Hi everyone,

My name is Katy Pilcher and I?d like to invite you to contribute to a project that I am working on. I'm currently part of a research team at Aston University (with Dr Vicki Whittaker, Dr Pam Lowe and Prof Helen Pattison) looking at the sexual health needs of sex workers (of all genders and nationalities) who advertise online, and we are thinking about whether current services in Birmingham and Solihull meet their needs (the study is commissioned by University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust). The aim is to influence the provision of future services by making recommendations for best practice, and I specifically am keen to think about ways of reducing stigma that sex workers may face if they disclose their work, or other potential barriers to accessing services. We want to ensure that any potential changes to service provisions can be meaningful for the people accessing them.
 
While the project is focused upon the Birmingham area, we are also looking for broader experiences that people may want to share about their experiences of engaging with sexual health services across the UK. We will be compiling a final report and would of course be very happy to share this with anyone who takes part in the research, and can also make it widely available.

You can find out more about the research team on our webpage here (there are links to each of our bios): http://www.aston.ac.uk/lss/research/research-centres/ccisc/gender-sexualities-and-the-body/the-sexual-health-of-online-sex-workers (or if this link gets deleted from my post please google ?Aston sexual health sex work? and it should come up). Just to let you know a little more about my own background ? I have been researching around gender, sexualities and sex work for 9 years and I?m currently a lecturer in Sociology at Aston University. I?m a member of the Sex Work Research Hub which is committed to carrying out ethical research where sex workers? voices are central. If you?d like to read any of the articles that I?ve written, please get in touch and I can email you copies (k.pilcher@aston.ac.uk). A few years ago I co-edited a book ? Queer Sex Work, which included chapters written by sex workers, sex worker rights advocates and organisations fighting to reduce stigma and violence against sex workers, the book contents can be found here (amazon link): https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/toc/1138288535/ref=dp_toc?_encoding=UTF8&n=266239
 
We are looking for people to either complete our online survey or to take part in an interview (this could be either in person or via phone/Skype). Your participation would be completely anonymous ? you don?t need to tell us your real name and you would not be identified in our research report. The project has been through a strict ethical review and has received approval from Aston University through the School of Languages and Social Sciences Ethics Committee.

If meeting in person, this could be in a caf? or somewhere that you feel comfortable to meet, with tea/coffee and cake. We can travel to where is best for you. We can also reimburse you for public transport expenses within the Birmingham area, or tube/bus fare if you?d like to meet in London. If you?d like to take part then please contact me on k.pilcher@aston.ac.uk or 0121 204 3599 and we can arrange a time and place that?s convenient for you (or via phone/Skype).

Or you could fill in our anonymous survey: goo.gl/YRYZSW (it shouldn?t take more than 15 minutes, and you do not have to answer every question if you do not want to), or email us.
 
Please feel free to re-post the link to our survey anywhere that you think would be useful. I will also be tweeting about the project and the survey, my twitter handle is k_pilch

Thank you for taking the time to read this message. Apologies that it is quite long but I wanted to ensure that you had as much information as possible. Please let me know if you have any questions, and I look forward to hopefully hearing from you.

Best Wishes,

Katy Pilcher

Hi Folks

I wanted to say I know Katy and the research team & know this is a credible and important piece of research to help shape sexual health services for sex workers in Birmingham and Solihull.  Ethical issues of confidentiality and anonymity have very much been considered by the researchers and built into their approach. Great if people in B'ham/Solihull would consider taking part.  Rosie , Beyond the Gaze, Uni of Leicester

Hi Arab-bella,

So sorry I've just seen your message. Thanks so much and sorry that I didn't pick this up in time. We could speak via phone or Skype instead if that's ok? Please drop me an email and we can arrange: k.pilcher@aston.ac.uk.

Really appreciate your help!

Katy