Abstract
The face is the most rudimentary code of a photographic self-portrait. However, for the woman sex worker, showing one’s face in a portrait is a complex, nuanced choice and, at times, a dangerous practice with devastating consequences; however, a visual practice that is crucial to understanding sex worker identity construction and the language of sex work. A sex worker concealing her face is a critical feminist anonymity practice that intersects visibility and surveillance. The resultant impact on the visual culture of sex work inevitably shapes the language of sex work. This paper introduces the aesthetic terms ‘face out’ and ‘face in’ to describe the previously undocumented language of portraiture unique to women sex workers. Thus, this study provides an original analysis drawing upon theories of the face in historical and contemporary art, the morality and political significance of the face and the self-presentation and representation of women. The methodology employed is an interdisciplinary approach of arts-based and ethnographic research strategies. Drawing on photographic and qualitative research data collected from 450 sex workers. Crucially in rejecting the creation of photographs as part of art-based research, this method does not bring the photograph into existing sex work theories but starts with the self-portrait, allowing for a new understanding of the visual language of sex work. This work contributes to image and society discourses by introducing and defining previously undefined visual and linguistic practices unique to the visual culture of contemporary women sex workers who sell sex in online spaces.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
INTERNET, SELF-PORTRAIT, SEX WORK, IDENTITY, PROSTITUTION, VISIBILITY, SURVEILLANCE, FEMINISM
