Hello all,
Well, it's almost a year and a half since we did that. We are living up to the reputation of academics as slooooooow at getting things done. After getting some inquiries from a few of our participants, we thought we would come by and give you an update on what happened and where we're going.
We got a very good reaction from the many different places we asked for participants. We did 20 interviews. We've transcribed them and taken our first pass at analyzing them. Below, we'll try to summarize what we found, but feel free to ask for more details or let us know if you have any questions. Also, some of the things we found will seem really obvious. While that might be the case, it's still important to collect evidence on it because if someone is skeptical about how we know something, we can't just reply "Well, it seemed obvious so we just assumed it to be true."
One of the things we were curious about was whether or not the new laws criminalizing clients had much of an effect on clients' behaviour. In general, most people said it didn't have any effect. A few folks waited a few months to see what the reaction from law enforcement would be. Of course, because we recruited after the laws took effect, anyone who stopped seeing SPs because of the new laws would be left out of the research.
We were also interested in the stigma around being a client and how clients managed that stigma. One thing that emerged from this was how many of the people who came to talk to us did so because they felt how they were being portrayed was misleading and harmful. So much of the media talk around the sex-industry focuses on "trafficking" and clients are often portrayed as predators and perverts preying on women who have been coerced into selling sex. Most of the people who talked to us were upset and often angry about this portrayal. They emphasized that the women in the industry that they saw were there consensually. It was very important to them that the image of the client be corrected.
One of the things we were surprised by and that we found very fascinating was the importance of "connecting" with the provider. It was fascinating though, because when we asked people to unpack what it meant to have chemistry with someone, they found it difficult to define. They would know it when they felt it, but to describe it was more difficult. For some, it was all about sexual chemistry, others it was about a mental or emotional connection. But what exactly did it mean to connect? We've had an interesting time looking through what this meant to all the different people we talked to. This talk about chemistry is what has captured our imagination the most. The importance of connection really blows a hole in the common portrayal of clients as men who are just "looking for a hole" (other people's words, not ours). We started to wonder about what connection means in general. When we say we feel a connection to someone, what do we mean? Also, are there other service provider/client relationships outside of the sex industry where it's important for the client to feel a connection (for instance, do we worry about feeling a connection with the barista making our coffee)? There's a lot of places to go with this and we really appreciated what you and our other participants shared with us. Unpacking the role of connection in the relationship between clients and providers will be what we write about first.
There's other stuff too, but this post is getting reeealllly long. So, if you have any questions feel free to ask or send us a PM.
TL;DR
1. Last year a couple of profs from Laurier asked if any clients wanted to talk to them about their experiences.
2. Quite a few people did!
3. A lot of clients are upset about how they're portrayed as "perverts" and "predators" complicit in human trafficking and exploitation.
4. It's important to a lot of clients that they connect with the SP. But it's really hard to define what it means to connect.
5. Thanks!
Well, it's almost a year and a half since we did that. We are living up to the reputation of academics as slooooooow at getting things done. After getting some inquiries from a few of our participants, we thought we would come by and give you an update on what happened and where we're going.
We got a very good reaction from the many different places we asked for participants. We did 20 interviews. We've transcribed them and taken our first pass at analyzing them. Below, we'll try to summarize what we found, but feel free to ask for more details or let us know if you have any questions. Also, some of the things we found will seem really obvious. While that might be the case, it's still important to collect evidence on it because if someone is skeptical about how we know something, we can't just reply "Well, it seemed obvious so we just assumed it to be true."
One of the things we were curious about was whether or not the new laws criminalizing clients had much of an effect on clients' behaviour. In general, most people said it didn't have any effect. A few folks waited a few months to see what the reaction from law enforcement would be. Of course, because we recruited after the laws took effect, anyone who stopped seeing SPs because of the new laws would be left out of the research.
We were also interested in the stigma around being a client and how clients managed that stigma. One thing that emerged from this was how many of the people who came to talk to us did so because they felt how they were being portrayed was misleading and harmful. So much of the media talk around the sex-industry focuses on "trafficking" and clients are often portrayed as predators and perverts preying on women who have been coerced into selling sex. Most of the people who talked to us were upset and often angry about this portrayal. They emphasized that the women in the industry that they saw were there consensually. It was very important to them that the image of the client be corrected.
One of the things we were surprised by and that we found very fascinating was the importance of "connecting" with the provider. It was fascinating though, because when we asked people to unpack what it meant to have chemistry with someone, they found it difficult to define. They would know it when they felt it, but to describe it was more difficult. For some, it was all about sexual chemistry, others it was about a mental or emotional connection. But what exactly did it mean to connect? We've had an interesting time looking through what this meant to all the different people we talked to. This talk about chemistry is what has captured our imagination the most. The importance of connection really blows a hole in the common portrayal of clients as men who are just "looking for a hole" (other people's words, not ours). We started to wonder about what connection means in general. When we say we feel a connection to someone, what do we mean? Also, are there other service provider/client relationships outside of the sex industry where it's important for the client to feel a connection (for instance, do we worry about feeling a connection with the barista making our coffee)? There's a lot of places to go with this and we really appreciated what you and our other participants shared with us. Unpacking the role of connection in the relationship between clients and providers will be what we write about first.
There's other stuff too, but this post is getting reeealllly long. So, if you have any questions feel free to ask or send us a PM.
TL;DR
1. Last year a couple of profs from Laurier asked if any clients wanted to talk to them about their experiences.
2. Quite a few people did!
3. A lot of clients are upset about how they're portrayed as "perverts" and "predators" complicit in human trafficking and exploitation.
4. It's important to a lot of clients that they connect with the SP. But it's really hard to define what it means to connect.
5. Thanks!
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