UK New sitcom about prostitution, where they love their job!

[annared]

Channel Five's new sitcom is about prostitution. You know the funniest part? The women all love their work.

When it comes to sitcoms, some situations are inherently funnier than others. Snobbish radio shrink lives with feisty working-class father and difficult dog? Comedy gold. Manic hotelier with clumsy Spanish sidekick enrages everyone in his path? A no-brainer. How about this one, then? In an age of soaring sex tourism, amid reports that one in 10 British men has visited a prostitute and stories of sex worker "slave auctions" in the arrival lounges of British airports, how about creating a sitcom set in a suburban British brothel?

It's the new comedy show from Channel Five, it begins in a couple of weeks, and it's surely comedy genius! Four female characters, all prostitutes, and all - naturally, this being a comedy - happy hookers, hoofing it up and uttering deathless quips about blowjobs. There's Maureen, the ageing madame, who offers such comedy lines as "less gabble, more gobble" and whose catchphrase - hilariously - is, "But I'm only 27!" There's Kate, the brainy one, who is working in the sex trade to pay off her student loans, and Hayley, the extremely thick one (played by lads' mag favourite Jodi Albert) who is working as a prostitute to pay for ... heroin? No. Crack? No. You guessed it: her shoe collection!

http://society.guardian.co.uk/crimeandp ... 17,00.html

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[Pony]

Done. I have to believe this is the penduluum at its far point.

Was this a legal brothel? Do you have a news story link for us?
"In July 2006, two women in Shropshire were beaten to death in a brothel."

[Jimmy H.]

My stomach hurts (again!). You know, when the equivalent of Big Brother arrived in France, we used to joke about the limit-pushing by saying that "next thing you know, they put cameras in a brothel".
There have been trafficked women (mostly from Ukraine and other East-European countries) in British brothels as well as the Greek legal brothels Ms. Dora Bakoyannis was so proud of (as the rightwing mayor of Athens during the Olympics, she asked pimps and prostitutes to "make and effort" for the arriving "sports" fans; poor men who can't use their own hands; now she is our Secretary of Foreign Affairs).

Anyway, now there is the Cathouse precedent. The sisterly fun-loving atmosphere thing is a trend. I can think of two fairly recent movies who seem to follow it: Rub & Tug, about a massage parlour in Canada (it was presented at Bayswan's "Sex Work Film Festival"), and Soapgirl, which takes place in a Hawai'ian "soapland". If I recall correctly, both films were made by directors of Korean descent. The key element in those productions is the one "new girl" who suffers at the beginning (it is a Chinese immigrant in Rub & Tug) but finally gets over it and enjoys the life so much she becomes the best "girl". Because it is important to show that, yes, suffering exists, but it is an exception, you know ("don't professional athletes suffer, too?" etc.).

I am always infuriated at the way so-called "madams" (the "interface") are glorified in malestream culture, but that's a whole 'nother topic.

Added later: I haven't seen any of those movies, so if you have and think I am mischaracterizing them, please don't hesitate to correct me. I'be tempted to say the same about The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (with Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds), which is used by Nevada brothels (especially the one called "the Chicken Ranch") in their advertisements. I felt very uneasy when I saw it parodied in a Simpsons episode (the "whorehouse" became a gambling house and the "ladies" were waitresses and chorus dancers, but the "Madam" was still presented as some sort of heroin).

I am aware that this is fiction and "art", but it perpetuates an imagery, preconceptions and stereotypes which ultimately harm the real prostituted women by presenting their situation as acceptable.

[sam]

"Sex Work Film Festival"

Aren't sex work films already called pornography?

If pornography is freedom of expression and these women claim they are expressing their sexual selves through their work, why the need for a whole other set of films?

[Jimmy H.]

Yeah, Nature forbid we remind anyone that the "porno-" part comes from the word "(female) prostitute" (porne) and that pornography is originally the writing of prostitution guides (I've seen some of the old Chinese counterparts: it's all about how to interpret the woman's expression to see if she's lying, how to "negotiate" with the "mama", how to get the woman to comply, etc.).

I wrote the name by memory, but I googled it, and that Bayswan (Bay Area Sex Worker Advocacy Network) event is called in fact "The San Francisco Sex Workers' Film and Video Festival". If they mean "movies made by sex workers" (which I'm not sure they do, but I don't want to go to their site), that is inaccurate in the case of Rub & Tug, since, as far as I know, neither the director nor any of the actors are "sex workers".

[annared]

"In July 2006, two women in Shropshire were beaten to death in a brothel."

Pony is this the one you were thinking of?Massage parlour killer stole CCTV monitor

Press Association
Tuesday August 8, 2006
The Guardian


Detectives hunting the killer of two women in a massage parlour believe the murderer stole a CCTV monitor. The bodies of Annie Eels, 55, and Samantha Tapper, 24, were found on the floor of premises in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, in July. They had severe head injuries.
Detective Chief Inspector Sheila Thornes of West Mercia police said the small white monitor, Woolworths brand and about 15cm square, was taken from the reception room where the women were murdered. About £300 was also missing from the parlour, known as Rachael's Health Studio.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article ... 29,00.html

I do not think this was the original report more of a follow up.

[Pony]

If you click on the link to sign the petition, this is part of it:

"In July 2006, two women in Shropshire were beaten to death in a brothel. By broadcasting a sitcom that makes selling sex in brothels appear funny, Channel 5 is glamorising an industry that exploits, degrades and ultimately kills women. This sitcom should be withdrawn immediately from schedules and shelved, never to be shown."

[annared]

If you click on the link to sign the petition, this is part of it:

Get ya! Got a bit of a brain melt down at the mo

[jo]

Signed the petition

[deedle]

Signed.