Research Dossier

Secondary research: 

Indonesia sex scandal stirs internet debate.

""We want to live in an Indonesia that follows Islamic values," [Uzham Izhar] said, as she patted her daughter asleep on her lap.  

Her concerns are being echoed by many who are worried that the younger generation's attitude to sex and morality is not in tune with Indonesia's cultural and religious heritage."

"The internet is just technology. It has a good side and a bad side. We can't forget there is always a risk for the misuse and even the abuse of the internet - that it could violate our values and our future generations."

Internet sex addiction treated with naltrexone.

"describes a novel use for naltrexone in suppressing a euphorically compulsive and interpersonally devastating addiction to Internet pornography."

I wanted to research how online sex work is viewed by the media, and discovered that there are many negative connotations attached to it. I used these examples to ask the interviewees how this negative stigma affects their work. 

Documentaries

Escorts (2015), Dan Reed

Hot Girls Wanted (2015), Jill Bauer, Ronna Gradus

Louis and the Brothel (2003), Louis Theroux 

These documentaries were useful for my own 3 Minute Wonder as it was useful to compare online sex work to offline prostitution. They also allowed me to come up with questions for my interviewees such as "Do you consider what you do to be sex work?" And compare their answers to the women in the documentaries I'd seen. 

Primary research: 

Interview

I conducted a brief interview with a tumblr sex worker who wanted to didn't want to be in the documentary, and received this response:

"Do you believe that you are a sex worker?"

Survey

Create your own user feedback survey

The results of my survey showed that the majority of people were aware of there being sex workers on the internet, but did not think there should be a way for it to be prevented. Some of the responses I received as to why they did or didn't think it should be prevented were:

"People should be free to make choices regarding their body."

"People have the right to do what they please but at the same time, people should have the freedom to use the internet without fear of coming into contact with sex work."

"Because it's exploiting someones privacy."

"There's a high demand for sex work so it seems ridiculous for it to be wanted/needed yet criticised."

The majority of people also said they wouldn't use internet sex workers for entertainment, but it is possible that this isn't entirely true considering the stigma attached to all sex work, not just online. 

Pre-Production

For my documentary, I had no budget to work with as I was filming initially in my own home, and then later at college, and I decided to use a screen recording of an interview for a long distance so there was no need to travel. I therefore didn't need to get location releases.

Due to the nature of my documentary, I did have to think about the Ofcom Broadcasting Code, so I decided to make it as tame as possible to make it a "pre-watershed" documentary. The reason I chose to record an online interview instead of getting someone to read the responses or reenact etc. was because I wanted to keep to the Channel 4 Viewer Trust Guideline, which states that: 

  

Bibliography

BBC News. 2010. Indonesia sex scandal stirs internet debate. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10438082. [Accessed 14 June 2017].

Bostwick J.M, Bucci J.A.. 2008. Indonesia sex scandal stirs internet debate. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18241634. [Accessed 14 June 2017].

Ofcom. 2015. Ofcom Broadcasting Code. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0025/53287/ofcom_broadcast_code_july_2015.pdf. [Accessed 14 June 2017].

Channel 4. 2017. Viewer Trust Guidlines. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.channel4.com/producers-handbook/c4-guidelines/viewer-trust-guidelines. [Accessed 14 June 2017].