The limits of ethical consumption in the sex industry: An analysis of online brothel reviews
Section snippets
Ethical consumption and the sex industry
The concept of ethical consumption practices has gained momentum in both academic and mainstream cultural discourses in the last three decades (Harrison et al., 2005, Yeow et al., 2014). The ethical consumer is seen as being “concerned with the effects that a purchasing choice has, not only on themselves, but also on the external world around them”, and informs their decisions based on “political, religious, spiritual, environmental, social [and/] or other motives” (Harrison et al., 2005, p.4).
Online brothel reviews and the “punter”
At the heart of discussing ethical consumption in the sex industry is the behaviour of “sex buyers” or “punters”, that is, those who purchase “sexual services” in the commercial sex industry. In keeping with the commercial sex industry generally, brothel prostitution is heavily gendered. Men constitute the vast majority of punters and women constitute a substantial majority of those providing “sexual services”. In Australia, it is estimated that more than 94% of sex buyers are men3
The context in Victoria, Australia
The Australian state of Victoria has a very established system of legalised and licensed brothel prostitution. When it was first introduced in 1984, this system was considered a progressive way of dealing with the sex industry and promoting harm minimisation (Sullivan, 2007). The original “Prostitution Control Act” (now “Sex Work Act”), which further regulated the industry in 1994, cited safety concerns as a motivating factor for the legalisation, with an aim to “maximise the protection of
Data collection and method
The data analysed here are from the “Invisible Men” project, hosted by the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women Australia (CATWA).5 There are a number of Invisible Men projects around the world,6
Discussion and analysis
All 50 of the reviews were found to be of men reviewing a woman (or, in two instances, multiple women) in legal brothels. Overall, 34 were coded as positive reviews of a woman in prostitution (e.g. enthusiastic endorsement by reviewer or a positive response to “Would I return?”/WIR?), six were mixed (with some negative elements even if the punter determined they would consider returning) and ten were negative (with negative elements in the review and a determination not to return). In terms of
Conclusion
The state of Victoria has one of the oldest legalised brothel prostitution systems in the world. At the time the original system was introduced, in the 1980s, it was seen as a progressive legislative approach that would regulate a previously underground industry and would offer greater safety to women in prostitution (Sullivan, 2007). In newer iterations of the legislation, there is an implicit assumption that sex buyers can engage in forms of ethical consumption when purchasing sexual access
Declaration of interest
Both Meagan and Natalie are volunteers with the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women Australia (CATWA).
This research was made possible by an internal grant from the College of Business at RMIT University.
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