STEVE JOHNSON recommends a beautiful album of songs that celebrate summer, from May Day onwards
Latest editorial
A story seldom told
HELEN O’CONNOR recommends the BBC drama Mood which vividly depicts the stories of the voiceless young working-class women in the sex trade
Mood, episode 4, L to R, Sasha (Nicole Lecky), Abi (Chantelle Alle), Kobi (Jorden Myrie)
[BBC/Bonafide]
New releases from Joe Wilkes, Honey and the Bear, and Hannah James and Toby Kuhn
Given the power of the live experience, MIK SABIERS recommends Jon Spencer’s new album
Reviews of T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo, Tamikrest, and Dub Colossus
The bard celebrates two other fine practitioners of the art, and laments a lost brewer
This right-wing conspiracy theory is used to justify the coercive measures against gender, race and labour rights that best serve capitalism, attests GAVIN O’TOOLE
Mood
BBC1 (wed), BBC3 (Thurs) and iPlayer
THE BBC musical drama Mood is a six-part music-based drama for BBC written by and starring Nicole Lecky, based on her theatre hit Superhoe.
It takes an uncompromising view of the dark reality of the escort industry.
The duality of prostitution is exposed as the characters radiate glamour, success and happiness on the surface while enduring pain, humiliation, distress and threat.
Similar stories
The legacy of socialist feminists such as Alexandra Kollontai challenges us today to confront an uncomfortable truth: framing prostitution as empowerment lets the abusers of the Epstein class off the hook, warns HELEN O’CONNOR
JAN WOLF enjoys a British revival of the 1972 come of age farce/panto Pippin
As Ash Regan’s Unbuyable Bill sparks debate in Scotland, the real issue remains unaddressed: a digitalised sex industry and a neoliberal economy that repackages exploitation as empowerment while leaving women’s material conditions unchanged, argues LAUREN HARPER
AMANDA J QUICK warns about the ever-expanding influence of the sex industry – and the harm it unleashes on both the women involved and society collectively, especially the young