‘Lived bodies’ and the neoliberal city – a case study of vulnerability in London

Abstract

Buckingham, S.; Degen, M. & Marandet E. (2017) 'Lived bodies' and the neoliberal city-a case study of vulnerability in London, Gender, Place and Culture, 25 (3), 334-350. 'Lived bodies' and the neo-liberal city-a case study of vulnerability in London This article explores the 'more-than-work' aspects of the lives of vulnerable women who street-sex work, through Iris Marion Young's (2002, 1990a, 1990b) concept of the 'lived body' and Yi Fu Tuan's (1977) exploration of spaces and places as created through emotional entanglements. Particularly, we are interested in the differences between the women's experiences, within the broader context of power structures as manifested in neoliberal cities. Few studies have explored this aspect of street-sex workers' lives and theorisations of the co-creation of environments tend to elide the experiences of the most vulnerable people. Specifically, we explore the relationships that these women have with two environments: the quotidian (where they undertake routine everyday activities), and the gentrified (relating to changes in the spaces in which they live and work). We find that their experiences are extremely local, and heavily contingent on the services made available to them (or not) by the statutory and third sectors and the emotional contacts they make, particularly in third sector support services. This challenges some of the literature which suggests a separation of 'home' and 'work', and which finds close associations between women who street-sex work. While places designed by the third sector are more responsive to these women, they are also more vulnerable to closure through lack of funding. This contributes to a significant degree of ontological non-linearity (Braidotti, 2011) and ontological insecurity (McNaughton and Sanders, 2007) in these women's lives.

Space, power and sexuality: transgressive and transformative possibilities at the interstices of spatial boundaries

“…Their article contends a strong relationship between spatial practices of subversion, transformation of space and the self or sense of self. In this Buckingham, Degen, and Marandet (2017) further demonstrate the importance of place and how it is possible to carve out a space of opportunity through co-creation. In order to understand the relationship between place and sex work they look at 'the Quotidian' and 'the Gentrified' in two areas of London undergoing gentrification: Tower Hamlets and Kings Cross.…”

“…They offer an invitation to continue turning our academic lens at the liminal zones, the interstices or crevasses of space: the spaces that are carved out outside the norm. The interstices in some contexts are becoming narrower and this is most potent in Buckingham, Degen, and Marandet's (2017) and Sanders-McDonagh and Peyrefitte's (2018) articles which deal with the effect of gentrification in the neoliberal city. In Weicht and Radicioni (2017) and Neville's (2018) articles, the interstices remain 'marginal' but a real alternative space of expression and transformation.…”

“…In order to understand the relationship between place and sex work they look at 'the Quotidian' and 'the Gentrified' in two areas of London undergoing gentrification: Tower Hamlets and Kings Cross. With this distinction, Buckingham, Degen, and Marandet (2017) offer an alternative and feminist reading of street-sex work that pay particular attention to the 'lived body' in 'lived spaces' as well as the possibility for different forms of identification and ways of being women in terms not simply defined by their sex work.…”