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SEX SELLS

By Gavin Jackson ⋅ February 4, 2008 ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

AN EXPLORATION OF THE MODELING AND SEX INDUSTRIES

In magazines, newspapers, advertising and music videos it seems one image is becoming increasingly common. That is the human body, particularly female, as an object for sale, or a commodity. There seems to have been gradual but definite dilution of the progress of feminism, a shift that reflects the later half of the last century, from free love to free trade.

The shift taking place appears to have the greatest impact on the vulnerable. In December of last year the actors union Equity agreed to represent models in the workplace after two representatives, Dunja Knezevic and Victoria Keon-Cohen, “told Equity leaders that many models are pressured into having sex with clients, doing nude photo shoots even if they are underage and staying dangerously thin. The mistreatment, exploitation and illegality they cite include sexual harassment by clients and photographers ranging from “lewd and suggestive comments” to “groping and attempts to persuade models to sleep with them”. In her own words, Keon-Cohen states that her industry is one “overshadowed by exploitation and lack of accountability.” Knezevic and Keon-Cohen hope the move toward union representation will prevent further exploitation.

Similar moves were made in 2000 and then 2002 when, partly responding to Westminster council’s attempts to try and remove them from its specific area, a group of sex workers formed the International Union of Sex Workers with members voting to affiliate with the GMB in 2002. The “International Union” had 150 members by 2003. Note that the union was formed against the actions of Westminster council, rather than to combat specific concerns about working environment, violence and drug abuse as with the moves taken by Knezevic and Keon-Cohen. The IUSW wasn’t formed for workers’ rights; it was formed to protect a market.

Even in this context, unionisation is surely a positive step? This depends on which part of the industry you are involved in. According to the website of the IUSW it was formed for “workers from the sex and adult entertainment industry and is open to everyone working in the sex industry – whether you work as an escort, in a massage parlour, a private flat, on the street, a shop selling adult videos, behind or in front of the camera making adult entertainment, a strip club or from home doing phone sex”. There is an avoidance of the term prostitute throughout the website. How exactly does the IUSW intend to reach workers in the sex industry who don’t have access to the internet? They publish a quarterly bulletin; “RESPECT!” It seems that a prospective member need only casually flick through a copy between clients to become a convert. That and read English. But then that is to remain ignorant of the backgrounds of the most vulnerable.

For a worker in the sex industry, specifically prostitutes, unionisation is not only difficult it is impossible. If it were legalised exactly how many women are there who would openly participate in a visible strike or protest, advertising their participation in a stigmatised industry? How much is there to gain for them in fighting this stigmatisation rather than training out of it all together.

If it remains illegal just how long would any attempts at unionisation last in the face of men who already use violence, rape and forced drug use as basic training. Any attempts at such a blatant challenge of their power would probably be handled in the most extreme way possible. These are men whose primary recruitment method is to deceive thirteen, fourteen, fifteen year old girls, some far younger, from Europe and Africa, into moving to Britain “using forged visas, false travel documents or visas obtained through corruption or deception” in order that they can be forced to stay within the brothel. They are forced. This is not a lifestyle choice and there is no glamour in this occupation.

Judging from the motivations behind Knezevic and Keon-Cohen’s moves to have union representation, their own occupation is a long way from the one we would normally envisage. Recent concern for the well being of models has shown the pressure they all face to present a specific image. Drug abuse and bulimia are the most publicised problems of those making a living from meeting the rigorous standards of a “beauty” industry. Is this not an industry which values the object of the model’s body above their psychological and physical health? What is the psychological effect of having the value of your labour, your physical appearance, based almost entirely on the market and the pressures that go with this? Is this not a process by which the physical and psychological are caused to disassociate, a process where the body becomes an object rather than an integral part of the individual?

Our culture is all about signs and symbols, we take comfort in simple images of beauty, but the reality is more complex. The response that specifically constructed images of women arouse in us is more a part of their world than the casual observer would care to consider. The reality is even more harrowing for someone in the sex industry, working as a prostitute, than is publicised. In this business, wages are acquired by exchanging cash for sexual gratification, not just the image. Central to this is the sex workers body. The woman’s body becomes both the product of her labour and the means of acquiring the wage. Again, the question becomes is this a process of objectification? In order to acquire the wage of her labour a women’s body must become an object, a means to an end for her as well as her client. If your body is no longer your own, exactly how is your humanity your own? There are reasons why rape is considered a weapon of war by some. With this in mind how flippant does the phrase ‘sex sells’ become?

Prostitution and modeling are two separate wavelengths, both on the same spectrum of oppression. A spectrum which includes all areas of the sex industry; pole dancing, strip clubs, pornography, ‘lad’s mags’ the list goes on.

Imagine an overhead projector.

If we were to copy this spectrum onto an acetate and place it on the OHP, all of these separate industries, all of these occupations, would produce one image. If every single wavelength of this spectrum could be viewed in one instant, like an overhead projector lit on a white board, there would be one image. By understanding how each wavelength works with the others we can understand the image produced better. The only image produced would be that of the female body, any female body; available, all the time, every time. Utterly regardless of the needs, wants, desires, rights and responsibilities of the individual human. That is the reality.