Co-Creating Spatial Justice: A Feminist Design Ethnography of Sex Workplaces in Calgary, Canada
Creators: name: Grittner, Alison
Publisher: name: Social Work
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Sex work
subject: Spatial Justice
subject: Multisensory Arts-Based Methods
subject: Design Ethnography
subject: Architecture
subject: FOS: Civil engineering
subject: Social Work
subject: FOS: Sociology
subject: Architecture
subject: Design and Decorative Arts
subject: Education--Social Sciences

description: Sex work is a broadly studied topic across many disciplines but the physical and material environment of sex workplaces, particularly sex workers’ needs and desires surrounding their places of work, remain elusive within scholarship (Grittner &amp; Sitter, 2020). Canadian sex workers have called for this work (Krüsi et al., 2012; Seshia, 2010, p. 13), as across the country they experience spatial apartheid and place-based marginality (Sayers, 2013a). Current Canadian criminal law targeting sex work is inherently spatial, dictating where sex work and communication for the purposes of sex work may occur (Department of Justice, 2014). In the face of this research gap and on-going structural and interpersonal violence towards sex workers, discerning the place of sex work is a critical undertaking within social work research to advance socio-spatial justice. Within this dissertation I redress the above research gap by asking the following research questions: What are the place-based experiences and desires among women and non-binary sex workers living in Calgary, Alberta? How might the lived experiences of women and non-binary sex workers in Calgary, Alberta generate design principles for supportive sex workplaces? Design ethnography methodology guides the research inquiry within a participatory paradigm. Multisensory arts-based fieldwork, go-along interviews, Sensation films, and design charrette methods combine to understand embodied and multidimensional experiences in sex workplaces. The research findings reveal an interconnected web of place-based relationships within sex workplaces. Sex workplaces are entangled across three primary place-domains: relationships with self, relationships with society, and relationships with clients. Across these three domains, the co-researchers' stories illuminate connections between the material world of their workplaces, their identities, and structural power. In the first domain, relationship with self, co-researchers shared how they navigated multiple aspects of interlocking vulnerabilities through their workplace environment, emphasizing multisensory atmospheres as critical means of managing their identities. With empowerment came an ability to determine, set, and maintain boundaries within society-at-large as well as with clients. Across the second domain, relationships with broader society, co-researchers described how their workplace environments were involved in ongoing negotiations with sex work stigma and structural power, emphasizing neighbourhood contexts and surveillance. Co-researchers identified their workplaces were a means of stigma resistance. In the third and final domain, relationships with clients, co-researchers shared ways in which their workplaces were intermingled with client relationships, influencing financial earnings, client comfort and connection, and safety. Across identities and workplaces, co-researchers harnessed the material environment of their workplaces to maneuver through their place-based relationships with self, society, and clients. Responding to these place relationships, this research identifies design principles for two types of supportive sex workplaces: 1) multi-bedroom residences (2+ bedrooms) and 2) co-operative commercial workplaces. Design principles for siting and neighbourhood contexts are also identified. Ultimately, this research lights a pathway to advance spatial justice in Calgary, Canada by generating a deep understanding of sociality and the material environments of sex workplaces. This knowledge combined with the identified design principles will support social workers, spatial professionals, and policy makers to build equitable cities that meet the needs of our most vulnerable citizens.