SAAFE forum
Adverts => Spamming in the Lion's Den => Topic started by: Zaz Ali on 11 October 2016, 02:56:08 pm
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Hi,
My name is Zaz Ali (https://www.linkedin.com/in/zazali). I'm a UX professional trying to develop a tech tool to improve sex worker personal safety. I'm not a sex worker, so I want to fully understand the safety issues faced in the profession before trying to design a technology tool for it.
I'm not aligned with any charities or organisations but am doing this as a personal project, which unfortunately means that I have no funding to do paid research sessions.
However, it would be extremely helpful to get answers to the following question:
What are the top three problems you face day-to-day in your role as a sex worker?
These could be related to safety but don't necessarily have to be. If you could also explain why each one is a problem and the way in which it affects you that would be very useful - the more detail the better really!
The big assumption I'm running on is that a technology tool is actually needed. By understanding the everyday problems, I should be able to understand whether or not this is the case.
Please email answers to zfali90@gmail.com or if you'd prefer, simply respond on this forum thread.
From reading other posts, I know there is a concern about how respondents' answers could be used. Nothing sent to me will be shared or published anywhere - I'm doing this purely to explore whether my idea is feasible or not. I'm not coming at this with any sort of agenda or ideological viewpoint, apart from a (perhaps idealistic) belief in the power of tech to improve people's everyday lives.
Please do get in touch if you'd like to know more about the project or other ways of getting involved.
Thank you!
Zaz
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Unless your 'tool' can forge a psychic link and has an 'arsehole' proximity warning then I doubt I'd have any use for it.
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Hi MistressMorgana,
A potential feature could be letting you know if a new number that contacts you is an arsehole that has been flagged by other sex workers in the past. Not quite psychic though, I'm afraid.
Not wanting to use my 'tool' (for lack of a better piece of jargon) is still valuable feedback though, so thank you.
Best,
Zaz
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A potential feature could be letting you know if a new number that contacts you is an arsehole that has been flagged by other sex workers in the past. Not quite psychic though, I'm afraid.
Well if that's your line of thinking then I'd suggest asking National Ugly Mugs and UglyMugs.ie how theirs work, since they've both done it already. Ditto Truecaller.
That's as much as you get out of me gratis - we're not here to do your halfarsed market research for free. You can find my hourly rates on my website.
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Yeah I know about the NUM app but not the other two - thanks Amy. And fair play, was a bit snide to ask for advice for free. Apologies for time wasting.
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I would have thought you would have been able to glean what sort of problems we have just by reading through the site?We get the same sort of issues that most appointment based services get like timewasters,no shows etc.I'd also read through some of the other advertisers posts in the lions den section on here..,plenty of advertisers with the same 'new' ideas that will 'make things better' for us sex workers,a fair few that went absolutely no where as well.
I'm curious as to why you would pick the sex worker industry out of the millions of other industries to do a personal project on?What made you decide or even think about this as your project?
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Hi BibiofLeeds,
Thanks for your reply.
I picked the sex worker industry because I saw Toni Mac's TED Talk on the legal frameworks around sex work in different countries. Something that came across strongly from her talk was that safety was one of the most important arguments for decriminalisation. In an ideal world, sex workers shouldn't need technology to keep safe whilst working - the law itself should keep people safe. However, failing that (as is the case in this country) I just got thinking and wondered whether tech could be put to good use here.
I've done a lot of Internet research on safety issues, but these are all understood through the lens I interpret them with - I could very easily misunderstand contexts and make assumptions when designing something. Hence, why I wanted to ask sex workers themselves what was most important to them.
I'm going to take a more detailed look through the threads on this forum though...I didn't before as it felt a bit voyeuristic reading through them, as people are contributing intending sex workers to read them, not random people browsing.
Best,
Zaz
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In an ideal world, sex workers shouldn't need technology to keep safe whilst working - the law itself should keep people safe. However, failing that (as is the case in this country) I just got thinking and wondered whether tech could be put to good use here.
Mmm. You know sex work is legal in the UK, right?
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Buying and selling sex isn't illegal but the supporting business activities are...isn't that where the safety issues come in...as that's where the law isn't protecting workers?
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Buying and selling sex isn't illegal but the supporting business activities are...isn't that where the safety issues come in...as that's where the law isn't protecting workers?
More than one prostitute working from one premises is illegal, yes. No twinkly phone app or whatever is going to alter that, nor is it going to stop the people who want to do it from doing it - lots of people do.
Why not do some campaigning for decriminalisation if you're that interested? There is nothing, literally nothing, I can think of that a clueless outsider could come up with that hasn't already been done; the useful things have flourished and as Bibi has said, the rest are the also rans you can read all about in this section. The most important thing any of us can have to aid our safety is a trusted security buddy who knows where we are at all times and that is irreplacable (as the multiple people who've decided to try and get our money with ways to do so know already - check out the 'Angel Buddies' thread off the top of my head).
We also have panic buttons and silent alarms, spyhole cameras, mobile phones with myriad functions, dye sprays and personal alarms, internet communities and online warnings boards, centralised number checkers, sex work projects and - not forgetting - the police. What exactly is it you were thinking some random who's watched a Youtube video can add to this?
When you can make me a robot like the ones in Humans I'm interested, but only because the daily sex work stuff that irritates me more than anything else is the laundry.
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What exactly is it you were thinking some random who's watched a Youtube video can add to this?
I was trying to figure out if I could add any value - one of the points of a TED Talk is to spread awareness and encourage people to get involved right? And from everything you've all said, creating a shiny app isn't the way to go about it - that's a good thing to know. I'm going to look more into decrim campaigning.
Thanks everyone whose taken the time to reply to this thread.
Zaz
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I dont understand why there is such an apparent hostility towards this guy? He is clearly legitimate and has some good intent. Why would you not encourage that?
I dont think he is implying that an app is going to change people from working in the same premise, he is talking about the correlation between the decriminalisation of sex work and the level of safety that ranges from different countries with different laws. I.E the complete criminalisation in the US leading to sex trafficking and more violent crimes against sex workers Vs say New Zealand where anything from standing on a corner to working in a brothel is legal, meaning the government regulates any activity regarding sex workers. Brothels happen regardless of the law and because its illegal in the UK. It means they are a lot more dangerous which is why I would always encourage anyone trying to make that safer.
Imagine an app where instead of having to search a number on here to see who might be texting you, it automatically says '3 people reported this number as a time waster' or something like that. Thats just an idea but I would be all for it, personally. Good Luck Zaz :)
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I dont understand why there is such an apparent hostility towards this guy? He is clearly legitimate and has some good intent. Why would you not encourage that?
Please explain how this person is 'clearly legitimate'. And legitimate in what sense?
The app you're looking for incidentally, is called Truecaller and already exists. And you know what they say the road to hell is paved with.
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Ok yeah, I dont know if he's clearly legitimate but that wasn't really my point. I just think if someone has good intentions then go for it, if its a waste of time not to worry it wasn't your time lost :)
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A random person who doesn't work in and supposedly has no knowledge of or involvement/regular contact with the sex industry or prostitution suddenly decides out of the blue to spend an inordinate amount of his own time, knowledge and money to develop some non-specific technological 'thing' for prostitutes - without having any idea what this 'thing' should comprise? Why?
If you were a technology person looking to develop a new idea as a 'personal project', how many different and lucrative sectors do you think you'd mentally list before you came up with prostitution? Finance, insurance, agriculture, property, healthcare, fashion, transport, retail, hospitality, construction, manufacturing, entertainment - none of these would even cross your mind first? I call bullshit.
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I do have some advice actually
One of the things that upset me the most in this job is those who think we need their help and they can make money off of us selling sex. Will your app stop that?
Oops just realised your app will cost us one way or another so you think you can do the same
Read this thread and see how many others have come up with similar ideas that never seem to be free for life even though they are doing it solely for 'our safety'
With uglymugs and other sites and forums we pretty much have warnings on bad punters so there is nothing an app could do that they don't do already
I'm sure there are other apps you can do to make money off of others hard work. Just not for this industry as we already have free sites and app for that
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To be honest, if we all worked together we could actually alert each other, a bit like pub watch, where girls in the same city add each other to watsapp and possibly make a group chat with a warning everytime a bad experience, no show, walker or any other problem arises, a simple message to alert his number and a brief description of what happened, we could make each others days so much easier, Im not sure why we havent done this already
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We do do this already. Plenty of people text or email each other when there's one to watch out for in their town and it's a matter of communication and trust, not having important information spread even more thinly so fewer people see it. For more serious incidents there's Ugly Mugs, but all of these things are only helpful if people use them and keep them updated.
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We do do this already. Plenty of people text or email each other when there's one to watch out for in their town and it's a matter of communication and trust, not having important information spread even more thinly so fewer people see it. For more serious incidents there's Ugly Mugs, but all of these things are only helpful if people use them and keep them updated.
I use saafe and ugly mugs, which are both invaluable, but I mean more instant warnings via watsapp or text between the girls, I dont think its happening here but would be great if it did x
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I use saafe and ugly mugs, which are both invaluable, but I mean more instant warnings via watsapp or text between the girls, I dont think its happening here but would be great if it did x
It happens in some areas, but then it becomes an exclusive club and tends to fizzle out.