This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Add to My Marked Citations Google Scholar Articles by O'Neill, M. Articles by Scoular, J. Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Living with the Other: Street sex work, contingent communities and degrees of tolerance

Loughborough University, UK, m.oneill{at}lboro.ac.uk

Rosie Campbell

Armistead Street and Portside Liverpool Primary Care Trust, UK

Phil Hubbard

Loughborough University, UK

Jane Pitcher

Independent Researcher, UK

Jane Scoular

University of Strathclyde, UK

There is substantial literature on how fears of Other populations are prompting the increased surveillance and regulation of public spaces at the heart of Western cities. Yet, in contrast to the consumer-oriented spaces of the city centre, there has been relatively little attention devoted to the quality of the street spaces in residential neighbourhoods beyond the central city. In this article, we explore how media representations of sex workers as an abject and criminalized Other inform the reactions of residents to street sex work in such communities. Drawing on our work in a number of British cities we highlight the different degrees of tolerance which residents express towards street sex work. In light of the Home Office strategy document, A Coordinated Prostitution Strategy, this article concludes by advocating participatory action research and community conferencing as a means of resolving conflicts and assuaging fears of difference.

Key Words: communities • fear of crime • Home Office policy • participatory action research • sex work

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?