“The desire for the appearance of good order in the streets”
Public Order, and the ‘problem’ of Sex Work in Edinburgh and GlasgowImage source:(Edinburgh, n.d.)
Jemma Tracey 10863621 Master Thesis
MSc Sociology: Gender, Sexuality and Society
Abstract
This thesis looks at how the idea of public order is used to regulate sex work in Edinburgh and Glasgow. The central concepts of sex work, public order, moral geography, and tolerance, influence the way sex work is regulated in these two cities. Through interviewing policy experts and conducting an analysis of policy documents in each city, it is clear that there is a spectrum of tolerance present. Edinburgh appears to take a more tolerant, harm reduction approach to sex work in the city, and Glasgow displays a hardline of zero tolerance towards sex work, with a view to eradicate it from the city. This thesis finds that there is an emerging discourse in both cities centered around anxieties about sex trafficking. In Glasgow, there is an ongoing campaign backing the introduction of a law to criminalise those purchasing sexual services. Whereas, in Edinburgh rather than focusing on criminalising this activity they are looking at tackling demand it within their harm reduction framework. It is identified that these anxieties, while they go hand in hand, are indicative of a moral panic.
Table of Contents
Abstract ... 2
Acknowledgements ... 5
1. Introduction ... 6
1.1 Why these two cities? ... 7
1.2 Summary ... 8
2. Theoretical Framework and Relevant Literature ... 10
2.1 Sex work ... 10 2.2 Public Order ... 11 2.3 Moral Geography ... 13 2.4 Tolerance ... 14 2.5 Research Design ... 16 2.6 Operationalisation ... 17 2.7 Summary ... 20
3. Edinburgh and Glasgow Then and Now ... 21
3.1 Overview of Scottish Historical Context ... 22
3.2 Edinburgh then and now ... 25
3.3 Glasgow then and now ... 27
3.4 Impact of Police Scotland and Sir Steven House ... 28
3.5 Summary ... 28
4. Problematisation of Sex work ... 30
4.1 Competing Sex Work Discourse ... 31
4.2 Edinburgh Policy on sex work – what is the problem represented to be? ... 34
4.3 Glasgow Policy on sex work – what is the problem represented to be? ... 41
4.4 Summary ... 47
5. Discourses of Sex Work, Public Order, Moral Geography and Tolerance – the spectrum between Edinburgh and Glasgow ... 48
5.1 Sex work and Tolerance ... 48
5.2 Public Order and Moral Geography ... 52
5.3 Use of the Internet ... 55
5.4 Sex Trafficking and the Criminalisation of Clients ... 56
5.5 Will Scotland be “penetrated on all fronts”? ... 58
6. Concluding Remarks ... 60
Acknowledgements
I want to start by saying that prior to my research into sex work in Scotland I had an entirely different perception to what was actually going on. This research has been tough, but at the same time it has been an enjoyable experience to become more informed on how sex work both viewed and regulated in Scotland’s two main cities.
I want to thank everyone who provided me support during this project. In particular Marie-Louise Janssen, for being flexible, available and as supportive as she could be in her capacity as supervisor. I would also like to acknowledge the contribution of my interview subjects, who made time for me in the midst of a UK wide general election, without their insight this paper would be devoid of the understanding they have all given me.
Finally, I would like to thank all of my friends and family who provided endless love, support, and feedback.
1. Introduction
“The desire for the appearance of good order in the streets trumped any concern for the prostitute herself”(Davidson and Davis, 2004) Sex work is frequently framed as a problem in society, associated with the spread of disease and a break down of morality (Laing and Cook, 2014, 505). However, it can be seen that Governments understand that this type of work or interaction is inevitable in society. As a result, the state must find a way to regulate this ‘problem’ (Hubbard and Prior, 2013, p. 143).
With many countries in the world implementing a variety of prostitution policies, we can see examples the world over of how these different approaches work from legalization in the Netherlands, to decriminalization in Australia. However, where prostitution is legal, a level of controversy remains, particularly around the idea of sex work being a legitimate form of employment, with risks associated with the safety of sex workers and the prevalence of crime and drug use (Hubbard and Prior, 2013, p. 141).
This topic became of interest during research on a previous paper that focused on sex trafficking. During this research, it became clear that reliable statistics on actual numbers of sex trafficking victims were essentially non-existent, and that in fact, it was possible that many of those identified as trafficked, could perhaps be migratory sex workers pursuing work elsewhere in the world – an act of their own agency. Then in February the issue of legislating on prostitution in Scotland appeared in the news again, with religious leaders calling for an adoption of the Nordic model in Scotland, where clients of sex workers would be criminalized in an attempt to end the demand for sex work. This lead to the questioning of how sex work was regulated in Scotland, and specifically, within its two main cities.
Calls for the implementation of the “Swedish model” in Scotland have never had much success. For some reason such “End demand” style bills have never gained enough cross party support in Holyrood to be implemented as a law (Mitchell, 2015). This may be due to concerns over the lack of evidence to show that these models work, or because well loved champions within the Scottish Parliament - such as Margo MacDonald – successfully had their voices heard. But a basic assumption behind this thesis concerns a third possibility: that
these bills did not achieve the support required because there is a cultural division in Scotland over the regulation of sex work, something that prior to the unification of the police force in 2013 each city or county had devolved control over.
The law in Scotland states that it is legal for two consenting adults to exchange money for sex, whilst criminalizing kerb crawling, soliciting, and brothel keeping (Scottish Government, 2003). However, the attitude of the law enforcement in the two cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh is of interest in this thesis (Alexandra Topping, n.d.). In Glasgow the police take a zero tolerance approach to sex work regularly arresting street-based sex workers, and raiding premises where illegal sex work is being performed (Crofts et al., 2013). Whereas, in Edinburgh the police force take a more tolerant approach and allow sauna’s to function similarly to brothels despite it being against the law (Hubbard and Prior, 2013, p. 143).
Previous research on this topic has focused on sex work historically. Settle (2013), for example, looked at the social geography of sex work in Edinburgh between 1900 and 1939. Davidson and Davis (2004) wrote about The Wolfenden Committee in Britain and how that impacted female prostitution in Mid Twentieth Century Scotland. Hubbard (2011) looked at the regulation of sex work in Scotland by using Edinburgh as a case study. Other authors have used examples from Scotland; However, there is generally less research into sex work in Glasgow1, and there appears to be a gap in academic literature that offers an understanding of the current situation of sex work in Scotland. The law has held steady for a long time now but there has been a lot of change within Edinburgh and Glasgow over the last few years both in terms of policy and ideology, and this is something that this thesis will look at.
1.1 Why these two cities?
As previously stated, Scotland has a devolved government from Westminster, and the Scottish Parliament has a variety of powers handed down from
Westminster, so the Scottish Parliament creates its own legislation on sex work to be enforced within each county.
Until 2013 each county had its own police force with Edinburgh being policed by Lothian and Borders Police, and Glasgow by Strathclyde Police. Each of these cities, with their own policing structures presents a different approach to sex work despite the overarching law, which states that the purchase of sex between two consenting adults is legal, solicitation is illegal, as is kerb crawling and brothel keeping (defined as living off immoral earnings).
In Edinburgh, the Lothian and Borders police force and the Edinburgh City council were reasonably tolerant towards sex work. They would license sauna’s and massage parlors that were effectively operating as brothels with police knowledge, there were trials of tolerance zones within the Leith Area, funding was provided to the voluntary sector to allow them help sex workers in any way that they could whether it be advice on housing and benefits, counseling, or safety training.
In Glasgow, Glasgow City Council and the Strathclyde Police force took a zero tolerance approach to sex work, branding it ‘violence against women’. Street sex workers were frequently charged with solicitation, or persistent loitering, and would either be fined or receive jail time.
However, in 2013 - due to cuts in police funding – Scotland’s police forces united to become one force: Police Scotland. This move creates a somewhat milestone in both the policy on sex work, and the enforcement of that policy, with arguments of ‘Strathclyde tactics’ being enforced throughout Scotland and a hardline against sex work being rolled out in each county.
This paper is interested in why this spectrum of tolerance existed prior to 2013, and the impact of the new Police Scotland in Edinburgh and Glasgow, as well as policy creation since.
1.2 Summary
This thesis will begin by outlining the key concepts that will be used to explain and understand sex work in Edinburgh and Glasgow. These will be sex work, public order, moral geography and tolerance. Chapter three will then give an overview of the Scottish historical context, subsequently looking at the specific cases of Glasgow and Edinburgh. Following this chapter four will contain a
discourse analysis of policy documents in each city, using Bacchi’s (2009) method of “What’s the problem represented to be?” Chapter five will then use the key concepts previously mentioned to analyse interview data collected for this thesis, and finally chapter six will provide some concluding remarks.
2. Theoretical Framework and Relevant Literature
This section will review the relevant literature for this thesis by explaining the concepts of sex work, public order, moral geography, and tolerance, and explain why this thesis subscribes to each of these concepts. Following this there will be a section on the research design used in this thesis, outlining the operationalisation of these concepts, and the policy analysis and interviews that have been conducted.
2.1 Sex work
Ronald Weitzer is a Professor of Sociology at George Washington University, and is a sex industry expert. He has conducted and published extensive research on sex work and legal frameworks, and it is his description of sex work that this thesis will assume. The concept of sex work covers an entire range of occupations from pornography to erotic massage, however, for the purposes of this thesis the term sex work will be focused on the exchange of money for sexual services, or what is referred to in Scottish law as ‘prostitution’. This can take place at indoor venues such as a hotel, sauna or massage parlour, a client’s home, a sex worker’s home, or a privately rented flat. Sex work can also take place outdoors in a public setting such as public parks, the stairwells of buildings and public toilets, to name a few.
Indoor and outdoor sex work impacts local areas differently, with street-based sex work being the most visible to the general public, and indoor sex work only being known to neighbours or local residents if it does not operate unobtrusively, however, many remain unknown because they are so discreet and hidden (Weitzer, 2009, p. 219). Weitzer argues that ‘community mobilisation’ tends to focus on outdoor sex work due to complaints of sexual littering (such as needles or condoms), clients bothering female occupants, as well as unwanted traffic and noise (Weitzer, 2009, p. 219).
Sex workers working independently or for escort agencies for example are typically hidden from the general public unless they promote their services through advertisements or websites, and even then only those who know what they are looking for will find them (Weitzer, 2009, p. 220). Similarly, Weitzer notes that other indoor sex venues such as sauna’s or massage parlours (in
Scotland’s case these are illegal brothels) will generally try not to encroach upon local residents daily lives, and will attempt to run without attracting opposition.
It is important to note tht Weitzer argues that like other forms of employment sex work does not have “a uniform effect on workers’ psyches and self-images” (Weitzer, 2009, p. 220). He explains that according to research available on the subject street-based sex workers are more likely than both those not working in the sex industry and indoor workers, to display mental health problems and chaotic behavior. Furthermore, he explains that sex workers working indoors have a tendency to be more acclimatised and fulfilled in their job – this could be attributed to the amount of time sex workers spend with clients, with indoor sex workers engaging in more emotional labour (Weitzer, 2009, p. 220).
2.2 Public Order
George Dession was a graduate from Yale Law School, Some of his most well known writings discuss criminal law and public order, and it is the latter of which this section will focus on.
Public order is the maintenance of good and moral behavior on the streets and in public, and as such this means the absence of disorder is created and maintained through the law and its implementation (Dession, 1955, p. 23). Dession argues that from the beginning of time humanity has attempted to create order in society particularly through the organization of both our “interpersonal and social relationships” (Dession, 1955, p. 23).
Moving on from this Dession explains that institutions within society allow humanity to pursue individual interests in harmony with others. By “institutions” here he means law:
“It is the function of institutions generally to facilitate man's pursuit of his interests in community with others-to create and establish that minimum of
"form" which is essential as a guide to interpersonal relations, to afford fair warning of what is and what is not wanted, and of what will not be tolerated…”
(Dession, 1955, p. 23).
In this quote Dession explains the true function of the law: to outline what is acceptable in a specific culture, and have it written into law so that potential
deviants are aware of the price that their nonconformity will cost them in society. So, we can accept that the idea of order is the total network of institutions in a community - with each community displaying its own kind of order - with preferences being displayed within cultural boundaries. So, naturally any behavior occurring out with culturally accepted boundaries is an example of disorder.
What then, makes order public? For Dession it is the cultural values shared within a community. These values are either accepted because they feel right to individuals, or because these are set or imposed by government. Imposition implies that there may be community resources, such as force, used when there is a deviation from these cultural values. This could be visualized as a police force, for example, however, appropriate levels of response remain a point of contention in society (Dession, 1955, p. 24). This point of contention makes sense especially when there is a variety of deviation possible in society from petty crime to murder. It also makes sense to utilise serious legal or socially unpleasant for the latter, but perhaps not the former. It is interesting to then look at the impact on society when reviewing legal or social responses to deviation, as Dession states:
“The critical roles of these community responses to deviation becomes apparent when one considers their strategic impact on the forces constantly at
work shaping the pace and direction of social change” (Dession, 1955, p. 24). When we look at society from this angle we can understand, for example, how socially negative the criminalization of homosexuality can be (Weeks, 1989, p. 97), because it directs a huge amount of hostility to a specific group of people which is not in the best interests of the community. But, through more visibility and social change the law, and societal attitudes are changing (Weeks, 1989, p. 243)2.
How society deals with disorder is learned through individual experiences, as we understand them, for Dession this experience originates from times of safety and “stability” in society. With sex work routinely associated with drugs and other forms of criminality it is clear that it is synonymous with
disorder in society (Weitzer, 2009, pp. 218–220). This is an example of a learned experience with Hubbard noting the historical bourgeois panic was over working class women selling sex to both rich and poor men alike informing “anxieties about public order and the moral habits of the unrespectable poor” (Hubbard, 1999, p. 42). Here we see an example of anxieties forming around a behaviour believed to be deviant as well as hostility forming towards a specific group of people.
2.3 Moral Geography
Phil Hubbard is a Professor of Urban Studies at the University of Kent. He is a trained geographer and has published extensively on a wide range of topics relating to sex work from the regulation of sex work in a variety of countries, to gentrification and displacement.
Hubbard explains that regulations of sexuality in cities are “intended to produce clarity”(Hubbard, 2011, p. 34), not necessarily to control the individual sexual preferences of people, but to “symbolically order urban space, placing sexual bodies and identities in their ‘appropriate’ locations” (Hubbard, 2011, p. 34). For Hubbard, the segregating of specific sexualities is important to look at because it “creates hierarchies of moral worth” and enlightens the ways in which governments react in a law and order manner (Hubbard, 2011, p. 34). Moral geography, therefore, is to do with the expected placing of certain behaviours in society, and whether these behaviours can be deemed acceptable or unacceptable in the space that they take place.
For twenty years Edinburgh had in place a regulated tolerance zone for sex work, this example of moral geography indicated an acceptable space for behavior related to sex work to take place without fear of criminalization. However, should this behavior take place out with this designated zone of tolerance, this would not be tolerated, as Hubbard (2011) notes:
“When acts are considered ‘in place’, they evoke a sense of belonging; when out of place, they can provoke moral panic” (Hubbard, 2011, p. 34).
Sibley (1995) explains that certain groups or places are ‘othered’ in society – described as ‘dirty’ and or ‘defiling’ - and are “combined in the
construction of geographies of belonging and exclusion…” (Sibley, 1995, p. 69). These ‘othered’ groups are therefore viewed as something to be regulated and contained and this is achieved through spatial governance (Laing and Cook, 2014, p. 507). Explaining the work of Hubbard in attributing Sibley’s line of thinking to the case of sex workers in Britain, the authors argue that sex workers are frequently framed as “being a desirable but disgusting, ‘polluting’ and sexually deviant presence in selected residential and business areas” (Laing and Cook, 2014, pp. 507–508).
So, who ensures that this moral geography remains intact? One of the central actors in this decision is law enforcement, who have the power to define what will and what will not be accepted in public space (Laing and Cook, 2014, p. 508). The police force have the power to decide who can access public spaces, which spaces, and at what times, which causes significant nuisance to sex workers trying to do their job (Laing and Cook, 2014, p. 508).
When it comes to regulating sex work the police force have laws tacking solicitation and kerb-crawling at their disposal, with Hubbard noting that these laws give the police the power to move sex workers or their clients from the public eye “on the basis that they disturbed public sensibilities and moral order” (Hubbard, 2011, p. 49). This movement of sex workers creates specific spaces where it can become well known, such as informal or formal tolerance zones, and red light districts, with Hubbard remarking that most large cities would have one these (Hubbard, 2011, p. 50). This policing of street-based sex work in the city as an ongoing attempt to eradicate the presence of sex workers in certain areas where their dress or behavior may be viewed as a “polluting presence”(Hubbard, 2011, p. 51). With this in mind, Hubbard argues that sites of street-based sex work can be dictated by property prices, with attempts to keep it far from affluent suburban and commercial areas (Hubbard, 2011, pp. 51).
2.4 Tolerance
Jürgen Habermas is a sociologist and philosopher based at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe Institute in Frankfurt, Germany. It is his theories on the idea of ‘tolerance’ that this thesis will subscribe to.
Habermas explains that linguistically the idea of ‘toleration’ was developed from both Latin and French, and became popular during the Reformation making the concepts of toleration and religion synonymous. Throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the term ‘toleration’ became a legal notion with governments enacting legislation to ensure a tolerant attitude was held towards those with minority religious beliefs. Today, the idea of tolerance is no longer only used in terms of being considerate of another’s religious beliefs, it is also used, as Habermas argues, as a “political virtue” associated with liberal politics and empathy towards people who are generally different (Habermas, 2003, p. 3). The idea of tolerance should not be mistaken with agreement or conciliation because our individual ‘truth claims’ cannot be set aside when they clash with another’s. When we reject the beliefs of a group or individual this is when the idea tolerance becomes necessary, because it can only be considered tolerance if one disagrees with another persons belief system, way of life, or how they conduct themselves, yet accepts that it will persist (Habermas, 2003, p. 3).
It is here that Habermas flags up the idea of ‘equal rights’ as a “critique of prejudices and the combating of discrimination”(Habermas, 2003, p. 3). By this he means that the idea of tolerance is available once prejudices have been shut down, explaining that prejudices are “stigmatising descriptions”. He explains that equal rights, and ‘equal inclusion’ of every member of the public must be unanimously accepted before a tolerant society can be envisaged. This unanimous acceptance of ‘non-discrimination’ is what provides the “moral and constitutional reasons” for tolerance in the first place (Habermas, 2003, p. 3). Our acts of tolerance must outline what will and will not be accepted in society, as Habermas explains: “There can be no inclusion without exclusion”(Habermas, 2003, p. 5). Provided that these limits of tolerance are outlined in both a strict and ‘unilateral’ manner, “the stigma of arbitrary exclusion remains inscribed in all toleration” (Habermas, 2003, p. 5).
In order for people to live together equally in society, there must be a level of integration of individuals and acceptance that there will be a spectrum of belief and value systems within a political nation, in other words “they understand themselves as citizens of the same political community”(Habermas,
‘discrimination’ ends, tolerance doesn’t always follow for the individual that has been ‘discriminated’.
2.5 Research Design
In this thesis the main research question will be:
“How is public order created in the regulation of sex work in Glasgow and Edinburgh?”
The sub-questions that this thesis will explore are:
1. Which type of areas is sex work currently located in Edinburgh and Glasgow?
2. In what way is sex work problematised in public policy in Edinburgh and Glasgow?
This paper will adopt a historical approach to analyse how the idea of public order is used to regulate sex work in Scotland. It will carry the reader through two major milestones in Scottish sex work policy history, namely the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, and the uniting of all Scottish police forces in 2013 to form one Police Scotland. These are believed to be two main points of contention between the case study cities, and highlight a diversion, or spectrum of tolerance towards the regulation of sex work.
The methods used to explore the research question are semi-structured interviews, and discourse analysis of policy documents. It was decided that interviews were the best way to find out more about the culture and attitudes within each city and it’s policy makers, since each city has a different policy approach to sex work. Glasgow City Council provides policy papers outlining the city’s attitude toward sex work, while Edinburgh City Council does not have such a document.
There were five interview subjects in total all of whom, for the purposes of this paper, will be understood as Policy Experts. The use of the name Policy Experts is because each participant has either a high profile political role which interacts with the topic of sex work, or works directly with sex workers from a criminal justice role and interacts both with the law, sex workers, and sex work policy on a day to day basis. Originally, the proposal was to interview Police Officers and Sex Workers as well, however, due to the current climate among
these two subject groups - specifically media criticism of the police and apathy among sex workers with numerous interview requests - gaining access to these groups proved impossible during the research phase. A further suggestion was to interview local residents to understand their views and opinions on sex work and the impact that they felt it had on their lives. However, due to the locations of both outdoor and indoor sex work in each city this was not a workable option.
This thesis will use Bacchi’s “What is the problem represented to be?” approach to analyse the policy approach in each city (Bacchi, 2009). Glasgow City Council’s website has a section on sex work policy which is of great value for analysis, as it successfully highlights the city’s zero tolerance approach. Similarly, Edinburgh City Council’s recently published “Harm Reduction Framework” (Miller, 2014) report will be analysed.
2.6 Operationalisation
As explained in the sections above, the concepts that will be used in this thesis are sex work, public order, moral geography and tolerance. An operationalisation table has been created to make sense of those concepts and what the indicators will be for each concept.
Table 1. Operationalisation Table Policy
Concept Sex Work Public Order Moral Geography Tolerance
Dimension 1. Indoor 2. Outdoor 3. Public health concern 4. Morality 1. Law 2. Morality 3. Police 1. Regulation of sexuality 2. Where sex work can and cannot occur 1. Inevitability of sex work Indicator 1. Law 2. Policy 3. Explained by policy experts 4. Differences in explanation between city 1. Local policy 2. Policy history 3. Police action 4. Public complaint 1. Law enforcement 2. Police action 3. Movement of sex work 4. Location of sex work 1. Policy 2. Public opinion 3. Media reporting
For the purposes of this thesis Bacchi’s policy analysis method “What’s the problem represented to be?” was used to understand current policy on sex work in Scotland. With sex work being historically problematised both within policy and in society, this is the best method to understand this policy problem and examine it (Bacchi, 2009, p. x).
For Bacchi, policy exists to acknowledge that there is a problem in society that needs to be fixed, and public policy identifies how to go about fixing this problem (Bacchi, 2009, p. xi).
Policy, like the idea of public order, is shaped within a specific culture to meet the needs of that culture since “it takes shape within specific historical and national or international contexts.” Policy is a social construct, it shifts and adapts through time to continually meet current and emerging needs in society. Therefore it makes sense to revisit past analysis done on both cities, Glasgow and Edinburgh, and build upon them by incorporating recent shifts in the political atmosphere of Scotland (Bacchi, 2009, p. ix) Further, the word ‘problem’, in Bacchi’s “what’s the problem represented to be?” approach, refers to “the kind of change implied in a particular policy proposal”(Bacchi, 2009, p. xi). It looks at how the picture painted of the ‘problem’ directs how we are ruled (Bacchi, 2009, p. xi). Therefore, policy can be understood as the directive arm that maintains ‘public order’, with public policy being used by actors such as local government, police, social work and the health board to regulate sex work in Scotland.
Interviews
The interviews carried out for this research were conducted over the space of three weeks, with each subject being contacted and a time arranged in advance. Two of the interviews were conducted in person at their place of work, and the other three were conducted over the phone due to the researcher no longer being in the country.
It is important to note that the number of interviews arranged was greatly limited by the fact that their was a general election taking place in Britain around the time of interview scheduling. This made it somewhat difficult to arrange interviews with some people, due to them either: being busy, having taken their seats in the British Parliament, or taking annual leave post-election.
The subjects that were interviewed were chosen because they had experience with sex work policy either through their local council work or criminal justice work. Due to the high profile nature of these subjects their anonymity has been ensured throughout this analysis, and thesis in general. A table has been created to outline how these participants will be referred to, and the work experience that lead the researcher to contact them.
Subject Political Party
City Work Experience
Paul Scottish National Party
Edinburgh Representative of well known street sex work area
Experience in planning, finance, and transport and environment committees
Nicky - Edinburgh Criminal justice service
Sex worker services
Outreach services Catherine Scottish
Green Party
Glasgow Representative of well known street sex work area
Experience in planning, licensing and a council and police partnership committees
Keith Scottish National Party
Edinburgh Experience in regulatory and licensing committees
Steven Scottish Labour Party
Glasgow Experience in Council and police partnership committees and a violence against women committee Table 2. Interview Subject Scheme
2.7 Summary
This chapter has helped to establish the key concepts that will be used within this thesis, namely sex work, public order, moral geography and tolerance. It has also outlined the methodology that this thesis will adopt to research sex work in Edinburgh and Glasgow, specifically a discourse analysis on policy documents using Bacchi’s “What’s the Problem Represented to Be?”(Bacchi, 2009) approach, and an analysis of interview data collected.
3. Edinburgh and Glasgow Then and Now
This section will answer subquestion one, specifically: Which type of areas is sex work currently located in Edinburgh and Glasgow?
Having now set out the theoretical standpoint of this thesis, and the concepts that will be used within, this chapter will provide a historical overview of sex work in Scotland, and subsequently look at the historical differences between each city, and finally looking at the current situation in Scotland.
It was around the late 18th to early 19th century that the problematising of sex work began, with the onset of the reformist movement, which was a social and moral movement mainly guided by white, middle class males. This organized group injected funding into the creation of lock hospitals and the most famously, the Magdalene Institution. The Magdalene Asylum opened in 1815 looking to change the immoral ways of “newly fallen women”, namely those working class women who had left home to find work in the city and had ended up working as a sex worker (Mahood, 1990, p. 52). However, the directors of the asylum were not keen to accept sex workers that had been doing the job for a while, they specifically wanted to remake women new to the job (Mahood, 1990, p. 52). We can see that the idea of immorality became a recurring theme when looking at sex work in Scotland, when today sex workers remain associated with drug abuse, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and sexual depravity.
This section will begin by giving an overview of Scotland’s sex work scene historically, taking the reader from the onset of discussions around sexuality, to the 1950’s Wolfenden Report in Great Britain and how that impacted the Scottish Context, to the use of Public Entertainment Licenses.
Using the work of Settle (2013) on the social geography of sex work the following section concentrating on Edinburgh will look at sex work specific to the capital city. In particular, the social geography of sex work in Edinburgh will be looked at from the interwar period onwards, to map out the current sex work scene in Edinburgh today. It will also introduce the 1980s as a prevalent time in Edinburgh’s cultural and legal diversion in regulating sex work – with the HIV/AIDs epidemic hitting the city hard, the local government decided to take a different approach to sex work by introducing a formal tolerance zone and issuing saunas’ and massage parlours (which were essentially operating as
brothels) with public entertainment licenses - distinguishing it even further from the policies of Glasgow City Council.
Following this there will be a similar mapping of Glasgow’s sex work history, tracing the traditions of zero tolerance in the city, and also looking at the 1980’s as an important time in Glasgow’s sex work history, where there was a rise in the amount of street-based sex work in the city, and subsequently a rise in violence against sex workers, forcing the city council to work towards a more cohesive, inter-agency, policy on sex work.
Finally, this section will look at the unification of Scotland’s police forces from Lothian and Borders police, and Strathclyde police to Police Scotland, and the anxieties of a ‘Strathclyde’ stlye policing system being disseminated acress the rest of Scotland.
3.1 Overview of Scottish Historical Context
When sex work arose as an issue in Scottish society it was problematised and viewed synonymously with disease and immorality. Framed as a ‘social reform’ movement, this system was largely fueled by white middle class males looking to eradicate the threat of prostitution from both the morality of society and from the public eye and consumption (Hubbard et al., 2011, pp. 3–4). With men being viewed as inherently promiscuous the onus therefore lay on the prostitute women to take responsibility for the spread of venereal disease, which saw the creation of non-statutory female penitentiaries, namely the Magdalene Institution in Glasgow, for the treatment of such corrupted women (Mahood, 1990, pp. 49–50). However, the focus of these institutions was less on the physical presentation of these women and more on their moral character, as Hubbard et al. (2011) argue, the tactics applied by this moral reform movement “were simultaneously medical, hygienic, and moral”(Hubbard et al., 2011, p. 4). We can see here that sex workers were viewed as being rife with immorality, and vessels of disease, with the only treatment option being voluntary incarceration in an institution that would endeavor to remake women into acceptable members of society once more (Mahood, 1990, p. 49).
This onset of discussion around sexuality was not specific to Scotland, but was part of a wider narrative looking at how to regulate sexuality (Hubbard et al., 2011, p. 4). For Hubbard et al. (2011) within the larger context of Britain,
three key attitudes to ‘social control’ became evident, namely laissez-faire, state regulation and police repression (Hubbard et al., 2011, p. 4). They further explain that at this point Scotland took a different approach to England, with Glasgow developing its own system of police repression, know as ‘the Glasgow System’, which was subsequently disseminated within the rest of Scotland (Hubbard et al., 2011, pp. 4–5). The Glasgow System was a multi-agency system involving the aforementioned Lock Hospital, the Magdalene Institution and the Police Act 1866 (Mahood, 1990, p. 50). Each institution fed into the other in order to create and sustain middle-class ideals of femininity in society (Hubbard et al., 2011, p. 5). As Mahood (1990) notes:
“The directors of the Lock Hospital (LH) were anxious to send cured women to the Magdalene Institution, where they received moral education and industrial training, and therefore cease to be a burden on public charities or the state”
(Mahood, 1990, p. 51).
This nineteenth century example highlights the concept of moral geography where the sight and behaviour of sex workers in society was so abhorred by these influential men that they helped to created institutions in order to remove them from the public eye, and return them as reformed members of society. It is relevant to point out that the concept of moral geography has been historically applicable to sex workers in society. Moreover, it is important to note that there is no evidence to suggest that the Glasgow System was in any way successful, rather, it encouraged female sex workers to become more entrepreneurial and more inconspicuous in their work (Hubbard et al., 2011, p. 7) – something that is echoed today with less prevalent street prostitution in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and with sex work advertising moving online.
However, the successes and failures of a system of police repression could, arguably, be measured by the attitudes and actions of the officers on the ground with Settle (2013) noting that in the early 20th century there existed a sense of apathy when it came to policing sex work, as many felt that it did not necessarily represent a real crime as it was lacking of an apparent victim (Settle, 2013, p. 253). She explains:
This is an interesting angle to look at because those who established the likes of the Lock Hospitals and the Magdalene Asylum did appear to think that it was their responsibility to police morality. However, the officers on the ground were working directly with sex workers and knew them, and knew their circumstances. Perhaps this humanised their situation more than the middle-class philanthropists. Settle explains that evidence of this indicates that officers would rather see sex workers ‘reformed’ rather than ‘arrested (Settle, 2013, p. 253). Since officers did not necessarily believe that prostitution represented a real crime, the main driver for police arrests were complaints from the public about the nuisance that sex working women caused (Settle, 2013, p. 254). This example for the desire for public order highlights that historically sex work has been associated with disorder and anti-social behavior.
Settle argues that advances in technology in the 20th century began to have an impact on where prostitution took place. Her research on the inter-war period argues that the effect of technology on locations of prostitution could have had a bigger impact than policing systems because ‘increased mobility’ allowed for contact and transaction to take place in different locations. While we must acknowledge that these advances did not have a significant impact, this period is where our modern day ‘call girl’ industry blossomed from, though, to nowhere near the extent that it exists today (Settle, 2013, pp. 258–259).
The 20th Century also saw the highly controversial Wolfenden Report on Homosexuality and Prostitution in the United Kingdom (Weeks, 1989, pp. 242– 243). Eventually published in 1957, the report was inspired by a multitude of high profile arrests for homosexual offences, the committee was assembled to find a way to regulate sexual deviance (Weeks, 1989, p. 242). The report subsequently outlined: “…the purpose of the criminal law was to preserve public order and decency, and to protect the weak from exploitation.” It further argued that the law was not in place to enforce specific moral behavior onto members of the public and suggested a “partial retreat” from the law in the ordering of a persons behavior (Weeks, 1989, pp. 242–243). We can see here a debate taking place over what is considered acceptable behavior in public and private spheres, the committee argued that the display of sexual behavior in public should receive harsher legal sentences, and behavior in the private sphere should be decriminalised. With harsher punishment for outdoor sex work, the committee
also argued that further restrictions should be placed on sex workers, not clients, leaving them fully responsible in the eyes of the law (Weeks, 1989, p. 243).
According to Weeks:
“The unifying element was the belief that by ceasing to be the guardian of private morality, the law would more effectively become the protector of public
decency and order” (Weeks, 1989, p. 243).
The 1970s saw an influx of cheap, readily available heroin being brought into Scotland. A notable knock on effect of this was the HIV/AIDs epidemic in the 1980s, hitting Edinburgh the hardest (Mackay and Schaap, 2000, p. 10).
3.2 Edinburgh then and now
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and has a population of around 487,500 as of June 2013 (Edinburgh City Council, 2013). Situated on the east coast of Scotland, it is a coastal city with a harbour area, which is traditionally associated with sex work, gradually overtime this activity has moved further away from this area due to gentrification, specifically of the Leith Docks area (Hubbard, 2011, p. 54).
The work of Settle (2013) plots out the social geography of sex work in Edinburgh and it is important to highlight here as she argues that the First World War was key to movement of sex work in the city (Settle, 2013, p. 245). However, she acknowledges that despite this in 1921 sex work offences were still being reported in central and east end parts of the New Town (Settle, 2013, p. 245). This could be attributed to the east end being associated with theatre and general nightlife at this time, specifically around Leith Street and York Place, which would allow for women to solicit men from the busy night life or even soldiers headed in that direction from the Waverly Train Station (Settle, 2013, p. 246). Interestingly, Settle also notes that this area was not only particularly busy with sex workers during war time, she explains that through her research she also came across police reports of witness statements describing women soliciting “in front of cinemas, theatres, dance halls, restaurants and pubs”(Settle, 2013, p. 246). This information is important to note here, because this mostly remains the case today with outdoor sex work taking place around the Leith Links area, so any movement has been gradual and constant.
A common approach used by sex workers at this time was to importune punters on the street and then invite them to their own rented accommodation which would often be a short term let flat rented purely for that transaction or shift, or to visit a brothel (Settle, 2013, p. 247).
Leith was a separate town from the City of Edinburgh until 1920 when it officially joined Edinburgh (Settle, 2013, p. 255). As it was traditionally a port town with its hub being Leith Harbour, and with associations with prostitution and maritime traffic, one can assume that geographically this was also a hub for prostitute activity (Settle, 2013, p. 255). However, Settle notes that witness statements describe seeing sailors throughout the city, suggesting that they were not confined specifically to the Leith Harbour area (Settle, 2013, p. 256). In this instance, she explains that sex work in Edinburgh existed alongside that in Leith. In the aftermath of the Second World War an informal tolerance zone is known to have existed in the Leith dock region in order to move sex workers from the city centre, and restrict their work to the fringes of the city (Settle, 2013, p. 256). This remains the case today, however, gentrification of the harbor area, and the ending of the tolerance zone here has driven outdoor sex work back slightly to Salamander Street and the Leith Links area (Hubbard, 2011, p. 54).
The next major milestone in Edinburgh’s sex work history is the HIV/AIDs epidemic in the 1980’s, associated with the influx of heroin to the city a few years earlier (Mackay and Schaap, 2000, p. 10). The knock on effect of this influx of drugs saw a rise in street-based sex work due to sex workers being hooked on heroin (Mackay and Schaap, 2000, p. 10). With the shocking rise in documented cases of HIV/AIDs infections the city council decided to take a pro-active harm reduction approach which saw the set up of needle exchange programs throughout the city (Lothian Health Services Archive, n.d.), a scheme for free, readily available condoms (C:Card, 2014), and the provision of Public Entertainment Licenses for the cities saunas and massage parlours that were operating as illegal brothels (Mackay and Schaap, 2000, p. 11). The thought behind this provision of licenses was to allow greater cooperation between police, National Health Service (NHS), social work, and voluntary sector, and tackle HIV/AIDS rates, as it was believed that sex workers (through intravenous drug use and needle sharing) were contributing to the epidemic.
This was the system that was in place until recently when the decision was taken to remove these licenses in 2014 due to Police Scotland finding evidence of illegal activity taking place (Miller, 2014). The police findings came from Operation Windermere, which raided saunas in Edinburgh believed to be providing sexual services, and allowing criminal activity to take place (Miller, 2015).
3.3 Glasgow then and now
The population of Glasgow is 599,650 according to the 2014 National Records of Scotland, and despite Edinburgh being the capital city Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland(National Records of Scotland, 2015). It is situated on the west coast of Scotland and is a port city with a well-established industrial past.
There is less academic research available on the history of sex work in Glasgow and therefore, this section will be slightly less comprehensive than that of Edinburgh. However, the work of Davidson and Davis (2004) sheds light on the sex work scene in Glasgow in the mid 20th Century.
Davidson and Davis explain that in the 1950s the solicitation of clients by female sex workers in Scotland was dealt with by “either the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act of 1892 or a variety of local corporation orders in the major cities”(Davidson and Davis, 2004, p. 83), with the typical charge of “being a common prostitute or streetwalker” (Davidson and Davis, 2004, p. 83). Alongside this a variety of regulations existed to police “public parks, pleasure grounds, links, seashores and other places of public resort included provisions against soliciting” (Davidson and Davis, 2004, p. 83). In practice, in Glasgow, a woman assumed to be a prostitute would be monitored and should she approach three more men a warning would be issued, and a threat of being charged made clear. The police force and women’s organisations maintained a well established relationship, and members of these organisations would often join officers out on the beat at night in order to refer routine offenders “to the voluntary societies in the hope of some form of moral reclamation” (Davidson and Davis, 2004, p. 83).
At the time of the Wolfenden Committee in the 1950s, it was presented by a multitude of actors that the city centre of Glasgow had a deep-rooted
prostitution scene. Nevertheless, the geography of Glasgow’s prostitution scene moved to coffee stands in the business district, which were in operation between 11pm and 3am, and allowed sex workers a captive audience with which to solicit business from (Davidson and Davis, 2004, p. 87). With a sporadic history of ‘vice rings’ and, in a similar vain to Edinburgh, evidence of ‘call-girl rackets’, it was generally understood that the Glasgow’s sex work scene was not ordered and not closely linked to criminal activity (Davidson and Davis, 2004, p. 87).
The influx of cheap drugs into Scotland in the 1970s also saw Glasgow affected Glasgow, which saw a rise similar to that of Edinburgh in the amount of street-based sex work (Mackay and Schaap, 2000, p. 15). A rise in violence toward female sex workers prompted the city to form an Officer Working Group to help establish a cohesive approach to dealing with the problems associated with sex work in the city (Mackay and Schaap, 2000, pp. 15–16).
Today street-based sex work takes place mostly around the new International Financial District in the city and the central train station, however, there has been an informal ‘red-light district’ in operation for many years around the Blythswood Square area (Wikisex Guide, n.d.).
3.4 Impact of Police Scotland and Sir Steven House
It is important to look at 2013 as an important point in Scotland’s recent history, because this year saw the combining of Scotland’s police forces into one Police Scotland. This move saw the Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police – Glasgow’s localised police force – be promoted to a similar role, but for the whole of Scotland(Gallagher, 2014). This raised anxieties about a Glasgow style of policing – known as being a proactive and hardline force – being disseminated to the rest of Scotland (Gallagher, 2014). This is important to acknowledge from a public order perspective, as local cultures of policing that had existed for a long time were now at threat, particularly since Edinburgh has traditionally taken a more pragmatic approach to sex work (Gallagher, 2014).
3.5 Summary
This section has outlined the general history relating to sex work in Scotland, as well as taking a specific look at Edinburgh and Glasgow. There have been a
number of milestones in the history of each city, the most notable being the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 1980’s, which saw Edinburgh and Glasgow take very different approaches to dealing with the fall out. Since this time the unifying of Scotland’s Police forces into one Police Scotland in 2013, has caused considerable anxiety for other cities in Scotland. This move resulted in Operation Windermere which saw the raiding of a number of Edinburgh’s saunas, and the subsequent decision to remove public entertainment licenses from these venues.
Furthermore, this section has answered sub-question one: Which type of areas is sex work currently located in Edinburgh and Glasgow? By taking the reader historically through the geography of sex work in each city, and outlining its location today.
4. Problematisation of Sex work
This chapter will answer research question two, namely: In what way is sex work problematised in public policy in Edinburgh and Glasgow?
Since 1998 Scotland has enjoyed a devolved parliament with powers handed down in the form of the The Scotland Act 1998 (Doherty, 2013). With additional powers devolved to Scotland in 2012, the country can create laws, and has control over, devolved matters such as local government, environment, health and social services, to name a few (Doherty, 2013). Prior to devolution legislation on things like sex work were outlined by the United Kingdom parliament at Westminster. However, Mackay and Schaap (2000) note that "significant institutional and legal differences from England, and other parts of the UK, have always existed” (Mackay and Schaap, 2000, p. 2).
For Settle (2013), there are a variety of factors that dictate the nature of sex work in each city, such as public opinion, police response, and “disputes over land use”, but it is the interplay of these factors at different times which “uniquely shaped the nature of prostitution in each city” (Settle, 2013, p. 255). With this in mind this chapter will look at the policy on sex work in Edinburgh and Glasgow, and how sex work is problematized in each city. Finally this chapter will analyse interview data collected from policy experts in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The ‘problem’ with sex work is that it is most commonly associated with anti-social behavior, loitering, harm – in the form of drugs and violence – and as an affront to public health and well-being. In Glasgow prostitution is viewed as violence against women, and the implementation of the law mirrors this with harsh policing tactics. In Edinburgh policy enforcement is more tolerant viewing prostitution as a problem, but one that should be solved through cooperative working between actors such as the police, the criminal justice service, and the Health Board.
This section will seek to update the work of Mackay and Schaap who in 2000 applied Bacchi’s policy analysis method to Glasgow and Edinburgh to understand these cities differing approaches to sex work policy.
4.1 Competing Sex Work Discourse
In Bacchi’s WPR method, one of the key parts of analysing what the problem is represented to be, is to understand the discourses available to the associated actors. When applying this approach to sex work policy, it is clear from the offset that there are a variety of conflicting discourses thrust into the arena. For
Mackay and Schaaps this is because the idea of sex work is “somewhat over-determined: because prostitution appears to us as a classic ‘hard-case’ it has been an area over which a whole range of academic debates have been played out” (Mackay and Schaap, 2000, p. 5).
In much of the information on prostitution there are various representations of its different discourses, but when it comes to looking at it from a public policy angle there is a difficulty with a lot of the information in that it “conflates ethical and policy concerns”. With this in mind the authors wish to make a theoretical distinction between the values of actors from policy agendas and recommendations and therefore prescribe “differentiating ‘characterising’ discourses from ‘policy-orienting’ discourses” (Mackay and Schaap, 2000, p. 6). By the former they mean discourses that discuss the way ‘actors’ comprehend what sex work is, the latter, on the other hand, refer to how sex work is problematised for the government. They identify that sex work can be “characterized as: i) choice; ii) work; iii) vice; iv) sex or; v) abuse”, or understood in public policy “to constitute a: i) health; ii) social iii) law and order or; iv) social justice ‘problem’”(Mackay and Schaap, 2000, p. 6).
The authors’ work outlining these discourses presents a helpful tool in understanding how sex work is problematised from an ethical and policy setting. A table has been adapted from the work of Mackay and Schaaps to highlight these competing discourses and with the addition of a new policy-orienting discourse, namely Client Criminalisation, as identified during this thesis’s research.
Characterising Discourses
Description
Choice Individual has agency
Chose to be a sex worker Does not “cause harm”
State should not interfere Privacy
“Matter of individuals/markets”
Work Condition focused i.e. susceptibility of workers to
“exploitation, violence and health risks” Susceptibility not intrinsic to the job
Access to sex workers rights e.g. Safe working conditions, paid maternity and sick leave
Vice Focus on morality of sex workers
Sex work is bad for the “moral order of society” Undermines public order
Demoralises heteronormativity ”and the institution of the ‘traditional family’.”
Objectifies female sex workers and “corrupts (married) men who pay for sex.”
Sex Regulation of sexuality
“Sexual taboos lead society to devalue those involved in prostitution”
“Eliminate sexual misery” Social construct
“Presents repressive social-sexual norms as the problem”
Abuse Violence against women
“Perpetuates gender inequality” “Damaging effects on those involved”
“Male behaviour and attitudes toward women and the social construction of gender/sexuality as the
problem.” Policy-Orienting
Discourses
Description
Health Sex workers as vessels of disease
“Threat to public health”
Funds directed to harm reduction
Sex workers health – “vulnerable to infection” “Other health problems such as drug dependence,
mental health and injuries from violence”
“Policy actors: health boards and ‘one-stop’ service providers (e.g. drop-in centres or outreach workers)”
Social Welfare “Deviants in need of normalisation or ‘social inclusion’.”
“Situated in terms of a range of other social problems, which need to be simultaneously addressed (e.g. poverty, drug-use, education). “
“Public responsibility to address the problem “ “Policy actors: social work and or increased
multi-agency working in order to take a more ‘holistic’ approach “
Law and Order Threat to public order
Must be regulated or eradicated “Visibility of social undesireables” Visibility of punters
Associated with a variety of “criminal activity” Policy actors “police, local residents groups and local
government”
Social Justice “Gender issue concerning both the ways in which
women and men involved in prostitution are treated by male punters and the effect of this on the wider social relation between men and women.”
Policy actors: womens groups, female politicians Client
Criminalisation
Shifting responsibility to buyers of sex Aim to cut demand for the purchase of sex Gender issue – namely targeting male clients Popular across Europe since it started in Sweden Policy actors: abolitionists, womens’ rights activists,
local government (as seen in Glasgow)
Table 3. ‘Characterising’ discourses and ‘Policy-orienting’ discourses (adapted from Mackay and Schaap, 2000)
Mackay and Schaap explain the actors mentioned in the previous mapping of discourse as existing within a policy network, which is made up of individual and institutional actors that are inter-related, have shared pursuits and participate in
argue that these networks are key to understanding the way in which a ‘problem’ is represented, ‘agenda setting’, and the creation and application of policy within a number of sectors. They recognize “police, local government (in terms of its regulatory functions, its social welfare service provision and its strategic policy functions), health boards, street-level service providers, women’s organisations (when involved in local policy networks), and the media” as being key to understanding the ‘problem’, and creating and disseminating policy “at the local level” (Mackay and Schaap, 2000, p. 8).
This is an important representation for understanding how the problem is represented in each city, as the relation between these actors within their policy network can be identified as influential in policy creation in Edinburgh and Glasgow throughout history, for example the middle class philanthropists funding and creating the Magdalene Institution, backed by local government and police, or the Health Board identifying ways in which to tackle the HIV/AIDs epidemic of the 1980s.
4.2 Edinburgh Policy on sex work – what is the problem represented to
be?
“…I think it's just that it's something almost that's dirty and negative and they don’t want it around their wee perfect life.” (Interview subject Nicky) The work of Mackay and Schaap in 2000 identified that in Edinburgh problem was represented to be “a ‘health’ problem for the state and characterising discourses of choice, work and sex predominate”(Mackay and Schaap, 2000, p. 9). Therefore, the policy approach to sex work focused on harm reduction. The city appears to tolerate its inevitability and seek ways in which to ensure the safety, well-being, and patience of all involved. At the time of the authors’ research they felt that this attitude was reflected in the: “i) a ‘zone of toleration’ policing strategy for street prostitution; ii) quasi-regulation of ‘indoor’ prostitution through issuing of public entertainment licences; iii) provision of health and other services to women in (street) prostitution through a ‘one-stop shop’ drop-in-centre.”(Mackay and Schaap, 2000, p. 9)
However, the tolerance zone ended in 2001 due to complaints from local residents, and with the unifying of Scotland’s police forces in 2013, much has changed. It is no longer possible for the City Council and the police to turn a blind eye to sex work in the city. So what is the problem represented to be today?
1. “What is the problem represented to be in a specific policy?
“Again I can only speak on a personal basis…and on the basis that I don’t believe there's a country in the world that's overcome prostitution I would
rather see it managed, and managed safely…” (Interview Subject, Keith)
This idea of managing sex work in Edinburgh appears to be the dominant position held by policy actors. A report commissioned in 2014 by the Regulatory Committee of Edinburgh City Council sought approval for the introduction of a new harm reduction framework. This report was commissioned in response to a consultation on the removal of the provision of public entertainment licenses for massage parlours and saunas at the end of 2013, we can see here the impact of the moral geography of sex work in the city, and the council looking for a way to deal with the knock on effect of these venues operating without licenses.
The outcome of this report claims to identify a harm reduction framework to be disseminated throughout the city, taking a ‘holistic’ approach to sex work with a multi-agency support network. The starting point for this framework policy was to identify the successful systems already in place, such as health-based measures like NHS Lothian’s clinics and outreach services. Further, Police Scotland assumed the role of identifying the scope of the ‘problem’ in the city, and find that sex work is taking place indoors in saunas, massage parlours, and flats as arranged online and through escort agencies, as well as outdoors with street sex work being identified (Miller, 2014, p. 5). This report also highlights a rising demand from sex workers for information on exit strategies, and access to “welfare benefits”, this need will be met by the third sector organisations providing outreach services (Miller, 2014, p.6).
One further interesting reflection on this framework policy is that it claims not to “…align itself with any particular ideological or sociological
appear to be the case due to it involving a variety of different agencies, supporting a spectrum of beliefs on sex work, however, the language used in this policy would indicate otherwise due to its use of the term ‘sex work’, which is indicative of a specific ‘characterising’ discourse of ‘work’3.
The Year One Progress Report highlights two further more recent ‘problems’ relating to sex work: the use of the internet to advertise services, and migratory sex workers (Miller, 2015, pp. 7–10).
2. What presuppositions or assumptions underlie this representation of the problem?
Using the scheme above adapted from the work of Mackay and Schaap (see Figure 3), we can see that Edinburgh is caught in a somewhat policy predicament. While these authors identified that Edinburgh was sporting a ‘health’ based policy-orientation with “discourses of choice, work and sex” (Mackay and Schaap, 2000, p. 9), there has been a shift in city’s attitude to sex work policy. In practice traditions of ‘health’ based policy-orientation remain, while there is a creeping sense of ‘law and order’, as well as ‘social welfare’ with discourses of choice and work, but also vice and abuse (with more recent anxieties over sex trafficking). This can be attributed to its decision to use a ‘holistic’ multi-agency approach in dealing with the ‘problem’ of sex work, naturally when involving a spectrum of ideologies policy from a variety of different philosophies will be the outcome.
As noted in Figure 3, through this thesis research it became clear that the criminalization of clients of sex workers is becoming an ever-present discourse in Europe, with Scotland being no exception. It is important to note here that while Scotland does not have this law, the 2015 progress report indicates exploration around tackling demand as a crucial priority for the following year (Miller, 2015, p. 10).
3. How has this representation of the problem come about?
3 See figure 3. The report does acknowledge that it will attempt to “find common ground and cooperative action between organisations with differeing views on these matters” (Miller, 2014, p. 12), however the fact remains that the term ‘sex work’ is being used.
