‘People Pay Me for Sex’: Contemporary Lived Experiences of Indigenous Australian Sex Workers

Abstract

ABSTRACT The everyday lived experiences of Indigenous Australian sex workers are often made to be invisible. Frequently, they are embedded and left unrecognised within non-Indigenous sex workers’ experiences; alternately, stereotypes about Indigenous sex workers mean their experiences are often overgeneralised and relegated to discussion of exploitation and victimhood. Based on interviews with Indigenous Australians who identify as sex workers, this article examines what sex work means for Indigenous Australians, their views of sex work, and the factors influencing their reasons for engaging in sex work, to bring their experiences to the forefront of contemporary discussions. This research goes beyond the polarised and simplistic arguments which have circulated in sex workers’ research leading to important understandings of the complex and nuanced choices made in relation to work, finances, gender, sexuality and race.