Visual Violence: Sex workers’ experiences of image-based abuses
10 February 2022
We are proud to present our latest research at NUM: Visual Violence: Sex workers’ experiences of image-based abuses.
This research, conducted by Camille Waring and Dr. Scarlett Redman, could not be more timely. The increasing digitisation of sex work, particularly in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, presents both new opportunities and new hazards for sex workers. At the same time, there is a need to understand visual violence as it is uniquely experienced by sex workers, within and outside traditional lenses of “revenge porn” and copyright. Debates around sex work online are intensifying, particularly with regards to “online pimping”, and it is imperative that the needs and lived experiences of sex workers are not only taken into account, but valued, included and prioritised. NUM’s partnership with Vivastreet provides one example of how this can be done, but there is more work still to do to ensure all sex workers can be safe online. You can read NUM’s statement on the Scottish government’s “online pimping” debate here.
“Rather than criminalising the sector we ought to be working with sex workers to explore how we can improve safety, regulate adult services websites, secure rights and options for earning the money needed to live, while also addressing poverty, economic insecurity, and structural inequity.”
Dr. Raven Bowen, CEO, National Ugly Mugs.
Visual violence is broad, and encompasses a wide range of experiences, from image theft, to filming without consent, to blackmail. In all of its forms, visual media is used to incite fear, harm, abuse and destruction. The perpetrators can be sex buyers, intimate partners, friends, family, other sex workers, and strangers on the Internet. Ultimately, this research demonstrates that fears of, and experiences of, visual violence are core concerns for sex workers, and that it is vital that their concerns are recognised and included.
You can download the report here.
We would like to thank every sex worker who participated in this research. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us, and for your trust in doing so.
We would also like to thank our partners in this research – ECP, SWARM, SWAI and the former project Umbrella Lane – for their support.
If you choose to download this research, please consider making a donation to NUM if you are able to. Your support allows us to continue investing in sex workers to lead vital research into their communities and advocate on priority issues, as well as funding our core harm reduction services.
