People often consider a prostitute to be a disposable commodity. It’s been the same throughout human history and you only need look at the news this week to see that little has changed.*

(*For those abroad who have missed the UK’s blanket press coverage, a male criminology student has killed some prostitutes in Bradford for – it appears – the pursuit of his own infamy. He’s allowed himself to be caught and now the tabloids are splashing his posed black-and-white headshot across their front pages and repeatedly writing his self-bestowed superhero pseudonym in excited block-capital headlines. It gives him glorification he doesn’t deserve. His victims were incidental. They’ve been dehumanised, both by the murderer and by sections of the media. Each has been been reduced to a tiny photo and a name, mere fodder for the ambition of a mentally ill narcissist. Is serial murder now just “Britain’s Got Talent” for people who can’t sing or dance?)

There’s always been contention over whether or not a Dominatrix can be classed as a “sex worker”. Either way, I’ve observed that everyone I’ve met who, through their own choice, works in the adult industry is exceptionally talented in the fields of art, music or literature. I’m not sure if it is a reflection of how creative sex workers are, or of how lamentably difficult it is to make a living as an artist, musician or writer.

Anyway, this correlation has seen the rise of New York collective “Sex Worker Literati”. It began with the book “Hos, Hookers, Call Girls and Rent Boys: Professionals Writing on Life, Love, Money and Sex”, a literary anthology by people who are working, or have worked, in the sex industry. In a bar that was once an erotic massage parlour, the book’s contributors would meet for public readings and performances, and as the event’s popularity increased, other writers from the sex industry were invited for guest spots and the Sex Worker Literati was formed. They now meet on a monthly basis at the Happy Ending Lounge and a portion of the bar proceeds go towards groups and charities supporting and protecting sex workers.

Find out more at www.hoshookerscallgirlsrentboys.com.

I feel I should add a disclaimer before anything else I say: I haven’t yet seen “Sex and the City 2”, so my opinions on it are utterly invalid. However, if the trailer and posters are anything to go by, it’s likely to be as much of a crushing disappointment as the last.

Early seasons of the original series were brilliant. The writing was impressive, and every episode was entertaining, witty and occasionally thought-provoking. Instead of being the cartoonish virgins and whores who have crossed the path of many a male protagonist throughout the history of film and television, these women were complex central-characters with their own histories and inner lives. The relationship between these four friends was the main focus of the narrative, set against a background of the contrasting glamour and squalor of urban life.

Yet somehow, it lost its way. From beginning as a story about independent and sexually assertive women navigating modern love, it developed into something vapid and distasteful. It wasn’t a sudden transformation. Things degraded over several seasons. Slowly, all our main characters narrowed their ambitions to the accumulation of shoes and trinkets and the pursuit of a rich man to complete their lives.

Women everywhere were quietly being let down. When did we realise that something had gone wrong with our heroines? Perceptive analysis of human interaction and the depiction of liberated female sexuality had been eroded away and replaced by a showcase for haute couture and handbags. It became an advert. This relentless celebration of consumerism was occasionally interspersed with snippets of lazy innuendo from characters we no longer recognised. Well-written women had been reduced to dull stereotypes: Carrie became a neurotic clotheshorse, merely a device for the will-they-or-won’t-they storyline with Mr Big; Miranda morphed into an uptight workaholic; Charlotte, a prissy 1950s prude; Samantha, an ageing slag whose sole topic of conversation was cock-size.

Many young women still see this as aspirational viewing, more out of tradition than anything else. The advertising industry now uses its imagery as a benchmark for attracting the female demographic. Nearly every product aimed at women includes the obligatory four-girlfriends-talking-candidly-at-a-table scene or the slow-motion-walk-along-the-pavement-in-floaty-dresses scene. Anything from rice cakes to laxatives is sold to us in this same format. Is this what female sexual independence has been reduced to?

Catherine Bray concludes her excellent review of “Sex and the City 2” thus:

“My GCSE History textbook had a chapter on women getting the vote which included a cartoon from Punch Magazine claiming to illustrate the difference between the male and female brain. The picture of the male brain was full of sections like ‘politics’, ‘finance’, ‘international affairs’ and ‘foxhunting’. The female brain was full of labels including ‘shoes’, ‘hats’ and ‘marriage’. Sex And The City 2 appears to largely agree with Punch’s assessment, though it would of course add ‘sex’ to this giddy cocktail. As Carrie might put it, I couldn’t help but wonder: could it really be that the main difference between an ancient cartoon arguing that the female of the species should not be allowed to vote and a 21st century film supposedly portraying empowered modern women was whether they were getting some or not?”

Read more of this review at Film4.

The USA’s South-Western states aren’t traditionally thought of as liberal, progressive or tolerant places. When it came to flogging, humiliation and slave-ownership, it’s no exaggeration to say that the Southern folks of yesteryear didn’t altogether grasp the concepts of fantasy or consent. It’s a difficult legacy for modern residents to live with.

However, organisers of Scottsdale’s Fetish Prom, due to take place tonight in Arizona for the third year running, hope to show the rest of the world that their home has changed for the better. Over a thousand people are expected to attend this event, the biggest yet, and enjoy live music, burlesque cabaret, a fetish market, and a spectacular suspension show involving body piercing and flesh hooks. “We are ready to put Arizona on the map as a world-class kink & fetish market,” say Horns ‘n Halos who host the event. “Our goals are to create, stimulate and evolve the Phoenix and Arizona fetish and kink communities through world-class fetish/adult oriented events. We have an amazing team working to bridge entire fetish worlds and help build our new combined community.”

Find out more here.