Higher and further education institution policies on student and staff involvement in commercial sex

Abstract

This paper concerns higher and further education institutions' policies as they relate to the interactions of their staff and students with the sex industry. In Scotland and England, consenting adults may legally buy and sell sex and commercial sexual entertainment, such as erotic dance and phone sex, provided that they do not do so in a public place. The indoor commercial sex sector is legally staffed and patronised by a wide variety of individuals, yet newspapers publish articles for salacious appeal exposing their involvement. A Freedom of Information enquiry found that although no institution had a policy prohibiting staff or student involvement in commercial sex, unwritten assumptions could be used to penalise legal but stigmatised sexual behaviour. The paper considers how institutions might respond to allegations of disreputable behaviour.

Keywords:

• higher and further education
• policy
• sex work
• staff
• student

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the work of Jane Scoular and Christina Day of Strathclyde University. Jane Scoular was involved in early discussions about project conception and steered the proposal through the ethical approval process. Christina Day sent letters of enquiry to institutions and created a respondent database.