Experiences Of Sex Workers Research Articles

Navigating and resisting platform affordances: Online sex work as digital labor

AbstractThe context in which labor occurs shapes work. In online work, the platform is one site of work and therefore influences the experiences of workers. Current research on affordances considers how these platform features create value for the platform, shape workers' rights and safety, and reinforce existing racial hierarchies through algorithms. This project, researching online sex work practices in the UK, adds to this literature on platform work by analyzing how workers themselves experience and view the role of platform affordances in their work. With sex work as gendered and stigmatized labor, it also provides unique insights into the role of platforms in valuing typically feminized work both economically and culturally. Drawing on 19 interviews with workers on the UK‐dominant platform AdultWork and platform observations, we show that platform affordances do create, shape, and maintain the valuation of online labor but in dynamic and relational processes with workers. Structural analysis shows how platform affordances may create competition that decreases the value of labor, but individually sex workers revealed strategies to engage with these affordances to resist devaluation and set boundaries in what appears to be a highly competitive market, thus, highlighting the multidirectional, relational agency, and connectivity between platform affordances and workers. By focusing on the experiences of sex workers, the findings contribute to discussions on the role of platforms in valuing feminized online labor.

Experiences of Sex Workers in Chicago during COVID-19: A Qualitative Study.

COVID-19 exacerbated health disparities, financial insecurity, and occupational safety for many within marginalized populations. This study, which took place between 2019 and 2022, aimed to explore the way in which sex workers (n = 36) in Chicago were impacted by COVID-19. We analyzed the transcripts of 36 individual interviews with a diverse group of sex workers using thematic analysis. Five general themes emerged regarding the detrimental impact of COVID-19 on sex workers: (1) the impact of COVID-19 on physical health; (2) the economic impact of COVID-19; (3) the impact of COVID-19 on safety; (4) the impact of COVID-19 on mental health; and (5) adaptive strategies for working during COVID-19. Participants reported that their physical and mental health, economic stability, and safety worsened due to COVID-19 and that adaptive strategies did not serve to improve working conditions. Findings highlight the ways in which sex workers are particularly vulnerable during a public health crisis, such as COVID-19. In response to these findings, targeted resources, an increased access to funding, community-empowered interventions and policy changes are needed to protect the health and safety of sex workers in Chicago.

“We Knew No One Else Had Our Back except Us”: Recommendations for Creating an Accountability Care Framework with Sex Workers in Eastern Canada

The authors report findings from a 15-month project that focused on the experiences of sex workers who live and work in an Eastern Canadian province. As part of a larger multi-phased study, 15 adults who identified as women, transgender, or non-binary, and received money or goods for sexual services, participated in photo-elicitation interviews. Drawing on a critical framing analysis, findings indicated supports—as identified and experienced by sex workers—encompassed three categories of care: self, community, and collective. These categories are described, with a particular focus on the latter two. Continuing with the care-based framework, recommendations to structure interventions draw on the role of accountability care in identifying how best to operationalize policies that promote health, well-being, and dignity of Canadian sex workers. The paper begins with a brief overview of the Canadian context and the role of supports. It follows with a discussion on the materials and methods and the results. It concludes with recommendations, limitations, and future considerations.

Experiences of Sex Workers in Times of Pandemic: from Lawful to Risk-Producing Environments in Switzerland.

This paper aims to shed light on the difficulties faced by sex workers (SW) during the Covid-19 pandemic. The research was carried out in collaboration with a non-governmental organisation (NGO) supporting SW in canton Vaud, Switzerland.
 Drawing on the idea, developed by Scoular (2015), that the law is not sufficient to address the problems faced by SW, we propose to consider Swiss SW’s experiences in order to analyse interactions between the law and other societal forces in times of pandemic. 
 We used a mixed-methods approach (observations, focus groups and questionnaires) to understand the needs of the SW, the assistance that has been offered to them, and the obstacles they have encountered in accessing it since March 2020. 
 Our findings suggest that SW were confronted with a broad range of financial, administrative, psychological and relational difficulties that were conducive to health risks. We call for political responses and structural changes to promote SW’s empowerment and improve their working conditions.

Bawdy City: Commercial Sex and Regulation in Baltimore, 1790–1915

Bawdy City: Commercial Sex and Regulation in Baltimore, 1790–1915

Street Life in Renaissance Italy

Street Life in Renaissance Italy

Sex Workers\u2019 Work-Related Victimisation and Drug Use During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Switzerland

Criminologists have monitored the coronavirus pandemic’s effects on crime and criminal justice since the pandemic’s outbreak. Nonetheless, vulnerable and difficult-to-reach populations have been understudied thus far. This study sheds light on the experiences of sex workers (SW) during the first year of the coronavirus in Switzerland, a country where prostitution is legal. Based upon 40 questionnaires with SW outdoors and indoors and 50 h of field observation, SW reported that the pandemic has had adverse financial and psychosocial effects on them. During the first year of COVID-19, seventeen SW were victims of at least one work-related offence, the most prevalent of which were theft and fraud. Nevertheless, most SW did not report the incidents to the police. Comparing the non-victims with victims, we found that victims, particularly those of multiple crimes, are younger, more often foreigners from extra-EU countries, in an illegal situation and needed to work face to face during the prostitution ban during the lockdown in Switzerland. However, despite these circumstances, most SW do not use illegal drugs, and only a few of them used more during the pandemic. Our research findings were similar to those reported in former studies, although we could infer that the violent victimisation of our sample is less and none of the SW indicated violence on the part of the police. Nevertheless, we have no point of comparison with former years and thus propose a periodic crime victim survey of SW, as well as further prevention measures in the prostitution area.

Andando entre cabarés: conhecendo os saberes da putaria*

Abstract This article uses narratives about the experiences of sex workers' in three different prostitution zones in the states of São Paulo and Espírito Santo to analyze the relationships and knowledge present in the internal politics of prostitution. To counter perspectives that understand prostitutes as passive victims incapable of producing feminist knowledge and practices in the workplace, Walter Benjamin's politics of narrativity are used as a research method, combined with feminist and “putafeminist” propositions.

Automating whorephobia: sex, technology and the violence of deplatforming

Increasingly, academic researchers are documenting the real-world impacts of deplatforming sex. For sex workers, deplatforming is a result of a range of factors, including automated content moderation practices, lack of transparency, and insufficient oversight. But at its core, the deplatforming of sex workers can be attributed to a structural and pervasive whore stigma at the heart of tech design, law, and policy. Despite the proactive role of sexual commerce in building the capacity and infrastructure of the internet, whore stigma is now coded into algorithms, community standards, and terms of service. In consequence, these operate to gentrify and sanitize online space, excluding sexual expression, communication, and representation, at the same time as extracting maximum value by monetizing the data and content of sex worker users. Indeed, as Gabriella Garcia has argued, ‘to Big Tech, the sex worker is as indispensable as they are disposable’. Sex workers – treated on the one hand as a source of profit and data, and on the other as collateral damage in an online gentrification project – face isolation, barriers to access and the closure of vital spaces for peer education, safety information, and community support. The devastating impacts of deplatforming upon sex workers ought to implore technologists, lawmakers, and policy-makers to re-think how safety, risk, and sex are conceptualized in regulating online space. In the midst of heated public policy debate, Hacking//Hustling – a New York-based sex worker collective – has emerged as a unique actor, placing sex workers at the forefront of conversations on tech regulation. An autonomous, peer-led, community-run collective with on-the-ground, embodied knowledge of the social impacts of poor policy design, Hacking//Hustling brings together community, researchers, and industry to change the conversation. Since their inception in 2018, they have run events, produced resources, lobbied politicians, distributed funds, mobilized sex workers, and infiltrated a range of institutional, industry, academic, and political spaces to centre sex worker lenses on technology. In this interview with Hacking//Hustling co-founder Danielle Blunt, we argue that internet studies scholars engaged in the field of platform governance ought to actively listen to the voices and experiences of sex workers. We outline some of the cornerstones of genuine and meaningful engagement, including hiring and paying sex workers as research partners, and illustrate how current debates on internet regulation miss opportunities to learn from the security and safety concerns of sex workers. Our conversation begins with a herstory of Hacking//Hustling, outlining their motivations and missions for ending state violence and surveillance. We then discuss their ethics, strategies, and activities, including distributing funds, producing community resources and intervening in academic institutions. We showcase some of their community research on the impacts of deplatforming and raise foundational problems with current law reform efforts. Finally, we argue for integrating sex on social media platforms and make provocations for holding Big Tech accountable for whorephobia.

‘We are naked waitresses who deliver sex’: a phenomenological study of circumstantial sex workers’ lives

Historically, research on the commercial sex industry has focused on the industry’s impact on society while overlooking the voices and experiences of sex workers. To explore the lived experience of commercial sex workers, we interviewed ten commercial sex workers about their personal relationships, experience in society, and access to effective clinical treatment. Six themes emerged from our qualitative analysis: (1) financial freedom, entrepreneurship, personal agency and self-exploration, (2) temporal nature of the adult industry, (3) disclosure as a continuously impactful process, (4) compartmentalization as protection, (5) segregation and isolation, and (6) therapeutic experiences and preferences. Participants rejected the absolute victim narrative that is often reflected in media, film, and government-sanctioned actions surrounding the adult industry. Results indicate the need for further research on the relationships of people in the adult industry and provide couple and family therapists with a critical understanding of how authenticity, genuineness, and judgment impact clinical treatment.

How Legislative Framework Can Shape the Experiences of Social Exclusion Amongst Sex Workers

This essay examines whether legislation can lead to or prevent social exclusion of sex workers with a focus on the Swedish/Nordic model. It defines the key terms and phrases in the question and explores the relationship between theory, legislation, and experiences of sex workers. The essay also shows that radical feminism was instrumental in the passing of law against the purchase of sex in Sweden and that the discourse has continued to influence sex work legislation in other countries around the globe and yet it is also widely criticised because of its negative impact on the rights of sex workers.

Rendering the Invisible Visible: Migrant and Immigrant Sex Workers and the Law

“The Invisible Girl can do it better.” Sue Storm said this in one of her early appearances in the comic world. As one of the Fantastic Four, Sue Storm was “Invisible Girl” or now “Invisible Woman,” she gained her super powers from cosmic rays from a trip to space. Portrayed in comics as a female voice of reason, her powers to turn herself invisible were almost useless on the battlefield and she was frequently portrayed as the helpless female, constantly in need of rescue. The Invisible Woman, while a fictional character, has parallels in our more corporal world. Being invisible does not garner power in legal discourse. This paper is about a migrant and immigrant sex workers, and how they were rendered invisible in discourse before the courts and parliament involving the reform of laws regarding sex work and prostitution in Canada. The paper discusses how migrant and immigrant sex workers were legally abandoned, and why their exclusion in the law reform projects is problematic.Acknowledgment, recognition by legal institutions is not benign. As one scholar writes, “by simply acknowledging the complex, creative histories of women like Amy Leibovitch, Valerie Scott, and Terri-Jean Bedford, by judicially seeing and so validating the experiences of sex workers in rendering a decision, the case [of Bedford at the Supreme Court of Canada] signaled a first step toward undoing the pervasive invisibility of Canadian sex workers.” While this statement may be true, there are a sub-group of women that were still in the shadows - migrant and immigrant sex workers. As one scholar notes, “The erasure of marginalized voices in the public sphere is a problem of particularly grave concern, even though it can be difficult to perceive.” The erasure of voices is a “form of epistemic violence” which may include “subtle and socially sanctioned methods of undermining that are sometimes couched in the language of ‘helping,’ ‘protecting’ and ‘saving.’” In examining the journey of legal reform for sex work in Canada, this work fills a gap in examining one sub-group of sex workers that have been given little considered in discussions of sex work and law in Canada. The paper continues the work of feminist and critical race theorists who aspire to look to the bottom to examine how marginalized persons, particularly ethnic, migrant and immigrant, are considered within law. While this paper is bearing witness to how law in Canada affects migrant and immigrant sex workers, the paper is a starting point for future research to further examine how perhaps the voices of migrant and immigrant sex workers may be lifted so that there is participation in future and potential legal challenge and reform.

‘There is fear but there is no other work’: a preliminary qualitative exploration of the experience of sex workers in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

Two decades of conflict and insecurity have had a devastating impact on many in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), including marginalised groups such as sex workers. In the province of North Kivu, many residents face desperate conditions that render them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. As a result, many turn to the sex trade in what can often be described as ‘survival sex’. This small-scale qualitative study explores the experience of urban sex workers in the eastern region of the DRC. Sex workers were recruited at their place of business and asked to participate in a semi-structured interview. Eight participants were recruited, including seven women and one man. Our analysis identified several themes: (1) economic hardship as a catalyst for joining the sex trade, (2) significant work-related violence and (3) a paucity of available resources or assistance. Responses to specific prompts indicated that sex workers do not trust law enforcement and there are significant barriers to both medical care and local resources. Further studies of this vulnerable population and its needs are encouraged in order to develop programmes that provide the means to manage the hazards of their work and obtain an alternative source of income.

Julia Roos . Weimar through the Lens of Gender: Prostitution Reform, Woman's Emancipation, and German Democracy, 1919–33 . (Social History, Popular Culture, and Politics in Germany.) Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. 2010. Pp. viii, 314. $70.00.

At first sight this work seems to be a conventional history from above about a narrow topic. Unlike Victoria Harris's Selling Sex in the Reich: Prostitutes in German Society, 1914–1945 (2010), which focuses on the experience of sex workers themselves, Julia Roos is concerned with the changing regulation of prostitution from Wilhelmine to Weimar to Nazi Germany. But she offers much more. This book is a meticulously researched study of the factors behind the successful passage of the 1927 Law For Combating Venereal Diseases, undoubtedly the most important new hygiene law in the Weimar Republic, and one that contained the most tolerant prostitution policies in the West. It decriminalized prostitution, outlawed brothels, gave prostitutes better rights to work, and ended the double standard of sexual morality that held women alone responsible for the spread of venereal disease. Roos's ambitions, however, are larger. First, using the example of prostitution, she seeks to reassess the impact of the women's movement and its allies on the political left in transforming the old patriarchal order into a much more equal gender order. Like a number of recent studies by, for example, Atina Grossmann, Kathleen Canning, and this reviewer, she takes issue with the well-known negative judgments of the women's movement by historians such as Richard J. Evans, Renate Bridenthal, Claudia Koonz, Ute Frevert, and Karen Hagemann. Second, Roos boldly claims, as her title indicates, that only through the lens of gender can we truly understand why the Weimar project ultimately failed. Based on her close scrutiny of the battle to reform prostitution, she claims that liberalization mobilized “antidemocratic sentiments and opposition” and thereby significantly contributed to the rise of Nazism (p. 4). She argues that “conflicts over gender and sexuality were perhaps as important for the crisis and ultimate demise of the Weimar Republic as class antagonism and the bitter political divisions between Left and Right” (p. 8).

Trafficking? Exploring the relevance of the notion of human trafficking to describe the lived experience of sex workers in Cape Town, South Africa

This article reports on the findings of a study of the sex work industry in Cape Town that was undertaken by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) and the Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT) between 2006 and 2008. The study employed qualitative and quantitative methods to gather data about inter alia, the size of the sex work industry in Cape Town, working conditions in the industry, recruitment practices, factors that resulted in women working in the industry, and the extent of human trafficking in the industry. This article reports on the methods used and the findings. It concludes by arguing that the concept of trafficking is not useful as it does not reflect the lived experience of the majority of sex workers, and does not take the state or society any closer to dealing with exploitation and abuse that occurs in the industry.

The Lived Experiences of Sex Workers in South Africa: An Existential Phenomenological Exploration

We explored the lived experiences of sex workers in South Africa by employing a phenomenological methodology. Five women between the ages of 34 and 48 years who were/are involved in this industry were interviewed between January and March 2008. Through the use of thematic analysis four common themes in their experiences were identified and are elucidated in this article. These themes are: (a) pervasive experiences of abuse and neglect during childhood, (b) entry into sex work, (c) life as a sex worker and (d) trauma and resilience. The lived experiences of the participants were integrated with the literature in order to create a contextualised picture and a deeper understanding of the experience of a sex worker, as well as to assist informing the debate on sex work in South Africa.

Cultural Criminology and Sex Work: Resisting Regulation through Radical Democracy and Participatory Action Research (PAR)

Taking a feminist cultural criminological analysis to the regulation of sex work in the United Kingdom, this paper argues against the dominant deviancy and the increasingly abolitionist criminal justice model for regulating sex work. The paper begins by offering a critique of the dominant regulatory regimes which have operated since the Victorian era, amended in part in the 1950s with Wolfenden, and currently being reinscribed with the Home Office strategy on prostitution and various pieces of legislation. The focus is specifically upon research with female sex workers and the usefulness of using Participatory Action research methodologies (PAR) with sex workers, agencies, and policy makers in order to foreground the diverse voices and experiences of sex workers, challenge the current focus on abolitionist criminal justice regimes and outcomes, and offer an alternative framework for a cultural materialist analysis of sex work, drawing upon the work of Nancy Fraser.

Call Girls. Private Sex Workers in Australia

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public HealthVolume 31, Issue 5 p. 494-495 Free Access Call Girls. Private Sex Workers in Australia First published: 10 October 2007 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1753-6405.2007.00128.xAboutSectionsPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat By Roberta Perkins and Frances Lovejoy . Published by University of Western Australia Press , 2007 . Paperback , 177 pages with index. RRP $39.95 . ISBN 9781920694913. Reviewed by Charlotte Seib School of Nursing, Queensland University of Technology, Queensland In recent decades there has been increased empirical inquiry into, and theoretical debate about, the lives and experiences of sex workers. However, many previous studies have relied heavily on opportunistic and street-based sex workers, who are often one of the least prevalent and most disadvantaged sectors of the sex industry.1-3 In contrast, Perkins and Lovejoy offer a glimpse into a sector of the sex industry that, despite its considerable size, is often overlooked. This book presents a basic descriptive analysis of research conducted in 1998 among brothel-based and private sex workers from New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and Queensland. The chapters follow a logical progression of ideas that explore women's decision to enter the sex industry and different facets of their personal and professional lives. Each chapter is followed by a series of personal stories from call girls based on transcriptions of in-depth interviews. Although these stories provide depth, it was sometimes difficult to draw similarities between the quantitative research findings and the narratives. Perkins and Lovejoy provide a thoughtful interpretation of results that draws attention to the extensive research experience of the authors. One of the central contributions of this book lies in the ways in which the authors provide a well-balanced exploration of the lives of Australian call girls. In so doing, the book refutes both radical feminist theories of sex workers as disempowered victims of patriarchy and also images of beautiful young women from wealthy backgrounds who are fascinated with the power of their own sexuality. ‘Making a House Safe’ (chapter 4) starts with a discussion about the sexual health of sex workers and draws on historical and contemporary literature from Australia and overseas. This chapter challenges notions of sex workers as reservoirs of infection and questions the currency of public health debate about the sexual health of this group. However, in several places the referencing in this chapter is inadequate and statements are not supported by cited empirical sources. In the final chapter, Perkins and Lovejoy focus on the laws regulating the sex industry and highlight the complexity of, and variance in, legislative controls in Australian States and Territories. ‘There's No Business Like Dough Business’ (chapter 9) critiques the legislative structure in relation to its inability to eradicate illegal sex work and suggests that laws influence the working conditions of sex workers. The public health significance of this text is in relation to the development of healthy public policy that supports, rather than hinders, the health of sex workers. Call Girls provides a rare insight into the lives of sex workers and into the ways in which women's working environments are shaped by legislative controls. This book makes a valuable contribution to debates about the health and safety of women (and men) in the sex industry. References 1 Harcourt C, Donovan B. The many faces of sex work. Sexually Transmitted Diseases. 2005; 81; 201– 6. CrossrefCASPubMedGoogle Scholar 2 Weitzer R. Flawed theory and methods in studies of prostitution. Violence Against Women. 2005a; 11; 7; 934– 49. CrossrefPubMedWeb of Science®Google Scholar 3 Weitzer R. New directions in research on prostitution. Crime, Law and Social Change. 2005; 43; 211– 35. CrossrefWeb of Science®Google Scholar Volume31, Issue5October 2007Pages 494-495 ReferencesRelatedInformation

Violence and Coercion in Sri Lanka's Commercial Sex Industry

This study examines the local conditions facing commercial sex workers in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Based on findings from a 3-year field comparative field study, the author investigates the widespread nature of violence, coercion, and harassment against women and transgendered/gay men in an illicit sex market whose primary clientele are Sri Lankan men. Specifically, the author examines the relationship between cultural definitions of gender/sexuality and the implementation of existing legal frameworks and its impact on the treatment and experiences of sex workers. The author provides an overview of pathways into the sex industry as well as variations in the nature of coercion, violence, and abuse across industry sectors, focusing specifically on street-level versus “indoor” (i.e., brothels, lodges, massage clinics) sectors of the local sex industry.

THE NEGOTIATION OF SPACE AMONG SEX WORKERS IN CEBU CITY, THE PHILIPPINES

ABSTRACTThe paper examines the experiences of space among sex workers in Cebu City, a major service and commercial centre in the Visayan region of the Philippines. It explores the issue of space from a number of perspectives and scales: first, at the national level in terms of migration patterns among sex workers; second, at the local level in relation to how sex workers experience and construct urban spaces through residence and working patterns; and finally, from a community perspective, the nature of domestic spaces among these women. The underlying theme of the paper centres around the contradictory ways in which social opprobrium is often reflected in spatial seclusion among sex workers. On the one hand, they are constrained in their experiences of space. On the other, the construction of their own particular spaces reflects a high degree of resourcefulness and resistance. This is corroborated further by the fact that involvement in the sex industry creates a different set of spatial aspirations and awareness among sex workers compared with those of the wider population.