Final Major – Naming & Narrative

I’ve hit something of a road bump. Given the fact that the success of this initiative is largely dependent on how it’s received I’ve been wanting to get the ‘name’ sorted soon. The name isn’t totally restricted to but should really hint at the aim of the project or somehow atleast be related to the commodification of peoples bodies, the sex industry, responding to, talking about whats going on (in Bournemouth though hopefully not too specific so the brand could be used elsewhere perhaps). Aswell as issues like trafficking, concepts of worth etc.

And it’s been a few days and I’ve had a list and knocked it down to a few and I’ve been reminded of the fact that everyone has an opinion on what works and what doesn’t as far as the name goes, unfortunately you can never get people (myself included) to agree on what name could work best.

I’ve been looking at some of the things I did some rather brief case studies on last week and I came across an article from the founder of ‘TWOLHA’ talking about the power of story and the increasing importance of narrative. The thing which got me interested in this whole project was my journalist friend telling me of some of the things she’s heard going on in Bournemouth and Poole. So maybe this could be something to explore something touching on narrative or story? Part of my looking into viral suggests that if I could somehow bring it home to people this would be more likely to engage people.. and though I probably realised this quite early on I think this has definately helped me developed my thinking on the whole topic. People tend to respond a lot more to stories which impact them or have implications for them.. even if it’s just in the delivery and so.. this entire project really is some sort of initiative concerning the questions raised by prosititution and people trafficking.. the commodification of our bodies.. and saying how does this effect the human story being told in Bournemouth?

Ultimately I want to break the taboo on the topic, get people talking about the issue and commenting on whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, how does it affect us?.. and off that.. what can we do about it?

When I think like this I just go off on one now thinking about organisms, mitosis, biology, plant life (Grassroots!).. and wonder if I get anywhere..

Potential titles which seem initially popular so far.. are..

(Hello) My name is John..* (Most popular I think.. but it isn’t really what I’m looking for as a brand name i think..)

Red Light

Soulution (Not that popular)

Bed is for Sleeping (This has got a mixed response)

*John i heard is slang for a guy who visits prostitutes because when asked they’ll often say “John” something

But I’ve quite gotten into this idea of storytelling as it is in it’s essence viral.. and story’s have been told as long as humanity has had language so it is really part of who we are.. just like our flesh. If people are reading this it’d be really good to hear if you have any ideas or comments on the topic.. I’m still trying to think up a name really. It won’t take much just reply with your view..

I was thinking something like the Seed Collective/Initiative.. going on something along with grassroots.. viral.. but I’m sitting on that before saying anything definate tho.. I’m sort of stuck on the whole issue, is it too generic? Part of me likes it.. maybe the fact that it isn’t explict allows for a space to be created where you could talk about a potentially sensitive or hotly debated topic in a lighter more friendly atmosphere?

What do you think?

Final Major – Thoughts on engaging an audience..

What do I want to engage people in?

I want to engage people in learning to rethink how we approach our relationships with people, especially sexual relationships with issues like prostitution and people trafficking and their implications in mind. I want us to rethink what are the conditions which create prostitution and people trafficking and can we come up with a response? What might this look like?

At the same time I want us to be pushing to get people opinionated and looking at ways that people can communicate this to others on their own terms, getting people to get other people to see something like prostitution or people trafficking as a symptom of something deeper rather than an isolated issue in itself.

Potential problems

This project takes a moral and ideological standpoint which might not be shared by very many people initially. Society as it stands preaches a relativism which internalises a ‘moral vacuum’ which likewise leads to a vested interest in self which is pretty hard to avoid and creates one of three potential outcomes in people

a) A hedonistic and impulsive pattern of behaviour ‘thinking with our feelings’

b) General apathy or lack of moral perspective/opinion  (no coherent worldview means no defined view on various topics)

c) Commodification and objectification of the world beyond the self. (the worlds your oyster)

(This is a massive generalisation! But I think there is some truth in this)

Similar projects in the past have looked at addressing issues which concern individuals who have a voice or the potential to express themselves. They find this behaviour therapeutic and comforting to know others suffer with similar issues or are sympathetic to their plight. This gives gratification.

The difference with sex traffic (and prostitution in a number of cases) is it is a modern form of slavery (either directly ie; owned by someone or indirectly to a distorted perspective of themselves or to an addiction). A person has become a commodity and ceases to have individual liberty (commodification has a big feature in prostitution).

So the vast majority of people not directly involved in this will see it as something which does not concern them..

Method of engagement

A lot of people won’t engage a problem in short unless it is their problem, or they get something out of it. People have inherited some sort of skeletal moral framework likewise so there are three potential approaches which could be utilised..

a) Make it an individual’s problem; put an individual in the shoes of a victim. Bring the reality of prostitution and people trafficking into a persons life, show the outward ramifications beyond the individual, to a persons family.. this is your mum, your sister, your daughter your girlfriend, your friend etc. what kind of society.. etc. shock someone, make them uncomfortable with the truth.. bring it into their bedroom. Shock can be a big motivator to wake people up.

b) Utilise moral leverage after exposing people to the reality of it all, make it public and get people to engage publically.. people might not care deep down but they might care how they appear to other people.

c) Give an individual something out of it, a chance to be seen doing some good.. the chance to put their name on something.. a chance to walk in the footsteps of people who stood for something.. the chance to connect with something bigger than themselves.. a chance to show off their work or express themselves in front of other people. By getting them to express themselves and get involved this increases the likelihood of people want communicate the idea or initiative to others around them. By getting people to own the idea and make it there own I think this would really go a step further too.

d) Regularly contact your audience, getting people informed and really just hammering it into people to keep up the pressure.

Desired Results

I want people to really think about what prostitution and people trafficking really says about our world, our views of other people and ourselves. I want people to realise that we have a social identity and that prostitution and people trafficking is very real and the people involved in it are just like you or me at its core. You can pretend it isn’t there but you’ve got to be living with your eyes closed if you do. I want people to realise that people aren’t commodities and even our own bodies aren’t commodities to exploited and that people deserve the right to be treated as equals, the existence of stuff like prostitution and the sex trade says a lot about us and how we respond to this says just as much about us likewise.

I then want people to talk about it, I want to change people and go somewhere towards giving people hearts that feel and think. I want to get those hearts with legs and mouths spreading the world and challenging people. (How idealistic and soppy does that sound?)

Target Audience

I think will be two-fold and potentially quite wide.

a) People with existing moral convictions with an opinion of right and wrong to either get involved and active or to stimulate a debate which might get a few people off the sidelines. Artists? Faith groups? Members of non-profits? These might prove good grounds from which to draw support and help develop contacts who could supply information or people power.

b) ‘Youth’..Teens, Students, Young Professionals.. it could go a lot further but to keep this tight I want to engage people involved in the same culture and generation as I am. This is because it’s easier for me and my networks to engage them and that the material I produce can be more specifically tailored to reaching this audience.. however I don’t want to limit it and I want to reach younger kids, older folks.. because I just want to break the taboo on the topic to enable people to think and talk about the whole issue simply.

My Role

In short I think primarily I’ll be looking at a role as project manager, strategy development and all of this will be in addition to a role in the design and development of the various forms of media which will be employed to reach out to and engage people. This will fulfil the criteria hopefully for my final major at university.

I’ve also got to look for and get other people involved and collaborating. Chase up potential links and get networking with people already involved in these sorts of scenes…