AWA: Academic Writing at Auckland

Executive Summary

The unique situation of having the opportunity to reflect on a piece of highly controversial legislation after 10 years is an opportunity not to be missed at any academic level, especially when such a piece of legislation represents the elements of work, sexuality, gender and class intersect. Moreover, a trade where the labourer can represent the categories of proletarian wage-labour, reproductive labour, petit-bourgeois self-employment, a member of the lumpenproletariat and a capitalist beckons further analysis from any reader interested in the political economy of sexuality. This legislation was discovered to have expressed itself on the urban landscape through severing ties of dependence on brothels or ‘massage parlours’ and granting sex workers greater mobility both internally to the Hawkes Bay region and between other urban settlements such as Wellington and Palmerston North. The simultaneous development of improved accessibility to communication technologies such as mobile phones and the internet over this 10 year period has been demonstrated to catalyse the trend of dispersal away from an unintentionally planned concentration of parlours. Migrant flows both on the supply and demand side of the trade raise questions about the consequences of globalisation and accelerated means of mobility. Furthermore, this project provides a microcosmic glimpse of how the state, capital, and patriarchy operate to limit the sexual agency of both women and men in our current post-political condition. This is achieved through illustrating how prior to the law change, profits from sex work were accumulated by Parlours whom were allied with police and had a class interest in maintaining the criminalisation of sex work. Balancing between the feminist goal of sexual liberation without falling prey to serving patriarchal sexual entitlement is the unsteady future that this legislation holds.

1.     Introduction

 Prostitution in Hawke’s Bay is a trade that has only officially existed in its current form since the 2003 passing of the Prostitution Reform Act. This highly controversial piece of legislation reformed previous laws whereby advertising the sale of sexual services, operating a brothel and living off the earnings of prostitution were illegal (Mossman & Mayhew, 2007). The spatial implications that prostitution as a trade concerns, and how these have changed following the introduction of the PRA, are the primary goals of this investigation. Preliminary reviews of the literature surrounding this topic, local and national contexts, research methods and ethical implications will be addressed in a discussion of such proposed investigation. The implicit definition of 'sex work' within this report refers to the exchange of sexual services, such as intercourse and other sex acts, for money. It does not here include activities such as stripping or sex entertainment that fall under the broader definition of 'sex work.' The intention of this language use decision is to accurately portray prostitution in its dominant form: as a form of value-creating wage-labour rather than the passive 'use' of a body by a consumer.

 

2. Theoretical Review 

2.1    Literature Review

In order to gain a richer understanding of the specific topic at hand, a theoretical reading of literature relating to the geographies of prostitution was limited to understanding it in within the Urban or Sub-urban environment of western cities, and relating to how sex workers are spatially localised within the ‘moral cartographies’ (Hubbard, 1998) of the city. This precise focus was partially influenced by the type of research that was available and/or dominated the field, which is an ongoing problem in itself. This is important when discussing prostitution, as it is a social process met with much theoretical contention due to it being where ideas concerning work, sexuality and gender coincide explicitly, and as such requires careful navigation. Furthermore, specificity was required so as to meaningfully investigate works that related directly to the topic questions.

The fact that gender, sex, and work relations are socially and culturally constructed and dynamically reproduced is a premise that should underpin any spatial analysis of prostitution in the modern urban city (England, 1991; Hubbard, 1998). As such, elements of particular gender, sex and work relations during a given period are reflected in the way cities are spatially structured. These spatial structures can be broadly understood within a field commonly delineated by concepts of public and private, productive and reproductive and moral/immoral. Prostitution in New Zealand urban environments today in many ways lie in the spaces between these categories, though they are still useful as means of conceptually localising it (G. M. Abel & Fitzgerald, 2012).

With the development of the modern city, the nuclear family, and individual citizens – both private and public - comes the development of abject roles that are declined such citizenship (Hubbard, 2001). Patriarchal capitalist society creates a ‘sexual division of labour’ in more than the commonly understood manner: Women whom, for whatever reason, are unable to sexually participate in hegemonically accepted domestic roles have traditionally been guided by society into specific yet morally ‘unacceptable’ roles; a dichotomy illustrated crudely as between the housewife and the whore (Engels, 2010; Fortunati & Fleming, 1995). Though these particular roles have been somewhat blurred and eroded in today’s city, they still remain as potent disciplining categorical tools of patriarchy. Even the most progressive contemporary social structures still favour monogamous heterosexual relationships in relation to property, and women worldwide are still met with the condemning categories of 'whores' or 'sluts' if they openly seek non-monogamous sex (Ward, 2010). This condemnation is tied with the fact that the female subject is constructed to relate to sex as instrumental to procreation, for the reproduction of a labour force according to male property lines, rather than for pleasure (Engels, 2010; Sonagachi Project, 1997; Ward, 2010). This maintenance of a 'libidinal deficit' runs contrary to the masculine subject that is constructed as having to maintain a 'libidinal surplus' according to property accumulation, hence the relative sexual freedom granted the latter subject to sustain such a state (Fortunati & Fleming, 1995).

These roles are demonstrated as being enforced legally, as suggested by Duncan (1994) that patriarchal laws regarding prostitution ‘extend the power which underpins male sexuality by facilitating the buying of women on their own terms’ (Duncan, 1994, p. 26). Such laws often include specific spatial characteristics, with ‘prostitute-free zones’ being imposed in Florida, USA during the late 1990s; and prostitution ‘toleration zones’ being designated in the Netherlandic city of Utrecht in 1984 (Hubbard, 1997; Moser, 2001). Often related laws result in unintentional spatial outcomes, as they simply try to ignore the existence of the phenomenon (Ashworth, White, & Winchester, 1988; Hubbard, 1998). Hubbard (1997) argues that these legislative trends can, and have, contributed to a ‘ghettoisation’ of the trade, with findings of negative health implications to sex workers in such cases (Hubbard, 1997; Kinnell, 1993). Technocratic adjustments of urban design so as to remove prostitution from the city landscape have been employed in some cases, including the adjustment of lighting or installation of CCTV cameras (Hubbard, 1997; Lowman, 1992). It is important to note that there is much variation internationally with laws relating to land and prostitution. For example currently in New Zealand, where prostitution has been decriminalised since 2003, among other nations with similar legislation, primary geographic implications concern zoning of sex workplaces such as brothels or ‘massage parlours’(G. Abel, Fitzgerald, Healy, & Taylor, 2010).

Ashworth et al. (1988) note how prostitution, particularly that of the street, is not randomly distributed across the urban landscape but in fact is highly concentrated in certain areas - therefore bestowing such spaces with distinct characteristics. This observation ties with the typical city narrative of a ‘red-light district,’ though such an urban trope appears to falter when examining smaller settlements (Ashworth et al., 1988). In such cases it is discussed that without renowned red-light districts, complimentary entertainment functions or tourist inflow, prostitution is found to be dispersed rather differently. Using examples from the UK in 1988, Ashworth et al. (1988) discusses how the Capeltown district in Leeds and Derby Road in Southampton are areas that function both as sex-workplaces as well as residential areas. Expanding on this occurrence, a trend of suburbanisation within prostitution had been noted in the same paper, attributed partially to the widespread use and availability of cars and phones (Ashworth et al., 1988). This trend has continued today, with the ubiquitous use of mobile phones and internet communication, a development notably found in Sweden where purchasers of sexual services (Johns) are penalized, rather than sex workers (Holmström & Skilbrei, 2008). G. M. Abel and Fitzgerald (2012) note a similar pattern of movement away from brothels and streets, and into often suburban private residences in New Zealand following the 2003 Prostitution Reform Act. They also found that there was an increase in concurrent work between the streets and private residences following the passing of the PRA. These  changes were suggested to be likely due, at least in part, to the liberalisation of restrictions placed on advertising for sexual services (G. M. Abel & Fitzgerald, 2012).

In challenging common understandings of space as being static and impermeable, the conceptualisation of sex worker movement should not be limited purely to a particular urban settlement. International movements of sex workers are discussed at length by Federici, Davies, and Ryner (2006) who note how sex workers in Europe are constantly moving between nation states seeking advantageous working conditions. These movements ironically are noted to create via competition a detrimental 'race to the bottom' in wages, even within affluent nations, a problem suggested as being exacerbated by conditions of illegality that prevent collective bargaining (Federici et al., 2006; Ward, 2010).

It can be observed that common conceptualisations of prostitution, and particularly urban geographic understandings of the trade, tend to primarily be concerned by the movements and behaviours of sex workers, when in fact there are a large number of other actors directly involved in the sex industry. Johns, pimps and brothel owners often slip through examinations of the trade – a possible cause for concern since such groups are commonly associated with cases of abuse (Gurd & O’Brien, 2013; Sullivan, 1997). In New South Wales, Australia, where the trade is decriminalised, a planning emphasis restricted brothels to commercial areas. Sex workers operating small brothels in private residences were deemed to be operating illegally. The Private Workers Alliance and Sex Worker Outreach Project noted in 2003 that such regulations favoured owners of large brothels, and whom were predominantly male. Furthermore such brothel operators had greater resources to challenge development applications in court (Mossman & Mayhew, 2007).

 

2.2    Contextual Analysis

The Napier/Hawke’s Bay region may seem unlikely at first to have much to offer pertaining to the field of sex work, but the fact that multiple studies analysing how prostitution in New Zealand has changed following the 2003 Prostitution Reform Act have targeted the area may suggest that it is of significance to broadening an understanding of the trade(G. Abel, Fitzgerald, & Brunton, 2007; G. M. Abel & Fitzgerald, 2012; G. M. Abel, Fitzgerald, & Brunton, 2009). M. Abel and Fitzgerald (2012) analyse the results of (G. M. Abel et al., 2009) in order to extricate some conclusions on the inter-sector movement of sex workers, and possible reasons for such patterns. Below is an example of some of the findings:

 Table 1: Re-estimation of numbers of sex workers in five areas of New Zealand in June-October 2007

 

	Total workers	Private workers	Street workers	Managed workers
Auckland	1451	476	230	745
Christchurch	402	89	121	192
Wellington	389	121	44	224
Hawke’s Bay	65	28	0	37
Nelson	25	17	0	8
TOTAL	2332	731	395	1206

Source: (G. M. Abel et al., 2009)

 

This quantitatively collected survey data is useful contextual background information in developing an idea of the distribution of sex workers within Hawke’s Bay.

In the New Zealand media, prostitution within urban spaces is a topic that rarely makes headlines. When it does, it is usually framed around it being perceived as a public nuisance, with multitudes of articles expressing ‘Not in My Backyard’ attitudes of community representatives or landowners. Leask (2011), a New Zealand Herald article from 2011, addressed the results of an independent poll collecting opinions on the banning of brothels and sex-workplaces in residential areas. The results showed that approximately two-thirds of the 1000 randomly-selected participants would agree with such a ban. The poll was conducted by Curia market research and commissioned by Family First NZ (Leask, 2011).

Abel et al. (2010) discuss that often when the media does regard prostitution as more than a matter of blight on the public landform, it creates very negative, limited narratives of the lives of such workers and denies them agency and respect. Interviewed sex workers refused such dominant narratives, though it is important to point out that such participants tended to be those with the most resources: brothel attending and private residential workers (G. Abel et al., 2010). Table 1 indicates that sex workers that operate in such sectors are those most greatly represented in the Hawke’s Bay region.

An example of similar attitudes within the Hawke’s bay region were found in an anonymously authored article from 2004 published in Hawke’s Bay Today, discussing controversy over an attempt to establish a brothel on Cathedral Lane – a street located in Napier’s Central Business District (Hawke's Bay Today, 2004). Community reactions to the attempt to establish the brothel dominated the article, which paid little mention of sex workers themselves. Another article, published in the same paper in 2006, concerned a police officer whom received criticism for her part-time sex-work. This article was useful to gain an understanding of how the trade is purportedly perceived in the region. Reporter Louis Pierard suggested that the decriminalisation of prostitution has been unsuccessful in normalizing the trade, as stigma still remains both within the police and in public sentiment (Pierard, 2006).

 

2.3             Research questions and objectives

 

The initial questions proposed before conducting this research have been adjusted slightly in structure due to research findings. These changes have made the first question the main element of the project, with the subsequent queries being interwoven as part of its answer.

1. How has prostitution in Hawke’s Bay physically moved following the 2003 Prostitution Reform Act? What has this meant for the livelihood of sex workers?

 

2. To what extent has public perception influenced the localisation of sex work in Hawke’s Bay, and to what degree has this changed following the 2003 Prostitution Reform Act?

 

3. What are the observed performances and behaviours of men directly surrounding prostitution in Hawke’s Bay? How are men implicated within Hawke’s Bay’s geographies of prostitution?

 

Questions 1 and 2 are the main objectives of the investigation, as it is one that recent research has touched upon slightly but prompts further analysis. Connecting the movement and locations of sex workers with the 2003 Prostitution Reform Act, local government zoning conditions and the influence that local public perceptions have had on these decisions would draw some hopefully meaningful conclusions about the nature of the trade in Hawke’s Bay.

Question 3 was chosen due to the fact that there is relatively little literature on such a topic in New Zealand, a neglected gap that ought to be addressed as the trade is highly gendered and in many ways relies on male participation. Though this information was difficult to obtain it is an important issue to address; and a discussion why this information is difficult to obtain is a worthwhile investigation in itself.

 

2.4    Research methodology

Interviews:

The interviewing of key informants was proposed as the primary research method to be undertaken in order to develop answers to the questions above. This method was indeed utilised in the field, though there were significant differences between the final selection of interviews conducted and those planned. Originally, only four interviews were planned, with representatives from the district health board, the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective, the police and a district planner. Due to ethical concerns, interviewing of sex workers was aimed to be avoided. Despite the fact that this attitude changed while in the field, interviews with sex workers from Hawke's Bay were unfortunately never realised due to short notice and a limited time frame.

The final selection of interview subjects was composed of:

1. Catherine Healy, the national support co-ordinator for the NZPC and sex worker operating in Wellington.
2. Julie Hart, services manager at the Hastings women's refuge
3. Susie Chapman and Nadine Korcz from CCS disability action in Napier
4. Michael Webster and Paul O'Shaughnessy from Napier City Council.
5. A selection of Napier District Health Board staff
6. Ross Stewart from the Hawke's Bay police
7. Kathy Woods, former Parlour operator and current escort agency manager.

Other sources:

A brief analysis of how sex work in Hawke's Bay is expressed virtually was conducted in order to affirm statements made in interviews, as well as local newspaper publications.

3.     Results

In order to provide a lucid understanding of the processes concerned with prostitution in Hawke's bay, the results of the report have been separated thematically according to concepts influential to spatial flows of workers and clients. These sections include the intra-settlement flows within the Napier and Hastings region and inter-settlement flows between different cities around New Zealand and internationally. Furthermore, to retain clarity, the results section will be devoid of theoretical underpinnings estimated to be associated with the observed changes. The results will purely be a collation of occurrences or trends that were stated by interviewees, summarised and separated according to themes. This material will be coupled with previous studies and theoretical material discussed in the literature review in the conclusion section, so as to formulate a broader conceptual explanation of the findings. Though this system may read somewhat repetitively at times, it was a method chosen on the basis of respecting the views, experiences and opinions of the subjects due to the sensitive and occasionally controversial subject matter. What has been stated by subjects may differ somewhat from the inferences drawn from these statements, and by using this method these statements that may not appear to directly relate to the research questions can be connected and mobilised to create an image of the spatial flows of the trade in the Hawke's Bay region.

 

3.1             Intra-settlement themes 

Movement between parlours and private residences:

The largest overall change in how sex work was spatially expressed in Napier and to some degree in Hastings was a decline in the use of parlours as sex workplaces and a rise in private residential sex work. From her experience with meeting and providing support in the Hawke's bay region, Catherine from the NZPC stated this trend was an occurrence taking place across New Zealand following the law change, and was certainly being seen in Hawke's Bay (Healy, 2014). Kathy, the former parlour operator, experienced this change first-hand as it forced her to cease operations at parlours she previously owned, most of which have been converted for other commercial uses (Woods, 2014). The extreme cases of women whom could be described as unfortunately 'prostituted' relayed through the Hastings women's refuge expressed the same change (Hart, 2014). A movement away from parlours and into private residential areas was only noted by Healy (2014) from the NZPC whom remarked that this change would revolve around a desire to separate a workers home life from their work-life, and therefore was circumstantial and likely to be unrelated to the legislation. Developments in communications technology running parallel to this change are noted to have contributed to an acceleration of this trend (Healy, 2014). This movement has been characterised as diffusing the previously concentrated nature of sex workplaces – previously existing parlours were largely clustered in an area between 0.5-1km on the roads Dickens Street, Dalton Street and Cathedral Lane according to city planners Webster and O'Shaughnessy (2014).

Street-based activity:

A flow between streets and other workplaces such as private residential areas and parlours was not notably expressed by any participants in interviews. Street work in Hawke's bay can be characterised as not officially existing in an established sense. The only reported occurrences of street-based work was of an opportunistic or occasional nature, as the small size and low populations of Napier and Hastings would make such work very exposed to the public (Chapman & Korcz, 2014; Hart, 2014; Healy, 2014; Stewart, 2014; Webster & O'Shaughnessy, 2014; Woods, 2014). The most useful sources of information regarding this were CCS Disability Action and the police officer whom provided some anecdotes of common locations where these sporadic activities occurred. Nadine and Susie from CCS mentioned 'appointments' in public toilets along Marine Parade and the police representative mentioned opportunistic activities occurring in alleyways connected to major roads in Hastings (Chapman & Korcz, 2014; Stewart, 2014).

Use of drugs and alcohol:

Drug and alcohol consumption was mentioned by the former parlour proprietor as well as by the representative from the Hastings women's refuge. The proprietor noted that while she had a no-drugs policy at all of her premises, other sites did not employ such rules, and that drugs often were connected with the trade (Woods, 2014). The extreme cases relayed by the women's refuge representative expressed drug use as bringing women into the trade as well as maintaining their presence within it (Hart, 2014). Alcohol had a unique role in the case of Parlour’s as they often served alcohol and were open later than bars, an element that became a cause for concern amongst nearby residents whom were exposed to loud noises and general disturbances. This licensing phenomenon was notably exploited by the owner of the since-closed ‘Fallen Angels’ parlour whom was found to have been operating the premises as more of a 24-hour bar, and many of his employees had resigned, leading to the closure of the premises and the operator facing criminal charges (Hawke's Bay Today, 2006; Woods, 2014).

Sex work and disability:

An unexpected element of sex worker mobility in Hawke's bay is that of disability. Disabled people were discovered to represent a notable number of both clients and workers in the region, but with greater representation as clients (Chapman & Korcz, 2014; Hart, 2014; Woods, 2014). CCS disability services in Napier relayed reports of sexual services being both performed and received in exchange for money by disabled people they had worked with. The spaces within which this work was conducted, and changes therein were not obvious to Chapman and Korcz (2014). It was expressed that there was an interest in sexual services put forth by disabled people, but a lack of spatial awareness of where these locations can be found on the part of such individuals. This was articulated as being particularly true in the case of those with intellectual disabilities (Chapman & Korcz, 2014). It was noted by Woods (2014) that architectural considerations were made on her premises to provide disabled access, and that disabled clients made use of these often.

Public Perception:

As suggested by practically non-existing presence of street-based sex work, the trade was unanimously agreed upon by interview subjects as having a certain stigma within the public imaginary (Chapman & Korcz, 2014; Healy, 2014). This was made evident through the NZPC’s attempt at making health-promotion posters for central Napier in reaction to the aforementioned alcohol controversy of 2006, but receiving a high degree of community backlash simply for having the name of their organisation and a silhouette of a woman on the poster (Healy, 2014). Further evidence for these attitudes can be drawn from statements made by Napier  planners Webster and O'Shaughnessy (2014) whom cited stories of unsuccessful parlours attempting to open in areas outside of the ~0.5km area where the majority of parlours were previously concentrated. Woods (2014) said that she dealt with public backlash on a regular basis, the majority of which was described as being unreasonable. One notable case of public criticism gained enough traction to be discussed in the local newspaper (Hawke's Bay Today, 2004; Woods, 2014). Though this negative perception was still remarked as being dominant, the fact that parlours in Napier were mostly concentrated on Dickens Street, Dalton Street and Cathedral Lane, all very central locations, suggests that there was a degree of community acceptance within the city (Webster & O'Shaughnessy, 2014). One of the few remaining parlours in Napier, Club Rendezvous, is located in this same area – on the corner of Dickens Street and Dalton Street.

Dynamic between police and proprietors:

The massage parlour act functioned in favour of an arrangement whereby parlours were given preference in operation over private residential work. Therefore, as the police were strong allies in defending parlour control over the trade, parlour operators were not in favour of the 2003 Prostitution Reform Act (Healy, 2014; Woods, 2014). This positive relationship between the police and the proprietors was confirmed by the interviewed former parlour proprietor whom stated that the police 'had always been good to us' and that she would be communicative with the police, notifying them of any major changes within her establishments (Woods, 2014).The brief interview with a representative from the Hawke's Bay police did not prove helpful in gaining an understanding of their relationship with sex workers or parlour operators before and after the trade, an area that may prompt further investigation (Stewart, 2014).

Healthcare provision

Comments made by members of the Napier DHB (2014) suggested difficulty in providing health services since the changing of the law, and the movement of sex workers into private residential workplaces. While this may be a cause for concern, Healy (2014) claimed that the NZPC offered such services in solidarity with sex workers rather than as being imposed by the state, as was the case with the previous legislation.

3.2    Inter-settlement themes

Inter-city migration of workers:

Sex workers whom lived in Hawke’s bay were noted by Healy (2014) and Woods (2014) to travel to other urban spaces to work. This was noted as being particularly the case for workers whom want to operate on the street: these workers often travel to Wellington where the market is larger and anonymity is easier to achieve (Healy, 2014). Woods (2014) attested to the occurrence of an inward flow too, with workers commuting to Hawke’s bay from areas such as Hamilton and Palmerston North. These movements were mentioned by Healy (2014) as becoming more commonplace following the 2003 reform. Another inter-city migration noted by Woods (2014) occurring co-currently was an influx of sex workers described as being of Asian ethnicity emigrating from east and south-east Asia. Woods (2014) commented on this trend as creating competition within the market, as these workers were charging ‘a third’ of what the industry standard at the time was, a phenomenon described by Woods (2014) as ‘not helping anyone, really.’

Inter-city migration of clients:

Woods (2014) and (Healy, 2014) stated that it was not only workers whom travelled to Hawke’s Bay for the sex industry, but clients too. This trend was tied again with anonymity as well as a manner of alleviating sexual pressures or dissatisfaction with relationships elsewhere. Woods (2014) described this alleviating behaviour as being referred to in the trade as ‘getting rid of dirty water.’ The trend was additionally noted as being seasonal by both Woods (2014) and Healy (2014), whom observed a greater number of migrant clients representing labourers whom had travelled from the pacific islands for 5-6 month fruit-picking season.

 

4.     Conclusion and Discussion

The themes described in the previous section represent an expression of various processes highlighted both in the literature review and in the texts from which the review was constructed. These processes include a transformation in the class- character of sex work within Hawke’s bay, highlighting a growing departure from the traditional reproductive unit of capitalism: a departure that simultaneously resists and submits to both the demands of patriarchy and of capitalism. The evolving nature of these two directly connected systems opens both potential spaces of emancipation as well as new techniques of enclosure. Observations made during the field exercises have led to a conclusion supported by Ward (2010) that sexual labour represents all the different roles of the capitalist mode of production. The dominant form of sexual labour in Hawke’s bay prior to the PRA 2003 was proletarian wage- labour, that is, where their labour-power is hired by a capitalist in exchange for money of which the worker receives a wage that represents the exchange-value of her work – that is, enough money to reproduce herself under the socially average conditions for the industry (Marx, 2012; Ward, 2010; Woods, 2014). The changing class dimension that came with the law change is a rise in a labour-form exempt from capitalist surplus value extraction, a category known as ‘petit bourgeois,’ that normally applies to small business owners. Both street-based and residentially operating sex workers often represent this class. A form of labour often assumed to be a relic of the past is also represented in small facet of the Hawke’s Bay sex industry – slave labour, or its form within the capitalist mode of production referred to by Marx as part of the ‘Lumpenproleteriat’(Marx & Engels, 1977; Ward, 2010). Evidence of this ‘underclass’ labour was relayed by Julie from the Hawke’s bay women’s refuge, whom described various abuse-refugee experiences whereby women had become involuntarily prostituted under conditions of manipulation (Hart, 2014). It is additionally possible for a sex worker to become a member of the capitalist class (Ward, 2010), and it is likely for such an individual to exist in Hawke’s bay but this was not encountered during the field research. Parlour operators represent the archetypal 19th century bourgeois factory owner (Ward, 2010), and furthermore reflect their class interests as capitalists through their use of the police prior to the law change to maintain an economic position whereby they can accumulate monopoly rents, the same way that the state defends bourgeois interests through the maintenance of private property (Healy, 2014; Marx, 2012; Ward, 2010; Woods, 2014).

Discussion of the class distinctions embodied within the field of sex work are important in an understanding of how it is spatialised due to the fact that each of these classes tends to represent a particular spaces, or more importantly – the spaces of sex work in some ways reflect the class-landscape of the trade. Furthermore, when the traditional notion of a monogamous, indentured ‘wife’ is considered as part of this landscape, the construction of sex work as a potentially emancipatory form of labour arises (Federici et al., 2006). This is due to the fact that women represent the ‘first class opposition that appears in history,’ and engage in a form of class warfare in gaining reproductive rights, bodily autonomy and compensation for unpaid labour (Engels, 2010; Federici et al., 2006). Sexual servitude can be a form of reproductive labour, it maintains the successful reproduction of the working class through the satisfaction of male desire, and in the same way that demanding payment for housework is a form of class struggle, so too is the demand for recognition for the provision of sexual services (Federici et al., 2006; Fortunati & Fleming, 1995; Ward, 2010). Conceptualising sex work as a form of feminist class struggle can be seen geographically in how sexual labour once tied to the domestic home and possessed by a male patriarch now is demonstrated to not only exist in spaces outside of this condition, but to be able to mobilise across differing conditions and spaces (Healy, 2014). Further evidence of this class strengthening is the fact that the structures that sought to maintain control over sex worker livelihoods using oppressive institutions such as the state, through healthcare provision and zoning, and capital, through labour restrictions and surplus value accumulation, were rejected for self-determining causes and horizontal assistance provided by the solidarity of the NZPC (Healy, 2014; Napier DHB, 2014; Woods, 2014).

It can therefore be suggested that the PRA 2003 was law reform with potentially emancipatory content. Through challenging capitalistic controls over sexual labour that mandate workers to particular spaces, the potential for class struggle is realised in the improvement in the lives of sex workers.  With all this in mind, it is very important to note that self-employment is potentially deceptive in its promise of freedom, and that with the possibility of class struggle there is also the chance of emergence of new enclosures of female sexuality through the subsumation of these newly afforded freedoms by patriarchal or capitalistic controls. Idealising the modern sex worker independent sex worker has the potential play precisely into the hands of bourgeois ideologies of individualism and free markets (Federici et al., 2006). An example of this would be to deny sex workers union membership, weakening both their class position and their ability to construct a feminist sexuality that rejects male sexual entitlement. The dangers of a lack of collective bargaining were expressed by Woods (2014) whom experienced the ‘race to the bottom’ element of a globalised sex industry, an issue not to be combatted with xenophobia but in fact to be met with solidarity and collective bargaining for higher wages (Federici et al., 2006; Ward, 2010). To add, there are many other limitations to consider in asserting this emancipatory possibility, and a sex worker struggle would need to operate on grounds of solidarity with other labour struggles in order abolish the commodity form, and all forms of wage-labour.

 

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