Mar 29, 2024  
2021 - 2022 Academic Catalog 
    
2021 - 2022 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

THD 195-01 - Introductory Special Topic: Sexwork in the City

1 credits (Fall)
Cross-listed as: GWS 195-01   How does sexwork, that most private of professions, negotiate urban spaces in which it operates? How does it advertise, under what spatial circumstances, and with what dangers is it performed? When women signal their availability by public presence, how do residents sharing the same neighborhoods respond? And what do sexworkers think about these issues? This course engages theories from gender studies, sociology, and urban geography on sexualities in city spaces, examining three plays about female prostitution in the UK. Anthropologist Kathy Kamp discusses prostitutes’ calling cards (formerly placed in red British phone booths) and contemporary internet work. Theatre professor Lesley Delmenico explores her play, No Bad Women (drawn from a landmark trial in which two sexworkers confront their rapist) and Cora Bissett’s immersive trafficking drama, Roadkill (National Theatre of Scotland). We also read and see London Road, by Alecky Blythe and Adam Cork, (National Theatre of Great Britain), the first verbatim musical, probing suburban residents’ reclamation of their street following the murders of three sexworkers. Viewpoints from the English Collective of Prostitutes on spatiality, visibility, and safety will be included.

Prerequisite: None.
Note: Dates: September 1 to September 22. Short course deadlines apply.
Instructor: Delmenico