Hard Work? Exploring the harms of (sex) work

辛苦吗？

• 批准号: 2438909
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Oxford
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2438909
• 关键词: Hard; Work; Exploring; harms; sex

This project explores and assesses the harms of different forms of sex work, including prostitution, drawing on political philosophy, the sociology of work and feminist theory. In approaching sex work as a form of work, this project aims to provide a substantive account of the harms of (sex) work, and an assessment of the possibilities this conceptual lens can offer when constructing a critique of work and how work might be organised. Although feminist theory has historically focused on the moral desirability of prostitution, narratives emphasising that sex work 'contains work' have attempted to transcend assessing sex work as either 'good' or 'bad'. These latter accounts have sought to shift the attention to the conditions that structure this work (Grant, 2014; Mac & Smith, 2018). However, many of these accounts disagree on what it is that defines sex work as a kind of work. Some accounts emphasise that prostitution is a form of remunerated labour (e.g. English Collective of Prostitutes, 2015). However, Julia O'Connell Davidson (1998) argues instead that sex work is an institution where money is parted with to secure power over another. As Lydia Medland et al (2018) argues, defining what work is always difficult and contested, and sex work appears as no exception to this.Several philosophical traditions have experienced a resurgent interest in work, from 'utopian' theorising about the future of work in some Marxian approaches, to concerns about the meaningfulness of work in analytical philosophy, and debates in republicanism about domination in the workplace (e.g. Anderson, 2017; Muirhead, 2004; Vrousalis, 2019; Weeks, 2011; Yeoman et al., 2019). Through conceptualising sex work as work, this poses normative opportunities that allow us to understand it as a case study for the nature of work in general. We can explore how harms such as precarity or alienation are manifested, as well as how technology and innovation might feature in work organisation. Although the existing literature has sought to address what harms mean in the context of sex work, there has been minimal extrapolation to think about what sex work itself can tell us about other kinds of work that are also characterised by precarity, alienation, technological changes and regulations.This research addresses how we might develop an account of the work in sex work that both explains and locates the harms embedded within and surrounding (sex) work and prompts us to question the nature of work under contemporary forms of capitalism. The project revolves around the following questions: What sort of work is sex work? What are the harms integral to (sex) work and how do we understand their nature and impact? Are there specific harms that are integral to sex work? How does this relate to how we understand the harms in other kinds of work? How do we understand harms such as exploitation, alienation or precarity and their role in sex work? How can an analysis of sex work and its harms reorient our normative thinking about work more broadly? How might this analysis help us reimagine future models and organisations of work? This research draws methodological and conceptual insights from a range of disciplines. This project combines insights from normative political theory, gender studies, legal studies and public policy. In drawing on insights from feminist epistemology, this research adopts a feminist standpoint methodology. This involves incorporating the perspectives of those marginalised in discourses surrounding sex work to 'begin thought' from their standpoint through utilising sex worker-led accounts (Harding, 2004; see Fine, 2019). In keeping with this, the project engages with existing empirical research conducted with relevant stakeholders (e.g. reports by sex worker's rights organisations working in the UK) and undertakes some archival research on the sex worker's rights movement in the UK.

该项目利用政治哲学、工作社会学和女权主义理论，探索和评估性工作的不同形式的危害，包括卖淫。在将性工作作为一种工作形式的过程中，这个项目的目的是对(性)工作的危害提供实质性的说明，并评估在构建对工作的批评和工作可能的组织方式时，这种概念性视角可以提供的可能性。尽管女权主义理论历来关注卖淫在道德上的可取性，但强调性工作“包含工作”的叙述试图超越评价性工作的“好”或“坏”。后一种描述试图将注意力转移到构建这项工作的条件上(Grant，2014；Mac&Smith，2018)。然而，对于如何将性工作定义为一种工作，这些描述中的许多人意见不一。一些说法强调，卖淫是一种有偿劳动(例如，《英国妓女集体》，2015)。然而，朱莉娅·奥康奈尔·戴维森(Julia O‘Connell Davidson，1998)认为，性工作是一种用金钱来确保对另一个人的权力的机构。正如Lydia Medland等人(2018)所说，定义什么工作总是困难和有争议的，性工作似乎也不例外。几个哲学传统经历了对工作兴趣的复兴，从一些马克思主义方法中关于工作未来的乌托邦理论，到对分析哲学中工作意义的担忧，以及共和主义中关于工作场所支配地位的辩论(例如，Anderson，2017；Muirhead，2004；Vrousalis，2019；Week，2011；Yeoman等人，2019)。通过将性工作概念化为工作，这提供了规范的机会，使我们能够将其理解为一般工作性质的案例研究。我们可以探索早熟或疏远等危害是如何表现出来的，以及技术和创新可能如何在工作组织中发挥作用。尽管现有的文献试图解说性工作中危害的含义，但对于性工作本身能告诉我们的其他类型的工作，这些工作也具有早熟、异化、技术变化和监管的特点，很少有外推。这项研究旨在解决我们如何才能对性工作中的工作进行描述，既解释和定位嵌入(性)工作及其周围的危害，并促使我们质疑当代形式的资本主义下工作的性质。该项目围绕以下问题展开：性工作是一种什么样的工作？性工作的危害是什么？我们如何理解它们的性质和影响？性工作中有没有特定的危害？这与我们如何理解其他工作的危害有什么关系？我们如何理解剥削、疏远或性早熟等危害及其在性工作中的作用？对性工作及其危害的分析如何能更广泛地重新定位我们对工作的规范思维？这一分析可能如何帮助我们重新想象未来的工作模式和组织？这项研究从一系列学科中获得了方法论和概念性的见解。该项目结合了规范性政治理论、性别研究、法律研究和公共政策的见解。在借鉴女性主义认识论的基础上，本研究采用了女性主义的立场方法论。这涉及到将那些被边缘化的人的观点纳入围绕性工作的话语中，通过使用性工作者主导的账户从他们的立场开始思考(Harding，2004；见Fine，2019年)。为了与此保持一致，该项目与相关利益攸关方进行了现有的实证研究(例如，在英国工作的性工作者权利组织的报告)，并对英国的性工作者权利运动进行了一些档案研究。