Sex for sale and service provision in Africa, the Americas, and Europe

Abstract

This chapter historically and geopolitically situates the roles and functions of third sector organizations (TSOs) operating in the provision of services to those involved in the sex industry by reviewing some of the most significant developments which have shaped contemporary understandings of and responses to sex for sale. To this end, the chapter is sub-divided into three chronologically ordered sections that capture major political, socioeconomic, and ideological shifts and continuities: the nineteenth and early twentieth century; the central decades of the twentieth century; and finally, recent developments that unfolded since the 1990s.