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Absolutist abolitionists
I came across this post on the Matt Greenall blog reporting on a recent meeting of the westminster skeptics
. I thought some interesting points were discussed that harlots readers may perhaps like to comment on.
Picture on the left is Dr Belinda Brook Gordon and picture on the rigth is Dr Brooke Magnanti who was revealed to be the real Belle De Jeur a character later played by Billie Piper(inset) in the popular television series “Secret Diary of a Call Girl”.
The sorts of things that are said about sex work
Westminster skeptics recently hosted a discussion on sex work and the law, featuring Dr Belinda Brooks-Gordon and Dr Brooke Magnanti. It is well worth a listen : Dr Brooks-Gordon provides an overview of the legal context for sex work in the UK, recent legal changes, and most importantly, the effects that laws have that are often quite different from their stated intention. Dr. Magnanti discusses the principles that it is important to adopt when researching or discussing sex work: starting with listening to how sex workers themselves describe their experience rather than making assumptions, such as the assumption that all foreign sex workers in the UK are trafficked, or that sex work is inherently exploitative or coercive. In a follow up blog post the convenor, David Allen Green, talks about how important it is to have open conversations about sex work. READ REST OF POST HERE:
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Harlots Parlour 
For those whose sound works (sadly mine doesn’t) there is something of the meeting here (though I’m told with quite some background noise), and for all of us there are the slides used:
http://poddelusion.co.uk/blog/2010/10/21/westminster-skeptics-belinda-brooks-gordon-and-brooke-magnanti/
I was sorry I missed it. Elrond said it was very good.
I recently been lecturing at Leeds Uni for Dr Teela Sanders, on various aspects of sex work, and it was great to see how receptive and open minded the under grads were, and how many of them added me on Facebook!
‘The best lecture of the year’ and ‘Educational Gold’
Anyway…
Lets hope changes will come with the younger generations.
Madam Becky
Manyundergraduates are open minded. I asked my daughter, a recentish ex undergraduate to listen to a radio interview in Liverpool where Catherine spoke, an anti spoke and so did an outreach team.
My daughter was very condemning of the attitudes of the anti prostitution spokesperson. She felt the way she argued, the exaggerations, the use of the terms like ‘buy a prostitute’, human toilet etc, lost them all credibility.
She thought Catherine Stephens argued well and made valid points. It was an interesting view point from some one who is not involved.