Research by academics at the universities of Kent and Middlesex highlights that Soho has long been recognised for its support of a diverse range of sexual citizens, but that this is threatened by a London-wide process of ‘sanitisation’.
Dr Erin Sanders-McDonagh, Lecturer in Criminology, maintains that it is the ‘transgressive nature’ of Soho that has allowed sex shops to thrive in ways that are ‘unique to the area’. She says “As with other Red-Light districts in Western Europe, Soho is being sanitised as part of larger gentrification processes and the worry is this diverse space will be stripped of its unique, cosmopolitan character”
The research, entitled Immoral geographies and Soho’s sex shops: exploring spaces of sexual diversity in London (Erin Sanders-McDonagh, University of Kent; Magali Peyrefitte, Middlesex University) is published in the journal Gender, Place and Culture.
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