Conclusion: Key Messages

Abstract

The conclusion draws out some key messages from Beyond the Gaze which has assessed the impact of digital technologies on work, safety, crimes and policing. Technology has indelibly shaped contemporary forms of commercial sex, but quantifying this market is difficult. Online mediums provide greater fluidity, flexibility and autonomy, but there are also disadvantages, unpredictable earnings, privacy issues and enduring stigma. The interaction between digital technologies and sex work is producing new forms of labour and variations in the processes of commercial sex, some of which are adapted versions of pre-Internet sex work, others entirely new, such as webcamming. BtG found online and digital technologies play an important role within Internet-based sex worker’s safety practices. Online facilitation methods, such as screening through digital tools feature in many worker’s safety repertoires, often combined with non-digital ‘old school’ methods which pre date the online sex work revolution. Yet technology has a dual-edged impact and can be used to facilitate crimes against sex workers, generating new harms and risk’s of privacy violations. BtG confirms that currently, there is limited awareness of online sex markets, partly because UK policy and regulation has failed to pay attention to online markets and remains largely focused on street and managed indoor sectors. However, existing legislation and policy around brothel keeping and modern slavery may have significant consequences for working conditions and security of people working in this sector. The Internet has become an important means of connecting sex workers, enabling information sharing, mutual support and activism.