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A big thank you to all who have helped us and contributed to BTG by taking part in a research interview!

We’ve have had such a fabulous response from people in the industry that we have reached our target for the first phase of interviews with sex workers. We have had people from all over the UK, all genders, people working  in escorting,  BDSM work, phone sex chat & camming help us out. We may be doing some more interviews  later in the year to look in more depth at particular issues, we will post and tweet about this if we do.

From September 2016  we will be carrying out an online survey of internet based sex workers and really want this to be the largest survey of the sector to date. Look out for calls to take part!

Our call out for interviews has gone really well and many people have been in touch to take part in interviews. We’ve been carrying  those interviews out over the last couple of months and we want to say A BIG THANK YOU  to all the people who have taken part in an interview & to those forums and platforms who have helped let people in the sector know about the interviews.  For those who took part we hope it was OK for you, we really valued all contributions and already are building up a wealth of data about people’s experiences in this diverse sector.

At the moment we’re especially keen to interview;

• Male webcammers & escorts based in the UK
• Internet based sex workers of all genders from Northern Ireland, Wales & Scotland
• Migrant sex workers working in the UK in internet base sex work e.g escorting, webcamming, BDSM

If you would like to take part in the interview or get further information about what is involved please email, text, call or whats app Stewart Cunningham at stewart.cunningham@strath.ac.uk  mobile: 07834148334  or email Teela Sanders T.L.M.Sanders@leeds.ac.uk.   They will arrange a time that suits you to be interviewed.  The interview will focus on the use of the internet in your work and will cover wider working practices & safety, we really want to hear your experiences & views.  Interviews can be over Skype, phone or face to face, whatever suits you! Interviews will take an hour and there is a £20 thank you Amazon voucher. 

The researchers carrying out this research & the interviews have many years experience of working with people in the sex industry learn more about them at  http://beyond-the-gaze.com/the-team/ 

Confidentiality: We know how important privacy and confidentiality is for people in the sex industry. Taking part in an interview will be confidential & anonymous, no personal details that could identify you will be recorded.   We work to strict ethical guidelines  laid down by Leeds University Ethics Committee and if we didn’t follow these we would get into trouble.

Contribute to Important Research!   We hope you can help us! Beyond the Gaze will be the largest, most important study, of this sector of the industry to date in the UK, so a good opportunity to have your say.  As this is an important study it will  be used  to  inform policy, so it’s important the views & experiences of  a group of sex workers whose needs/working styles and conditions, which have tended to be ignored, will be collected in this research. The research will  produce in-depth information about independent sex work and escorting  which have so far been covered only by smaller-scale studies.

A key part of the Beyond the Gaze research fieldwork is carrying out interviews with sex workers, these are now underway. The BTG Team at Leeds & Strathclyde Universities are carrying out interviews with internet based sex workers from across the UK. We are looking for people, of all genders,  all nationalities, based in the UK who work as escorts or webcammers to take part in a research interview.  If you would like to take part in the interview or get further information about what is involved please contact  one of our researchers – Stewart Cunningham at stewart.cunningham@strath.ac.uk  mobile: 07834148334 or Teela Sanders at T.L.M.Sanders@leeds.ac.uk.  We will arrange a time that suits you to be interviewed by one of the team.  The interview will focus on the use of the internet in your work and will cover wider working practices & safety, we really want to hear your experiences & views.  Interviews can be over Skype, phone or face to face, whatever suits you! Interviews will take an hour and there is a £20 thank you Amazon voucher. 

The researchers carrying out this research & the interviews have many years experience of working with people in the sex industry learn more about them at  http://beyond-the-gaze.com/the-team/ 

Confidentiality: We know how important privacy and confidentiality is for people in the sex industry. Taking part in an interview will be confidential & anonymous, no personal details that could identify you will be recorded.   We work to strict ethical guidelines  laid down by Leeds University Ethics Committee and if we didn’t follow these we would get into trouble.

Contribute to Important Research!   We hope you can help us! Beyond the Gaze will be the largest, most important study, of this sector of the industry to date in the UK, so a good opportunity to have your say.  As this is an important study it will  be used  to  inform policy, so it’s important the views & experiences of  a group of sex workers whose needs/working styles and conditions, which have tended to be ignored, will be collected in this research. The research will  produce in-depth information about independent sex work and escorting  which have so far been covered only by smaller-scale studies.

Beyond the Gaze supports 17th December, International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers.   This day was created to call attention to hate crimes committed against sex workers and to remember those who have been murdered. It was originally created by The Sex Workers Outreach Project in the US  as a memorial and vigil for the victims of the “Green River Killer” in Seattle Washington. It has grown to be a global event, where sex workers, sex work support projects and their supporters come together in towns and cities around the world to remember victims of violence and reinforce the message that crimes against sex workers will not be tolerated and perpetrators will be brought to justice.

Go to  http://www.december17.org/ if you want to read more about the day.

In it’s work to challenge stigma & Prevent Violence Against Sex Workers our partner NUM are leading a thunder clap sign up here http://campaign.justgiving.com/charity/uknoswp/december17thnationaluglymugs

Peer expert by experience researchers & advisers in the BTG team share a number of statements of support for the day and sex workers globally;

‘You have the human right to work free from fear’

‘Beyond the Gaze’  (Sociology and Social Policy, University of Leeds)
is pleased to announce that we are recruiting  3 sessional Peer Researchers for our participatory action research project about internet based sex work
We are recruiting for 3 posts each Grade 6 Peer Researchers (£15 per hour, 60 hours over a two year period). Available from November 2015 fixed term to August 2017.

Duties will include advising on research design, recruitment methods and access; interviewing internet based sex workers; advising on survey design and delivery; writing short reports and where appropriate presenting research findings to academic and practitioner based audiences. For one of the posts we require a Romanian speaker.

We are inviting application forms and short cover note to be sent to Dr Teela Sanders by 16^th  November 2015 (t.l.m.sanders@leeds.ac.uk). To download further details about the posts, the person specification & application form Click on  (Person spec / Duties and Application form).  Interviews are expected to be held on 25 November 2015

Applications will be treated as strictly confidential and seen by only immediate members of the team.