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Abstract
In this issue, we complete the two part series on representations of sex workers. While the previous issue explored the representations of sex workers in the news media, this issue includes articles examining representations of sex workers in documentaries and television programmes. As one of our contributors, Karen Boyle (2008) previously noted, there has been an explosion of sexually explicit imagery in popular culture since the 1990s. Former Commentary and Criticism editor Jane Arthurs (2004) has also written extensively on the rise of what she labels "docuporn"— documentaries which trace or follow the lives of sex workers-which mainly emphasises the sexual aspects through graphic imagery. The problems with this genre, according to Arthurs, is that it presents women's entry into prostitution through a liberal lens-one that privileges a narrative of empowerment for and choice by these women to sell their bodies over the men's purchase of sex from women (Arthurs 2004, p. 44). As Arthurs states, these docupors seem to say when people choose to sell sex, "why does it matter who buys porn?" (2004, p. 44). This form of superficial empowerment vis-a-vis a liberal voyeur seems to be a common characteristic representations of sex workers, according to some of our contributors, while others argue that there are instances of real empowerment and success by those who choose to make a living by selling their bodies. Our first article is by Ambar Basu and Mohan J. Dutta, writing about the 2004 documentary, Born into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids, where filmmakers gave the children of sex workers cameras to document their lives. Despite winning several awards, Basu and Dutta argue that the film presents sex workers and their children through a post- colonial, White, Eurocentric lens, presenting sex workers through a voyeuristic gaze which urges the audience to "eroticise, unravel, civilise and colonise." In addition to this Eurocentric lens, the authors go on to document how the children of sex workers are presented as living hopeless lives, being raised by incompetent mothers, and are in desperate need of the altruistic help of the filmmakers or other White saviours. Our second contributor, Jennifer Dunn, writes about the reality television series Cathouse, which documents the life of sex workers at the Moonlite Bunny Ranch in Nevada, USA. She contends that the programme presents sex workers as women who have "chosen their work, are comfortable with their sexuality, provide a service for their customers, and
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