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Journal of Promotional Communications

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Published

2015-07-07

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 2 (2015): Special Issue on Voice and Representation of Marginal Groups

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Articles

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A Public Relations Approach to Social Communications that Aims to Give Authentic Voice to Sex Workers

Sam Puleston

Abstract

The rise of digital technologies has revolutionised the way we can communicate with each other. Many argue it gives a source of power to the powerless and allows them to be heard by the rest of society. However, many groups are rarely heard and many individuals feel mute. Sex workers are anyone who works in the sex industry (International Union of Sex Workers 2015) and are a particular group who suffer from little or no voice. Therefore this paper will assess the process of voicelessness within sex workers as well as the communicative culture we live in today. Firstly I outline in this paper the theoretical processes that can lead to a sense of having little or no voice; I then review the current campaigns that broadly attempt to ‘help’ individuals and groups classified as sex workers. The paper then goes on to outline an argument suggesting current campaigns are part of the problem because they focus on helping reform sex workers premised on perpetuating existing perceptions of them as a stigmatised group. These campaigns thus start with a view that sex workers as victims and focus on the consequences of their present actions. Instead Public Relations, and other persuasive communication tools could be used to offer an authentic voice to this group of marginalised people and thus challenge the status quo. I analyse real case studies in this area to develop my argument.

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