Information & Communications Technology Law Vol. 17, No. 1, March 2008, 37–49

Sex work in cyberspace: who pays the price? Chris Ashford*

Department of Law, University of Sunderland, UK

In January 2006, the UK government launched its long-term strategy. The strategy aims to produce better enforcement of laws against kerb-crawling and seeks to create more opportunities for women to leave prostitution. The approach of UK government focuses on ‘street sex’, yet in the cyber age we have seen a growth in the number of escort sites and a rise in the number of commercial pages on dating and networking sites. This article will consider the strategy two years on and seek to explore the potential impact of the government’s proposals on prostitution and the growing number of socio-legal issues that are emerging from the rise in cyber-prostitution. Keywords: Discussion Boards; Chat Rooms; prostitution; sex Downloaded By: [Ashford, Chris] At: 12:20 17 March 2008 March 17 12:20 At: Chris] [Ashford, By: Downloaded

Introduction In January 2006, the UK government published its long anticipated response to the debate that has been stimulated by its earlier consultation paper ‘Paying the Price’ (Home Office 2004). The publication of that original document meant that recent years have seen prostitution firmly back on the reform agenda (Soothill 2004). In December 2006, a series of prostitute murders in Ipswich (BBC 2007) meant that the subject of prostitution was also back in the media spotlight. The representations beamed into the living rooms of the public and detailed in the press did little to change any preconceptions that the public may have had about the nature and identity of prostitutes, as prostitutes were depicted as women who operated from street corners in order to battle extreme poverty or to feed drug habits. This perception of as a gendered activity performed by women, rather than men, together with the myopic vision of a street-based practice was also at the forefront of the government’s prostitution strategy (see more generally Moore 2006). The strategy states that it is designed to achieve four stated objectives (Home Office 2006: 1):

(1) Challenge the view that is inevitable and here to stay. (2) Achieve an overall reduction in street prostitution. (3) Improve the safety and quality of life of communities affected by prostitution, including those directly involved in street sex markets. (4) Reduce all forms of commercial sexual exploitation.

It is striking that within the 75 pages of the report there is no focus upon the role of cyberspace within modern prostitution, both in terms of the opportunities it presents for

*Email: [email protected]

ISSN 1360-0834 print/ISSN 1469-8404 online Ó 2008 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/13600830801887255 http://www.informaworld.com Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1768878 38 C. Ashford

the government in achieving its stated goals and also the additional challenges to policy- makers and law-enforcement agencies. The government’s analysis is also focused upon the female sex worker. This is perhaps understandable given that academic discourse has also focused upon a gendered vision of sex work with Morrison and Whitehead (2007) branding the limited research that has been conducted into the male as ‘myopic’(seemoregenerallyWeeks1981).Theyargue that academics fear being associated with research that might be labelled ‘sensationalistic’ or ‘socially irrelevant’. It is therefore important that academic discourse increasingly examines sex work, both as a practice beyond the streets, and unbound by gender. In June 2007, the government published the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill. Clauses 71, 72 and 73 of the Bill focus upon sex work. They offer an opportunity to see the government’s approach to prostitution in action. These sections of the bill reflect the government’s objectives in placing a greater emphasis on rehabilitation and focusing on street prostitution. This narrow focus is surprising in the context of a rise in the number of websites dedicated to varying forms of prostitution (Sharp & Earle 2003: 37). Just as e-commerce has allowed for the transformation of business and e-democracy has begun to change government and the democratic process, so too has technology impacted upon sexuality and commercial sexual transactions making ‘traditional vices’ ever more accessible to the general public (Ashford 2006; Walker et al. 2006). Such has been the growth of these Downloaded By: [Ashford, Chris] At: 12:20 17 March 2008 March 17 12:20 At: Chris] [Ashford, By: Downloaded commercial enterprises that ‘spin-offindustries’ have also emerged. For instance, one Bournemouth hotel offers a number of workshops targeted at male sex workers with sessions varying from ‘man-2-man tantric sexuality training’ through to advice on how to ‘Be a better sex worker’. Within ACo-ordinatedProstitutionStrategy(2006), the government sought to remove the perception of prostitution as an accepted form of behaviour, asserting ‘it is not an activity we can tolerate in our towns and cities’ (Home Office 2006: 1). The government went further and stated that prostitution would be tackled ‘whether it takes place on the street, behind the doors of a massage parlour or in a private residence’ (ibid.) but despite this strong assertion, the government has not reformed the complex statutory framework in which sex work operates (Hubbard 2006). Instead, it appears to be that the UK government is encouraging law enforcement agencies to target limited resources at street prostitution whilst prostitution supported by cyberspace seems to be thriving. Phoenix and Oerton (2005: 77) have noted that regardless of specific detail within ‘Paying the Price’, the documentation represented a ‘significant change in official understandings of prostitution in England and Wales’. They argue that in contrast to the historically ‘tolerant’ view of prostitution, ‘Paying the Price’ relocates prostitution as a problem in need of intervention. However, it would be more accurate to state that ‘Paying the Price’ relocates certain forms of prostitution, principally street prostitution, as problems needing intervention but is less explicit about other forms of sex work. Nonetheless, this shift followed the first large-scale reform of sexual offences law in England and Wales in over 30 years. For the first time, prostitution was defined in statute, having previously been defined in the case of RvDeMunck(1918) 82 J.P.160 CCA. The Sexual Offences Act 2003 broadened the definition to include men as well as women and in s51(2)definedprostitutionas:

aperson(A)who,onatleastoneoccasionandwhetherornotcompelledtodoso,offersor provides sexual services to another person in return for payment or a promise of payment to A or a third person; and ‘prostitution’ is to be interpreted accordingly.

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Uma is actress favourite his that and nomto omnctosTcnlg Law Technology Communications & Information ACoordinated 47 Downloaded By: [Ashford, Chris] At: 12:20 17 March 2008 or,M(06 hudyugpol novdi h e nutyb ena victims?, as seen be industry sex the in involved people young Should (2006) M Moore, ae 20)Ml rsiuini h wnit etr:pedhmsxas hoodlum pseudohomosexuals, century: twentieth sexual the for technologies in information prostitution and Male communications (2003) new of K use Kaye, The (2002) D Hughes, iihel,V aio ,Bon,J aisn ,Ptro,K etr n oisn (2001) K Robinson, and B Reuter, K, Peterson, M, Jamieson, J, Browne, R, Marino, V, (1996) Minichiello, M Barnard, and (eds), Feldberg N M and McKeganey, Elliston A F in problem, Harry Dirty The (1985) B C Klockers, ubr,P(06 u ftuhadoto ie h otmoayplcn fsxwr,in work, sex of policing contemporary The time? of out and touch of Out (2006) P Hubbard, ax (1988) G injustice, Marx, old age an of profession oldest The (2004) A Keogh, sfr,C(06 h nygyi h ilg:sxaiyadtenet, the and sexuality village: the in gay only The (2006) C Ashford, isug 16)Tema ak td fml ooeulprostitutes, (2006) homosexual Office male Home of (2004) study Office a Home rack: meat The (1967) K Ginsburg, Times Gay at Available Ipswich. in prostitution Tackling 23) February (2007, News BBC oly 20)NwLbu-e Sex, Labour-New New at (2000) M Available Bowley, ladies. (2001) D for Bell, caters madam Hollywood 18) November (2005, News BBC Shocker, Sex MP 22) January (2006, Anonymous and coercion exploitation, References information the sexual and of context on clients the law within between alike sex the clients and consensual of workers age. sex accepts attention of safety that the the improving one refocuses or and industry; workers sex-worker the with 48 iac,ADadDMro 20 netgtn yescey osdrto fteehcland ethical the of consideration a cybersociety: Investigating ) (2003 H DiMarco, and D A DiMarco, rny,G(00 op e:eoiafrcbrat,i eladBKennedy, B and Bell D in cybernauts, for erotica sex: Compu (2000) G Branwyn, oea,E(99 h eeomn fml rsiuinatvt mn a n bisexual and gay among activity prostitution male of development The (1989) E Coleman, hteje 20)Pxl,pmsadpottts ua ihsadtecbrsxtae in trade, cyber-sex the and rights human prostitutes: and work, pimps sex Pixels, (2005) male B in B Chatterjee, directions Research (1996) V Minichiello, and J Browne, and Marx T G (2006) in consequences, B its Brooks-Gordon, of study a Canada: in policing Undercover (1995) P J Brodeur, ate 17)AhMaos yi rte,i aos(ed), Jacobs J in brothel, in fly a Meadows: Ash (1974) cyberspace, M R in Castle, Wanking (1993) D Butterworth, ooeul,adepotdteens, exploited and homosexuals, children, and women of exploitation aesxwresi he utaincte:scodmgahcadsxwr characteristics, work sex and Journal socio-demographic cities: Australian Homosexuality three of in Journal workers sex Male Press. University Open Buckingham: RC a m p b e l la n dMO ’ N e i l l( e d s ) , nPlc Work Police in Price Psychotherapy (ed), Jewkes Y in Internet rooms, the on chat Identity in and research Deviance online surrounding issues practical bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/suffolk/6385741.stm news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4447916.stm Law Technology adolescents, MKlangandAMurray, Publishing. International. CFijnaut(eds),Reader Disclosures Homosexuality .Ashford C. ,L o n d o n :H o m eO ffi ce. ,London:Routledge. , 20 eray su 329. Issue February) (2006 79 ,PaloAlto:NationalPressBooks. nItouto oCybercultures to Introduction An 1,77. (1), necvr oieSrelac nAmerica in Surveillance Police Undercover: ora fHomosexuality of Journal , , ,T o t o w a :R o w m a na n dA l l e n h e l d . 21 31 , ne:Plc uvilnei oprtv Perspective Comparative in Surveillance Police Under: AC o o r d i n a t e dP r o s t i t u t i o nS t r a t e g ya n daS u m m a r yo fR e s p o n s e st oP a y i n gt h e aigtePrice the Paying 15 2,170. (2), 4,29–56. (4), 3,275–289. (3), h rc fSx rsiuin oiyadSociety and Policy Prostitution, Sex: of Price The , ua ihsi h iia Age Digital the in Rights Human 42 1,29. (1), ,L o n d o n :H o m eO ffi ce. e okNow Work Sex ora fHomosexuality of Journal ,Cullompton:WillanPublishing. atnsWmnsLwJournal Law Women’s Hastings e oko h tet:PotttsadTerClients Their and Prostitutes Streets: the on Work Sex , e a Journal Law New 17 12,131. 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