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A sex worker reviews Good Luck to You, Leo Grande


The film is clearly trying to convey the inherent value and necessity of sex work as a form of care work, but it can only do so with a switcheroo female client/male worker dynamic – one of the encounters least representative of the industry. If Leo and Nancy's roles were reversed, it would be significantly harder to market the film as a touching story of care work.

Leo's labour as an escort is presented as being more meaningful than just sex – he provides intimacy, companionship and conversation to his clients. These are services offered by most sex workers, but in emphasising Leo's professionalism and implying that his job is somehow therapist-adjacent, the film winds up functioning as an exercise in respectability politics, rather than advocacy. Leo Grande has no supportive message for sex workers who are not perceived as ‘professional', such as street-based sex workers and sex workers who use drugs, although the labour they perform is virtually identical to Leo's.

In addition to the gender dynamics, the film utterly misrepresents the legal landscape for sex workers in the UK. When Nancy asks if Leo has ever been “in trouble” because of the partial criminalisation of sex work, he responds that solicitation is illegal, but selling time and companionship is not. Significantly, neither of them – Nancy supposedly having taught a course on the subject – mention the criminal brothel keeping laws that govern sex work in the UK and Ireland. These laws prevent two or more workers from sharing premises, even for separate businesses at separate times.

Working alone can be hazardous in any vocation, but it is especially so in sex work. Dangerous clients use the brothel keeping laws against workers; they know that we risk being prosecuted ourselves if we go to the police, leaving us vulnerable to attacks. These laws cause significant harm to all sex workers in the UK and Ireland, especially migrant workers; it is bizarre for them to go unmentioned. Neither Nancy, nor the film itself, are really concerned with Leo's labour rights – only that he convincingly performs enjoyment and enthusiastic consent.

The problem with romanticising sex work

Despite its flawed perspective, the film's dialogue is overwhelmingly convincing. Nancy asks Leo a number of invasive questions, such as his ‘real' name, whether his family knows about his job and whether he has been abused.

I'm often asked such questions as a sex worker. The clients who asked them all left me feeling exhausted and dehumanised; they each contributed to the level of ambient stress (and sometimes violence) that I face at work. Clients do not ask questions like these out of concern, but to voyeuristically gain access to a sex worker's private life as well as their body – can you imagine sexually servicing a stranger who asks for your history of abuse?

At an early point in the film, Nancy asks Leo if he is demeaned or degraded in his work, and Leo reassures her that he is not. Personally, it is the demand to prove my authentic enjoyment in the face of relentless skepticism that I have found to be one of the most degrading aspects of the job. For some clients, it is not enough to be present and willing; you have to display authentic pleasure, an undefined concept measured entirely by the client's own standards.

With Nancy, who is hell-bent on making each encounter “real”, performing authenticity is an impossible task; it can never be satisfyingly proved and the pressure can cause sex workers overwhelming stress.

 

This “Eyes on Trafficking” story is reprinted from its original location.

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PBJ Learning is a leading provider of online human trafficking training, focusing on and prevention education. Their interactive Human Trafficking Essentials is used worldwide to educate professionals and individuals how to recognize human trafficking and how to respond to potential victims. Learn on any web browser (even your mobile phone) at any time.

More stories like this can be found in your PBJ Learning Knowledge Vault.

 

EYES ON TRAFFICKING

This “Eyes on Trafficking” story is reprinted from its original online location.

ABOUT PBJ LEARNING

PBJ Learning is a leading provider of online human trafficking training, focusing on awareness and prevention education. Their interactive Human Trafficking Essentials online course is used worldwide to educate professionals and individuals how to recognize human trafficking and how to respond to potential victims. Learn on any web browser (even your mobile phone) at any time.

More stories like this can be found in your PBJ Learning Knowledge Vault.