Katie Hail-Jares, editor of the book Challenging Perspectives on Street-Based Sex Work, discussed her research findings on gentrification and its effects on sex workers at Red Emma’s Bookstore Coffeehouse on Tuesday, Sept. 19.
Hail-Jares is part of the organization Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive (HIPS), whose mission is to provide a safer working environment for sex workers. HIPS distributes condoms and clean syringes. It also provides free HIV testing. Hail-Jares became involved with the organization when she moved to Washington, D.C.
Hail-Jares explained that the driving force behind her research is her desire to publicize her findings with the hope of helping the communities she studies.
“Once data is collected, very often, that’s where community involvement ends,” Hail-Jares said. “After a study is complete, it’s important to bring people back to the community and report on their concerns.”
After working at HIPS for three years, she offered to do an analysis on “bad date” statistics. A “bad date” refers to a negative interaction between a sex worker and their client.
“I had been working at prisons since I was 18,” Hail-Jares said. “I was very interested in learning about harm reduction.”
Challenging Perspectives on Street-Based Sex Work is a compilation of research and different stories written by various authors. The book alternates between chapters written by fellow researchers and by people involved in sex work.
As opposed to many popular books about sex work that focus deeply on violence and drug dependency, Hail-Jares’ book spotlights gentrification, specifically in the D.C. area.
For her research study, Hail-Jares obtained oral histories from about 20 sex workers who operate near a new condominium complex.
She explained how the sex workers working in these gentrified neighborhoods acquired safety measures that were previously unavailable to them.
“Participants [in the study] revealed that they used the condo’s security cameras and guards to reduce their exposure to victimization,” Hail-Jares said. “One woman mentioned that when the condos were built, she began to arrange all her curbside pickups from a specific location, because at that location the car’s license plate numbers could be read from security cameras.”
However, Hail-Jares discussed the serious negative repercussions of gentrification in areas where sex workers are located. She noted that the people who were moving into the condos called the police more often, with 10 percent calling over a hundred times in the past year.
“[The participants] encountered a lot more transphobic and hate language,” Hail-Jares said. “The workers in this area responded that they weren’t as optimistic about their future.”
Freshman Alex Eremiev enjoyed Hail-Jares’ talk.
“Everything was kind of tied together by the theme of activism,” Eremiev said. “I’d really like to attend another event.”
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