He was fired for gross misconduct and having personal and professional conflicts that led him to 'behave in a way that discredits the police service and undermines the public trust.'

This story bothered me on many levels. Sex Work is legal!!! No one asked what the officer's reasons were for supplementing his income with sex work or if his disability benefits were adequate to maintain his home and standard of living while he was healing from a stress-related illness. No one asked if his sex work began as a result of his stress leave or prior to it, if it was out of interest or financial desperation.

These are the kinds of questions that interest me as a researcher and activist who is seeking to better understand sex work in our society.

I've interviewed people who have lost everything when information about their past or current sex work became known to employers. Phase three of this study is in honour of those who have experienced this kind of harm.

In this final phase, I would like to hear from people who are in receipt of government or employment-based income support and do sex work at the same time. These benefits include: Job Seekers Allowance, Housing Benefits, Disability Payments, Pensions, etc.

Just as before, all interviews are confidential and I will not share identifying information about participants with anyone. Audio interviews will be recorded on an encrypted recorder and stored on an encrypted drive until transcribed and cleaned of any identifying information. Cleaned transcripts will then be uploaded to NVivo (a qualitative data analysis program) for thematic coding and analysis.

Eligibility:
?   Participants must be at least 18 years of age AND in receipt of income support from a UK government or UK employer;
?   and involved in the off-street sex industry because I'm interested in more hidden populations of workers.
I'm open to phone, Whatsapp or Skype interviews. I would love to chat with people of all genders and cultures.

Participants will receive a ?25 electronic Amazon gift card as a thank you.

If this reflects your experience or that of someone you know, email me at dualitystudy@gmail.com
For more information, see my blog at https://dualitystudy.blogspot.co.uk/

Happy New Year!