Seeking other academics concerned by student sex work

[PhilosophyOnlyRidiculous]

Hello. I'm an academic at a UK university, and am worried about this push to make universities "sex work friendly", and by the development and promotion of sex work "toolkits" (e.g., by University of Leicester, who also collaborate with the university I work at).
Obviously, I'm all for supporting students who are working in the industry, and absolutely do not feel any negative judgment towards the individuals who do.
But surely there are better ways of approaching this than the apparent encouragement in these toolkits? The promoters of these talk about "reassuring" students that what they're doing is legal, and say that universities should support students to balance studies with their sex work.
I get that the guides/toolkits are meant to be realistic about the fact that students WILL do this, and to reduce risk - and that's great. But I really don't think that's all they do.

Just wondered if any other academics are with me on this?

Interesting how prostitution is justified with the remark “you all watch porn, how can you say sex work is wrong?”.
More and more, I think Andrea Dworkin was right when she said “porn is the theory, rape is the practice”, and if prostitution is paid rape ...

say that universities should support students to balance studies with their sex work

I feel that the world has been turned upside down sometimes. I'm only a Millennial but I could not have imagined seeing this when I was at uni. It would have been seen as worrying, insulting, highly regressive and a massive commentary on what women have to, or are pressured to do to support themselves. Mind you, there was a trend for Burlesque at the time, which didn't earn most women who did it any money, and that could be argued as being nothing more than middle class stripping.

@PotholeHellhole

This is a serious issue.

The forum for teenagers thestudentroom was infested with people aggressively arguing that there is no difference between a job shelf-stacking and prostituting yourself to fund uni.

It's also popped up in the Open University's unofficial facebook group as a suggestion to women asking for advice about funding, but we're mature students there, so women aggressively pushed back.

@potholehellhole

I understand that people in the sex industry would want to promote this, but it beggars belief that some people actually believe this. I'm not sure what it's a sign of - a lack of imagination, I.Q or both.

I might be missing something here but isn't sex work prostitution (I.e., illegal) or is sex work something else?

The resource for academics instructed us not to assume the student wanted to leave. There was no advice regarding what to do if they wanted to :(

@EarthSight

say that universities should support students to balance studies with their sex work

I feel that the world has been turned upside down sometimes. I'm only a Millennial but I could not have imagined seeing this when I was at uni. It would have been seen as worrying, insulting, highly regressive and a massive commentary on what women have to, or are pressured to do to support themselves. Mind you, there was a trend for Burlesque at the time, which didn't earn most women who did it any money, and that could be argued as being nothing more than middle class stripping.

I suppose the difference with burlesque is that the woman feels in control of her own sexuality and expressing it. She can do what she pleases, wear what she wants, move how she chooses and stop whenever it feels right to stop. Men might be ogling but on her terms. None of these apply to sex work.

Nordic Model Now! has set up a petition calling on them to revoke the toolkit and return to the drawing board.

PLEASE SIGN AND SHARE THIS PETITION. We believe that only the pressure of public opinion is likely to get them to change their minds, so please encourage everyone you know to sign and share it too. Thank you!

www.change.org/p/university-of-leicester-revoke-the-university-of-leicester-student-sex-work-policy-and-toolkits

Signed. Bump

Signed

Bloody hell that Student Room thread. Sudden mention of how great it is to have a pimp or 'Master' because he'll look after you.

This is being aggressively promoted within the same movement that wants to make it unacceptable to talk about sex specific issues. And happily, this is one where I can say that women and transwomen both suffer, except that the impact on women is worse due to additional sex-specific risks - physically weaker, pregnancy, more vulnerable to disease. It is not my son who will be asked to 'consider sex work' at university.

I'd agree that this is something where the generally negative trend towards heavy parental involvement in university issues could actually be helpful.