Thanks Elizabeth, these are all useful questions for possible future debate on Gracie’s show. One of the issues we discussed was where the pendulum of popular mores is going and how that will position sex work in the future.

One aspect of this is the conservatism that appeared in the late eighteenth century (after an earlier brief life under Cromwell’s Puritans) and lasted till the early twentieth. There is no sign of this reversing itself in the near future despite pockets of opposition that we have commented on here.

We are awash in a popular culture of sexuality, yet its expression remains firmly controlled. As you yourself have commented recently, a changing technology is enabling women to once again gain control over their sexuality and to re-invent the oral tradition of preserving and passing on knowledge. Shows like Gracie’s also provide sex workers and other sex-positive groups a forum to give voice.

We have also commented on how Dr Jocelyn Elders wanted to bring sexuality into the mainstream curriculum, rather than labelling it with the forbidden fruit ‘Adult’ tag. The only way major improvements in the protection of the human rights, health and wellbeing of sex workers will occur is by doing everything possible to mainstream it, repositioning it as normative, even if a minority activity.

Michael Goodyear