Last Friday I attended an event to announce the results of the Student Sex Worker Project. The full details can be found on their web site but the headlines were interesting. Most surprisingly the number of men involved in all kind of sex work, and in each of the different categories, is higher than that of women. This challenges the assumption that sex work is essentially a 'women's issue'. We were also told that the range of sex work that students are involved in is extremely wide, with a majority involved in indirect sex work (naked butlers, stripping, dancing and web based work), but a sizeable minority involved in the direct form. Finally, while it was clear that many of those involved were motivated by financial concerns this was by no means the only motivation and many also said that they entered the profession for sexual pleasure. The real impact of the morning I attended, however, came not from the results in themselves but from a film that had been made based on the video diary of a female student sex worker. What came out of this film was the isolation that was generated by the work, the lack of support for the young woman involved, and the very strong sense of stigma that was felt, and imposed, on the woman because of the work she did.
The Student Sex Work Project is very keen not only to provide information, but also to provide support and counselling to those involved in the project and to engage Universities in exploring the kind of support that might be available. What comes through so strongly, however, is the way in which the stigma associated with sex work determines the response and so often defines the lives of those involved. From Universities who are reluctant to be seen to engaged in student support in this area because of potential reputational damage to individual sex workers who fail to seek the most basic social and health care support because they are ashamed to admit that they are involved in the profession. There is a very clear relationship throughout the whole of this debate between 'stigma', the way society constructs the stereotype of sex work, and their responses to it, and the level of disclosure among sex workers. The call was for more support, a challenging of the stigma, and to hope that more young people, who choose this work for many different reasons, would come forward and seek the support they need.
This question of stigma and disclosure has been one that has bedevilled the work we have been trying to do around equality and diversity. It has been particularly problematic in the areas of LGBT and disability, although for very different reasons.
I had a number of conversations last week about handing on the work that has been undertaken around LGBT issues within the University (work that by any standards can be considered extremely positive and valuable). With my new role, and the moving on of another senior manager, there is no longer a clear and obvious 'role model' for LGBT activity among the senior management team. The University can cope with this, I am sure, and the work here is strong enough to continue without our involvement. What I found interesting about the conversations around this issue, however, was that we realised just how few employees at the University (academics and professional services) feel the need to disclose their LGBT status. In the case of bisexuality and trans issues this does still relate to questions of stigma, I think that is clear, but in the case of lesbian and gay disclosure it is probably as much to do with 'normalisation' (the total lack of concern about a person's sexuality) as it is to continued stigma. Does the move towards normalisation mean that we no longer need LGBT role models among senior management? I doubt it some how. But as normalisation grows, then active disclosure declines and that is an interesting observation.
The other area where disclosure is a continued concern is around disability, and particularly mental health. Here the overlaps with the student sex workers are very clear. The stigma that is still felt, and imposed on, those with mental health problems, along with the expectation that this will be held against individual employees by managers, leads to a significant under-disclosure. At one level, in order to emphasise the level of the problem (and perhaps to increase normalisation) then we need more people to disclose, but that will not happen until people feel confident that they will not be in any way (formally or informally) discriminated against should they disclose. It is a difficult decision for anybody to make, but support cannot be forthcoming until at least some level of disclosure is made. The tragic consequences of this can probably be seen in the situation around the German Wings plane crash in Switzerland that so dominated the news last week.
There is much to do in order to 'normalise' so many factors that provide the potential for stigma in society and within Universities. Each issue has its own particularities, but I am also struck by the commonalities. As I am also changing jobs I know that, probably for the first time in many years, it is a live issue for me as I choose when, and whether, to disclose my sexuality or my dyslexia in a range of different conversations over the next few months. Interestingly it is the second of these that I feel more nervous about disclosing within the University management role that I am now moving in to, and that is perhaps more interesting in relation to this wider discussion of disclosure and stigma.
No comments:
Post a Comment