Elsevier

Women's Studies International Forum

Volume 66, January–February 2018, Pages 9-16
Women's Studies International Forum

The limits of ethical consumption in the sex industry: An analysis of online brothel reviews

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2017.11.004Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Claims of ethical consumption in the sex industry have been contested by feminists.

  • Notions of ethical consumption are embedded in brothel regulations in Victoria, Aust.

  • In online brothel reviews, sex buyers often note violating safe sex regulations.

  • Sex buyers also describe scenarios likely to constitute sexual assault.

  • The application of ethical consumption ideas to the sex industry is problematic.

Abstract

This article weighs arguments about individualised ethical consumption practices in the sex industry through an analysis of the narratives of men who buy sexual access to women in legal brothels in the state of Victoria, Australia. In order to consider claims of ethical consumption in the sex industry, a theoretical thematic analysis of 50 online brothel reviews is undertaken, focussing on potential expressions of “care and concern”. We find significant narratives of unprotected sex and questionable sexual consent, and that there is an almost complete lack of care or concern shown for the women described in these reviews. This calls into question the ethical consumption assumption in the legislation, and raises further questions about the applicability of ethical consumption concepts to the sex industry more broadly.

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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