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Louis Theroux’s new BBC documentary tackles selling sex in the digital age

Louis Theroux: Selling Sex will tell the stories of British women in the sex industry

Maisie Harvey
Thursday 08 August 2019 13:38 BST
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Louis Theroux returns to Kansas in 2011 for a week-long visit with the Westboro Baptist Church

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Louis Theroux has revealed the subject of his latest documentary.

Titled Louis Theroux: Selling Sex, the film will tackle the issue of prostitution in modern Britain, exploring how technology has made the industry more accessible and whether it has made it safer.

The Bafta award-winning filmmaker said: “It is one of the most straightforward, yet complex interactions that can take place between two people.

“On the one hand, none of the activities taking place here are illegal; everything is above board and both parties have mutually agreed on the arrangement. On the other, it’s impossible to deny that for many – maybe most – people, there is something unsavoury in the idea of accepting money for an act that is so intimate.”

He added: “I thought it would be revealing to speak to the women involved in the business of selling sex. Once we started looking we discovered that the sexual economy seems to have been turbo-charged by the prevalence of new websites and social media that allow users to meet up more easily, to write reviews of each other, and swap information.”

Theroux has previously tackled subjects such as paedophilia, Zionism, transgender children, gambling, and euthanasia.

Louis Theroux: Selling Sex will air later this year on BBC Two.

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