Porn by any other name: women’s consumption of public sex performances in Amsterdam

Women’s engagement with pornography has been a divisive debate within feminism. Much of the traditional debates have focused on pornography’s sexual and visual content, suggesting that women are objectified in pornographic representations (Dworkin, 1979), problematizing the consumption of porn and assuming that pornography is created by men for men (c.f. Gunter, 2002). There is an emerging literature, however, that seeks to explore the ways in which women consume and understand pornographic materials (Loach, 1992; Senn, 1993; Shaw, 1999; Eck, 2003; Ciclitira, 2004; Attwood, 2005; Smith, 2007), which seem to suggest that women’s responses to porn are complex, and cannot be easily categorized. This paper intends to further these emerging discussions by focusing on an under-researched area – public sex performance. Little has been written on public sex performance (c.f. Manderson, 1992; Delany, 1999; Sanders, 2010), and much less on women’s engagements with these types of venues. This paper will draw on ethnographic research conducted in Amsterdam, exploring the ways in which women tourists engage with public sex performances, drawing comparisons between these types of shows and other types of pornographic materials. Empirical data collected in Amsterdam, focusing on women’s visual consumption of public sex performances at a well-known tourist sexual theatres that features live sex (including vaginal penetrative sex and oral sexual encounters for/by men/women, as well as masturbation and other highly sexualized acts), suggests that sex shows are positioned as legitimate sexual entertainment for men, women, and couples, and that a wide range of tourist women from different backgrounds visit these shows in substantial numbers. By attempting to unpick the ways in which women visually consume public sex performances, and thinking about this in relation to broader discussions around pornography and the literature around women’s consumption practices, this paper will argue that many of the current understandings of pornography consumption as an androcentric activity fail to recognize women as active sexual, visual agents. Women’s engagement with sex shows in Amsterdam complicates the various ways in which visual consumption of pornography might occur, and opens up questions about the social and gendered practices of watching sex

Women’s Open Space project evaluation: final report

This report presents findings from an evaluation of the Women's Open Spaces [WOS] project, carried out between July 2011 and March 2012. The evaluation sought to analyze the impact and efficacy of services offered to street-based sex workers by WOS and to look at the New Horizon Youth Centre [NHYC] model of engagement with young women at risk of sexual exploitation. This report will provide an analysis of service delivery and user-engagement with WOS and NHYC, and will highlight areas of best practice in engaging with street-based sex workers and with young women at risk of sexual exploitation

Immoral geographies and Soho's sex shops: exploring spaces of sexual diversity in London

London's Soho, situated in the urban heart of the city has long been understood as both a cosmopolitan and diverse space where transgression and deviance, particularly in relation to the sex industry and sexual commerce, are constitutive of this area. Drawing on three years of ethnographic fieldwork, we add to some of the existing debates on sexual spaces in Soho by documenting the changes to the social/sexual landscape of sex shops in this area, and look to geographers interested in the spatial politics of gender and sexuality to understand the importance of this particular place. Looking at two particular sex shops in Soho, we argue that the spatial practices in this very specific part of the city encourage a disruption of traditional hierarchies that often govern gender and sexed practices, and invite women, LGBTQ and kink communities to inhabit more inclusive spaces of sexual citizenship

Space, power and sexuality: transgressive and transformative possibilities at the interstices of spatial boundaries

The themed section consists of articles that explore the relationship between power and space in relation to gender and sexuality by looking at processes of transgression, subversion or expansion of normative spatial practices and narratives. Using a theoretical framework that draws out power and space within a more specific context of feminist and queer literature, the articles explore the possibility to transgress, subvert or expand norms at the interstices of spatial boundaries beyond traditional binaries and hierarchies. Collectively, the articles call for a continued theoretical and methodological focus into the importance of looking at everyday sites of struggles and resistance in the crevasses, the liminal zones of space. The transgression of spatialized norms of sexuality and gender present a transformative potential that should be recognized for its political significance but, we argue, with caution as heteronormative and heteropatriarchal norms too often remain de rigueur in a neoliberal context

Preventing domestic violence and abuse: common themes and lessons learned from West Midlands' DHRs

This report is the result of a piece of commissioned research looking at Domestic Homicide Reviews in the West Midlands Police Force Area. Domestic Homicide Reviews were introduced in April 2011 with the aim of allowing and encouraging local areas to work together following a domestic homicide in order to focus on: future prevention, provision of relevant services, partnership and interagency working, justice outcomes, and risk reduction. Noting the lessons emanating from the Home Office (2013b) report looking at the usefulness of DHRs, the seven Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) across the West Midlands Police Force Area (WMPFA) believed there to be tangible benefits of understanding where the nationally identified themes are present across the WMPFA, and where a potential alteration of policy and practice across the region in response could identify domestic violence victims and reduce their vulnerability. As such, this report was commissioned by the seven CPGs across the WMPFA, and has been funded by the Police & Crime Commissioner. This report builds on the findings of the Home Office report (2013b) and the HMIC recommendations (HMIC, 2014) and tailors recommendations for the WMPFA with regards to strategies for tackling domestic violence, and specifically for addressing issues that may lead to domestic violence homicide

Gender And The American State

The study of gender in American political development (APD) challenges the efficacy for advancing women’s political inclusion of a liberal tradition valorizing principles of individual equality and positing a separation of the family and the state. Masked are ways in which gender roles and the family are integral to governance and state-building. Gender is both a dependent and an independent variable in APD. Shaped by institutions and policies of the state, it also shapes institutions and policies that promote women’s political citizenship and expand the state’s capacity for social provision—by asserting not only liberal claims of women’s equality with men, but also by invoking maternalist claims based on women’s difference from men, thereby challenging and altering relationships between public and private spheres

Standard Essential Patents and the Internet of Things

This in-depth analysis, commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the JURI Committee, assesses the European Commission of (EC) Communication of 29 November 2017 on the EU approach to Standard Essential Patents. The report examines the principles identified in the Communication with respect to the Commission’s proposals on (i) increasing transparency on SEPs; (ii) determining valuation of SEPs( Standard Essential Patents) and FRAND ( Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory) terms; and (iii) enforcement. The report evaluates the efficient resolution of licensing disputes over FRAND, including via litigation, arbitration and mediation, licensing pools and collective licensing. The current document also puts forward some policy recommendations to, inter alia, enhance the general environment of FRAND licencing in the context of SEPs

Helping Health Services to Meet the Needs of Young People with Chronic Conditions:Towards a Developmental Model for Transition

The transition to adult healthcare has been the subject of increased research and policy attention over many years. However, unmet needs of adolescent and young adults (AYAs) and their families continue to be documented, and universal implementation has yet to be realised. Therefore, it is pertinent to re-examine health transition in light of the principles of adolescent medicine from which it emerged, and consider this particular life transition in terms of a developmental milestone rather than a negotiation of structural boundaries between child and adult services. Health transitions are an integral part of AYA development and as such, occur alongside, and in connection with, a range of other important transitions that affect many other areas of life. In this paper, we discuss the interrelated nature of health transitions and AYA development; outline the underpinnings of a developmentally appropriate approach to transitional care; and consider the outcome measurement of such care based on existing evidence. A developmental approach has the potential to refocus transition on the fundamental principles of adolescent medicine, enabling health transition to be integrated along with other life transitions into routine AYA developmental assessments rather than being limited to the geographies of different healthcare settings and a potential health crisis

Evaluation of the Community Group Programme for Children & Young People: final report

The report presents findings from the evaluation of the Community Group Programme (CGP). The CGP is a 12-week psycho-educational, group work programme for children and young people who have experienced domestic violence. The Programme was developed in Canada and is being rolled out in England for the first time across 32 London boroughs. The programme is unique in working with children and their mothers concurrently and in a child-focused way. The study takes a theory-driven approach to evaluation. We employ a mixed method research strategy to answer questions of process (how does the CGP work?), impact (does the CGP make a difference and, if so, what sort of difference), salience (does the CGP matter to children and mothers and if so, in what ways?) and cost (what is the cost of CGP?). The final report presents findings from questionnaires, interviews and focus groups with children, mothers and professionals