Sex Work and Dramatic Television: How Primetime TV Has Shaped Public Understanding of the Sex Industry, and How We Go About Breaking Misconceptions

 Sex Work and Dramatic Television:

How Primetime TV Has Shaped Public Understanding of the Sex Industry, and How We Go About Breaking Misconceptions

Abstract:

Sex worker representation in dramatic television has long been a one- or two-note depiction. While sex workers themselves live their lives surrounded by the misunderstandings brought on by these caricatures that are reinforced episode after episode, the series themselves haven’t changed much in their approach to depicting sex work in the last two decades. This research studied the cumulative effects of sex worker representation in television on the average individual’s understanding of the industry, and the social constructions that reinforce these ideas in a cyclical nature, causing them to be repeated by other dramatic representations that are founded in misconception. As we examine three very different primetime television series - Law and Order: SVU, The Deuce, and Giri/Haji - we will compare how these series purport to show the realities of sex work, where they succeed, and how they fail. Furthermore, we will look at how some of these failures result in viewers basing their understanding of sex work on the series they choose to watch, given the real sex industry’s penchant for remaining outside of the public spotlight. Some of these series do in fact find a way to show the realities of sex work while expressing care and understanding to those involved in the work, while others choose to lean heavily into stereotypes in order to be more accommodating to their viewer’s expectations. In the end, we determine that strides are being made to break the mold of sex worker stereotypes in television, and that these steps are crucial ones, but that there is still more work to be done before people will truly start to reshape their understanding of sex workers and the sex industry.

Introduction:

    Of all the fringe industries that exist today, few are as misunderstood as sex work. Despite a consistent rise in the number of people who work in the sex industry, the industry itself remains shrouded in misinformation and sensationalized mystery. As Ellen E. Jones put it:

    “...through TV, the male gaze shapes our opinions of any aspect of the world of which we have no direct experience. For the vast majority of men and slightly less women, the reality of life as a sex worker belongs in that mysterious category.” (Jones, 2020)

    In other words, when we as individuals have no real-life contact with the sex worker industry, our only point of reference for those sex worker’s lives comes from what we see in film and television. While this is the case with many industries, very few have the same “you’re in or you’re out” culture, where the divide in understanding between those who have never encountered a sex worker and those who have is massive. 

    Therefore, those who have no connection to the sex work industry garner all of their understanding from media representation. This is not uncommon, there are many cultures that remain completely foreign outside of the stories we’re told by various medias, and many more that have yet to be represented at all. The difference here is that sex work is not something that doesn’t exist in the everyday. Every town and city in North America houses sex workers. According to the Canadian Public Health Association, there were upwards of 3,000 active sex workers in Calgary in 2014 (CPHA, 2014). That number can only have increased, especially in the last 14 months. 

    With so many sex workers living and working near us, where does that disconnect come from? It begins, in part, through a stigmatization of both the sex worker themselves, and the individual who pays them. For the most part, sex workers choose to keep their work and personal lives separate, largely because the fear of being “banished” from certain necessary parts of society, such as banks. 

    “Many banks and institutions include morality clauses in their terms of service allowing them to freeze and terminate sex worker accounts at will” (Handlin, 2018). 

    To add to that, the fear of their work being revealed to their families (known as being “outed”) is another factor that pushes workers to conceal their jobs from the people around them. As a result, in a lot of cases the average person may know a sex worker and have no idea.

    We know where the average person's disconnect from the sex industry comes from, but as we will be studying here, that disconnect can lead to some harmful and dangerous misunderstandings that have accumulated in society as a result. Two theories will be used to examine this trend: Social constructivism, which suggests that individuals shape their personal understanding of reality based on their own lived experiences, and cumulative theory, which posits that repeated exposure to a particular perspective through media can lead to a person unwittingly adopting that perspective as fact. Cumulative theory also suggests that repeated media exposures can lead a person to perform actions they might not otherwise have carried out (i.e., violence in video games), but this element of cumulative theory is fraught with issues, many of which directly contradict the theory itself. Instead, cumulative theory will be used solely to examine media exposure’s effects on a person’s perceptions, particularly when that media is the only lived experience influencing those perceptions.

    There is plenty of media in the world that provides context for sex work, and much of it comes from the same place of misinformed disconnection that the average individual does on this topic. However, news media deserves a study all to itself, and is far too reactionary to break down here. Instead, fictional representations of sex work will be the focus, in order to try and capture the “ripple effect” of these medias’ influences on opinions then being recycled back into new media that reinforces those opinions further. After narrowing the focus to film and television, serialized dramas stand out given the idea of recurring exposure to similar representations of sex work. While film likely has more examples to choose from, they are each their own unique take on the industry, whereas a television series maintains a more consistent representation over a longer period of time. The three series being examined will be HBO’s The Deuce, NBC’s Law and Order: SVU, and Netflix’s Giri/Haji.

Law and Order: SVU:

    Television’s longest running primetime live-action series, and TV’s most watched series in 2018-2019, SVU is known above all for bringing the often-uncomfortable conversation surrounding sex crimes into North American living rooms. The series, led for 23 years by Mariska Hargitay, has received praise for its portrayals of victims of sex abuse and trafficking. However, SVU has also received its fair share of criticisms. The show has a habit of pulling its episode plots from real-world headlines, often without asking permission from the actual victims to use their stories.

    “No one at SVU talked to me about my story, or told me that they were making an episode that was so clearly based on what happened to me. The disclaimer at the start of the show states that the episode is fiction, but everyone knows that Law & Order is ‘ripped from the headlines.’ Over the summer, one of the show’s writers had followed me on Instagram. Now I understood why.” (Waterbury & Angyal, 2020)

    For a show that presents such a consistent image of understanding and respect towards victims of sexual violence, taking real victims’ stories and spinning them into a 1-hour drama - splicing reality and fiction as they see fit – stands in contradiction to this supposed message. 

    Sex workers have not been spared from this either. In 2017, Yang Song fell four stories to her death when attempting to flee a police raid at the massage parlour where she worked (Grant & Whitford, 2017). Ironically, Song had been working as a police informant before her death, with the information she provided likely leading to the raid in which she lost her life. This tragedy, two years later, was spun into the SVU episode titled “Counsellor, It’s Chinatown.” In this episode, the raid on a massage parlour and Song’s attempted escape are re-created, except in this instance Song’s character is rescued by an SVU officer before she falls, leading to the uncovering of a dramatic conspiracy which takes up the remainder of the episode.

    “In every step along the way, the show feeds us a white savior fantasy version of the very real crackdown on Asian-run spas that offer sexual services in New York City and across the country. The same savior narrative fuels the real-life raids and busts, in which Asian migrant massage workers are suspected to be victims of some massive sex-trafficking ring in need of rescue.” (Tso, 2019)

    This idea of “sensationalized victimhood” is SVU’s greatest Achilles’ heel; for all the good the show does in portraying sympathetic sex workers, as well as police who are sympathetic to sex workers, the show relies heavily on sex workers being victims of violence, trafficking, stalking, pimping, drug abuse, and solitude. The vast majority of SVU’s sex workers are victims of one or several of these plot devices, and it works against the show’s message of support and understanding toward these workers. 

    This has been an issue with the show since its outset. In SVU’s fourth episode, titled “Hysteria,” the team works the murder case of a sex worker and all happily spout one-liners that actively demean the workers they’re supposed to be protecting, some scoffing at the idea of a “health-conscious hooker,” while others suggest if one worker’s statement may be the “...figment of some fellow hooker’s crack pipe.” SVU later decides to call child services on one sex worker because they decide she “looks young,” despite only moments before promising the same worker that they will not cause her any trouble (DeNoon, 1999). An episode that aired over a decade later, titled “Acceptable Loss,” sees this wonderful quote from an SVU officer:

LOU

You can’t rape a whore!

DETECTIVE AMARO

Yea? Well, you can murder one. (Zuckerman, 2012)

    This exemplifies the biggest issue with SVU’s portrayal of sex work. These officers who are supposed to be sympathetic, who are presented over and over by the show as being on the side of the sex workers, whose job the show implies is to protect these workers, use the same demeaning and victimizing jargon as the perpetrators of sex crimes in the real world. Even with the show’s insistence on standing in support of the victims of sex crimes, they often end up using the same language that surrounds those sex crimes to begin with. 

    No episode is more egregious than “Dreams Deferred,” which aired just a month after “Acceptable Loss.” In it, a sex worker named Jeannie is being targeted by a man who has suffered a mental break and has murdered several people close to him. Jeannie has been seeing this man as a client for several decades and knows him well, and SVU fears that she may be one of his targets. Their hunch ends up being correct, the man attempts to kidnap Jeannie, and SVU intervenes. All is well, right? Well, the team decides to spend the last ten minutes of the episode “outing” Jeannie to her family and friends because they have decided that she is “done” and needs to “get off the street” (Martin, 2012). This decision, based on nothing except SVU’s own desire to “save” Jeannie, in reality does the exact opposite of helping Jeannie, as it is presented in the episode. While Jeannie embraces her family and agrees to retire from sex work, the reality is that for many sex workers this scenario is the embodiment of their worst nightmares. For SVU to behave as though it is their decision as to when Jeannie can or cannot continue working re-enforces this idea that sex workers are victims that need to be rescued from themselves.

    This attitude towards sex work does not exist in a bubble. The Green River Killer, who murdered 48 women, said he chose sex workers because he thought he could kill as many as he wanted without getting caught. The shootings at two Asian spas in Atlanta this past March were perpetrated because the shooter wanted to eliminate his “temptation” (Graham, 2021). The idea that sex workers are already victims allows attackers to excuse their own actions, because it is not them victimizing these girls; they were victims already. Television dramas like Law and Order: SVU further cement these ideas in the public psyche, because when people don’t encounter sex workers in their day-to-day lives, their impressions about these people are formed by their characterizations. As Dr. Vikrant Sopan Yadav from the Government Law College in Dubai puts it:

    “As media is considered as an agent of social change, it should focus more on the role of sex workers as a mother, bread earner and most importantly as a common citizen. Film and Television media should highlight the struggle and issues faced (like violation of human rights) by the sex workers. It is only the positive role of media that can make a sea of change in shaping the public opinion and ensuring the status equivalent to every other citizen to the sex workers.” (Yadav, 2020)

The Deuce:

    At the other end of the spectrum sits The Deuce, HBO’s series about the rise of professional pornography in 1970’s New York. Created and produced by The Wire’s David Simon, The Deuce endeavors to portray sex work honestly and accurately, even if that means that some of the sex workers don’t fit into their standard dramatic cliches, and don’t necessarily need the police to “rescue” them. 

    The series makes a strong first impression when “Candy,” a sex worker played by Maggie Gyllenhaal, explains in the Pilot episode to a young client named Stuart, whose session ended prematurely, why his session ending quickly does not entitle him to another session. After uncovering that the young man’s father owns a car dealership, she gives us this anecdote:

    “Someone comes in, knows just the car he wants, doesn’t dick around, doesn’t need a long test drive, doesn’t argue about the colour or whatever, does he give him the car for less? Does he pay less than the guy who comes in, takes forever, gotta drive five or six cars, talk about the radio, the whitewalls, everything else before he’s done and ready to buy? No. He doesn’t give the easy customer two cars for the price of one, right? This is my job, Stuart.” (Pelecanos & Simon, 2017)

    These are the types of conversations that we need to see sex workers having. The kind where they aren't being walked over, told how to work or what rules do and don’t apply to them. Instead, here Candy is succinctly explaining exactly how her job works, and how she makes money doing this kind of work. There is no barter system, there is no flexibility or sales. This is her job.

    This attitude extends to the entire series and pervades as the kind of dramatic television that really could push the needle in terms of sex worker representation and understanding among the average viewers. There are easily a dozen named sex worker characters in the show, each with their own history and personality. Some are victims, others are criminals. Some are businesswomen, some are refugees. There are no broad strokes used in The Deuce, and that works to its benefit.

    The show’s ability to so genuinely portray these situations stems from the fact that the producers involved real sex workers in the creation of the show. The Deuce’s strength is that is shows a broad range of people involved in sex work, and the associates that the work branches out to include. As Melissa Broudo said when asked about working with the show’s producers:

    “To show the reality is to show many realities. Within the context of feminism with sex work and advocacy, we are looking at a different feminist model. One where sex work advocates are attempting to bring a new level of nuance. There now seem to be only two models of sex work: either the victim or the whore, where there is only the marginalized victim being tortured or the empowered whore. While the reality is much more complex. The sex worker's rights movement in the last 20 years has really shown and been able to shift the narrative to show the complexities, [aided by nuanced portrayal] of sex workers.” (Yang, 2017)

    The fact is that a big part of where the misconceptions about sex work come from are these stereotypical portrayals. The “victim or the whore,” as Broudo puts it, is all we’ve really been shown about these people. Where The Deuce pushes the envelope is in breaking those stereotypes. Yes, they are present, but they are not exclusively the kind of workers we are shown, and therein lies the steps forward in representation that the show takes.

Giri/Haji:

    This Netflix series is not as focused on sex work as the other two, but that is part of what makes it so relevant in the conversation. That, and its portrayal of one of the only recurring male sex worker characters on television. Rodney, played by Will Sharpe, is a Japanese man who grew up in England, and who works as a male sex worker. Rodney has his share of problems; from his drug addiction to his self-deprecating need to be the “guy who can commit the unspeakable act.” The thing is, at no point does the show tie this to his work. In fact, it is almost never brought up. In a series that is centered around police from two different countries, it’s surprising to see such acceptance and respect across the board for Rodney’s choice of income generation.

    On top of this, Kenzo Mori, the show's lead character, repeatedly lets his teenage daughter Taki spend extended time with Rodney. Unsupervised, Rodney shows Taki around London, both the street life and the underground. At no point is Kenzo concerned about his daughter’s safety with Rodney, or Rodney’s potential influence on Taki. Kenzo sees Rodney for the genuine human being that he is, and trusts him without needing any kind of reassurances that Rodney’s work will not negatively impact Taki.

    These are the kinds of depictions that are so crucial to the shifting of public perspective through media representation. Shows like SVU and The Deuce frequently represent sex work, but that’s the basis for their show. What is so unique and important about Rodney’s character is that he is not the shows focus. He is one element of the series, but the fact that his work involves sex or that he is soliciting men for that sex is never a factor in the plot. Rodney just is, he exists around the story and is involved in it, but his role as a sex worker never comes in to play as a plot device. Rodney’s choices are respected by those around him - even those he’s just met – and his good nature is never called in to question because of it. As Dr. Leslie Barnes says:

    “Journalists, artists, academics and legislators want to educate, respond to exploitation and eliminate suffering – but this is only possible when their representations do not themselves perpetuate ignorance, abuse and distress.” (Barnes, 2017)

Conclusion:

    As we’ve seen, there is not a lot of variation in how sex workers are shown on television. The most popular representations of this industry fall in to two stereotypical categories: the victim or the whore. Melissa Gira Grant says:

    “The majority of stories in the media about sex work are either stories of arrests or, unfortunately, of violence and death, and we very rarely get to hear from sex workers themselves.” (Mock, 2016)

    This is where series like The Deuce begin to break the mold. While these stereotypes do still exist and are represented in the show, they are juxtaposed by just as many or more characters who are more nuanced in their motivations. In order to break the cumulative misunderstanding that comes from sex worker misrepresentation in the media, series like this are essential. They both address the social constructs that have perpetuated unhindered for decades, while also working to build new social constructs of understanding and respect. Similarly, shows like Giri/Haji that are willing to write about sex workers without turning them into a fantasy push the narrative forward into a progressive realm, without needing to directly tell the viewer that sex workers are also people and can be represented as such.

    While series like SVU continue to pander to mainstream audiences by only lightly addressing the issues around sex work and representation (as well as occasionally causing new issues all on their own), there is a new guard in television that is starting to push back against these stereotypes, and in time, will work towards a broader public understanding of these people who spend so much of their lives being misunderstood.



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