IN THIS DREAM SPACE, PROSTITUTION IS REDESIGNED TO CHALLENGE THE STIGMA IT PRESENTS.

Will it take legal regulation, social change, or design to achieve that?  Can we redesign sex work as a legitimate occupation and empower its laborers? The artifacts are aimed at illuminating a sex worker's choice and her right to physical security, health safety, economic stability and access to social mobility. In so doing, we ask: can sex work be normalized?

This project was showcased at the "How Things Don’t Work: The Dreamspace of Victor Papanek" Exhibition from September 2014 to December 2014.

The Challenge

What is the current situation?

How might we change the problem space? 

Can we materialize social change? 

Outcome

This project began from my interest to investigate issues around sex-trafficking and the strain in the business of commodifying sex. There is continual debate about the system of criminalizing Johns and legalizing prostitution with the intent to protect sex-workers, reduce violence, and cutdown on sex trafficking. On one hand, we have the perspective of decreasing demands to decrease sales; criminalizing the people who pay to have sex would lower the sale of victims who may have been trafficked or coerced by pimps. If arrested, the regulation would protect the women and men that were forced to sell their bodies without placing criminal charges. On the other hand, the new regulation could push the illegal sex market further underground, making the business of sex trafficking even harder to track. 

But for those who chooses to sell sex as a profession, what happens to their business?

When we attempt to remove our opinions and perception, can the sex industry be treated like any other responsible industry? Would this speculation be a solution to empower those who chooses to sell sex, promote safety, and end sex trafficking?