Soho at Work Pleasure and Place in Contemporary London

What is it like to work in a place that is both a thriving and close-knit community and a globally recognised part of the commercial sex industry? London's Soho has always been a place of complexity, contrast and change throughout its colourful history, yet urban branding, local community initiatives and licensing regulations have combined to 'clean up' Soho, arguably to the point of sanitisation, and commercial over-development remains a continuing threat. In spite of all this, Soho retains its edge and remains a unique place to live, work and consume. Based on a ten-year ethnographic study of working in Soho's sex shops, combining archival material, literary sources, photographic materials and interviews with men and women employed there, Tyler draws together insights from history, geography and cultural studies to tell the unseen story of this fascinating work place.

Introduction. Pleasure and place in Soho; 1. Soho: London's gilded gutter; 2. Putting work in its place: space, place and setting; 3. Shopping for sex: situating work in Soho's sex shops; 4. It's a dirty job: performing abject labour in Soho; 5. No place for a lady? Un/doing gender and sexuality in Soho; Conclusion. Rhythm is our business.

Melissa Tyler is a Professor of Work and Organization Studies at the University of Essex. Her work on emotional, sexualized and aesthetic labour; gender, sexuality and the body; and on place, space and workplace setting has been published in a range of international journals, authored books and edited collections.