Unit name | Sex Power and Consumption |
---|---|
Unit code | SPOL30073 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | H/6 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
Unit director | Dr. Mulvihill |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | School for Policy Studies |
Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
In this unit, you will explore how sex and sexual services are commodified, marketised and consumed and how relations of inequality and power intersect these practices.
The unit will trace the history of sex markets, the different modes of consumption and criminal justice responses in the UK and internationally. You will assess the significant impact of the internet, of commercial interests, and of the wider policy context, on the organisation of sex markets and on individuals engaging in buying and selling sex and intimacy.
You will consider how relations of power and social identities (for example: gender, age, class, ethnicity or nationality) may position buyers and sellers and the extent to which agency, pleasure, coercion or harm characterise how sex is consumed today.
Unit aims:
At the end of the unit, students will be able to:
All ILOs will be assessed across summative parts 1 and 2.
This unit will draw on a blended learning approach. Students will engage with asynchronous taught content (including, for example, narrated slides and other teaching and research materials) and will be tasked to complete activities in preparation for synchronous sessions to present and discuss ideas and clarify learning.
Part 1: 25% Critical review (1000 words maximum)
Part 2: 75% Essay (2000 words maximum)
Sanders, T., O'Neill, M., and Pitcher, J., 2018. Prostitution: Sex Work, Policy & Politics. SAGE Publications.
Jefferys, S., 2009. The Industrial Vagina: The Political Economy of the Sex Trade. London, New York: Routledge.
Ditmore, M.H., Levy, A., and Willman, A., 2010. Sex Work Matters: Exploring Money, Power, and Intimacy in the Sex Industry. London, New York: Routledge. Available as an e-book through the library.
Della Giusta, M. and Munro, V., (eds.), 2008. Demanding sex: critical reflections on the regulation of prostitution. Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing Limited. Available as an e-book through the library.
Brents, B.G., Jackson, C.A., and Hausbeck, K., 2010. The State of Sex: Tourism, Sex and Sin in the New American Heartland. New York: Routledge. Available as an e-book through the library.
Bindel, J., 2017. The Pimping of Prostitution: Abolishing the Sex Work Myth. London: Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Available as an e-book through the library.