Hidden in the Light: Occupational Norms among Crack-Using Street-Level Sex Workers

This article explores the “hypersexuality” hypothesis and, in particular, the phenomenon of sex-for-crack exchanges, by drawing on recent ethnographic research with women crack users engaged in street-level sex work in New York City. Viewing sex work as work, the study identifies the existence of a hitherto hidden set of occupational norms which cohere around the concept of discrimination as a central organizing principle in street-level prostitution. The article describes the ways in which established norms in relation to price, sex acts, clients, and bartering practices govern commercial sex transactions at the street level and examines their effects in regulating both individual and collective conduct. The analysis draws attention to the deficits of previous research and, specifically, the absence of context and the lack of attention to shared cultural practices and occupational norms which have made possible the erasure of agency from representations of these women's lives.