The Jezebel Speaks: Black Women and Erotic Labor in the Digital Age

• In Event: 2167 - Analyses of Urban and Rural Spaces, and Racialized Sexual and Gender Identities

Abstract

Deindustrialization and neoliberalism create a political economy in which numerous social transactions take place with information and communication technologies (ICTs). The innovation of ICTs coincides with economic shifts that have altered the contours of the labor market. A growing body of research examines the political economy of sex work and much of it concludes the internet offers sex workers what Jones (2015a) describes as “affordances.” These affordances include numerous benefits: lower likelihood of physical violence; better wages and clientele; fewer interactions with law enforcement; accessible and cheaper networking; and opportunities for political activism. Jones (2015a) argues literature on online sex work should expand beyond these affordances. This project takes up that call with a specific focus on Black women exotic dancers that use Instagram, a popular social media app used for sharing images. First, I propose a digital ethnography of 100 Instagram profiles of Black women exotic dancers. Second, I suggest in-depth interviews with a subsample of 30 women. Lastly, I suggest the use of GIS technology to incorporate the structure of the strip club itself as a unit of analysis, thus mapping the “the inequality embedded in the everyday infrastructures of our lives” (Parish 2017). To frame this study, I apply a Black feminist framework to the typology set forth by Jones (2015a) to illustrate a tension between affordances and constraints of the digital, thus complicating our understanding of online sex work and Black women’s sexuality.

Author

• Melissa Brown