The sex worker study - paid for by YOU

Can you guess how much it cost taxpayers?

Another dark day of austerity falls upon Britain.

Yesterday I discovered that the taxpayer is funding a study… on none other than sex workers, and their “diverse lived experiences” (of course).

The study is titled: SWERV: Sex Workers Evaluate Reporting Violence, “a research initiative between health researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and National Ugly Mugs (NUM), in collaboration with Brunel University.”

It explains:

“Sex Workers Evaluate Reporting Violence (SWERV) is a 30-month, participatory, mixed-method project to evaluate how UK charity National Ugly Mugs’ services affect sex workers’ safety and mental health.”

and continues:

We will take the DEPTH approach which involves ‘dialogues’ (discussions) with sex workers and practitioners to co-develop the research design and recommendations.

Here’s the full link.

How is the taxpayer involved?

Well, the project is funded by the National Institute for Health and Social Care Research (funded by the Department of Health and Social Care). Researchers add: “The views expressed are those of the research team and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department for Health and Social Care.” But it doesn’t mean much when taxpayers are still paying for it.

Project leads are currently on the hunt for “two part-time (4 days/week) Research Fellows at LSHTM and a part-time (2.5 days/week) Research Coordinator at National Ugly Mugs, as well as a team of freelance community co-researchers to help design and deliver the research.”

The goal

Once the team is assembled, they’ll be exploring how “NUM services" are working out for sex workers, including the “NUM checker” an online tool for you to screen your clients, keeping you safe and informed of any details previously reported to NUM.”

The study blurb reads:

“Together, we will use what we learn to recommend how to improve community-based violence prevention and survivor support services ‘by and for’ sex workers”, the study reads.

About NUM

Here’s some info on NUM, whose funders include The National Lottery Community Fund:

It celebrates International Sex Workers’ Day

It has collaborated with The Vagina Museum

It has some friendly call outs

And some fun events to top it off…

The Lived Experience (an interlude)

NUM, like many other public institutions, uses the word “lived experience” when it refers to sex workers.

This expression may sound innocuous but watch out for it. It is one of several major signs of how ideologically-captured the state sector is, even in scientific institutions. Take, for instance, UCL’s new department, the Collaborative Centre for Inclusion Health, which explains that “Inclusion health is a social justice movement”. This is something being applied to NHS medical care!

Similarly, “lived experience” is being used in institutions supposed to provide factual/ evidence-based information. But the expression is sinister - largely a means to elevate subjective interpretations of reality and ideology over fact; to say “my view trumps your reasoning, because of my ‘marginalised’ identity’.” It is a means of creating new hierarchies in society based on people’s immutable characteristics, where identities perceived as “represented” (normally white, straight) can be increasingly stigmatised.

How much?

The question you were all waiting for:

The award is £979,142.38. Yes, almost £1 million.

Just imagine if that money had been used to stop women turning to sex work…

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