scholarly journals Bodies and desires on the internet: An approach to trans women sex workers’ websites

Sexualities ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 224-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julieta Vartabedian
Keyword(s):  
Sex Workers ◽  
Female Sex Workers ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Sex Industry ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
Critical Perspective ◽  
Physical Attributes ◽  
Race Ethnicity ◽  
Trans Women ◽  
The Uk

Most literature on prostitution centres exclusively on street and female sex workers. Considering the lack of inclusion of trans sex workers within research agendas and public policies, in this article I analyse websites where trans women offer their services in Portugal and the UK. I examine the way trans women escorts present themselves to potential clients through detailed descriptions of their bodies’ sizes, physical attributes, personal characteristics and lovemaking skills, and how they negotiate gender, nationality, race, ethnicity and sexuality in relation to the cultural and socio-economic demands of the market. An intersectional framework provides the critical perspective from which to consider how certain trans narratives are displayed through these online advertisements while decentring hegemonic notions (mainly, white and middle class) of representing trans experiences. This exploratory research aims to better understand the online trans sex industry as a place of empowerment where ‘beautiful’ trans escorts can strategically position themselves in order to succeed in a competitive market and, simultaneously, lay claim for a certain degree of (finite) recognition.

scholarly journals Transformational sexualities: Motivations of women who pay for sexual services

Sexualities ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 136346072090464
Author(s):  
Sarah Kingston ◽  
Natalie Hammond ◽  
Scarlett Redman
Keyword(s):  
Sex Workers ◽  
Female Sexuality ◽  
Sex Industry ◽  
Sexual Agency ◽  
Women Clients ◽  
Female Sex Worker ◽  
Sex Worker ◽  
Male Client ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Sexual Services

Previous research on client motivations to purchase sexual services in the UK has predominantly focused on the experiences of men. Women who buy sex have largely been overlooked as it is commonly assumed that women provide, rather than purchase, sexual services. In addressing this empirical absence, this article examines data gained from 49 interviews with women clients and sex workers. It examines the reasons why women decide to purchase sexual services in the UK. We argue that the increasing importance of contemporary capitalism and consumerism has shaped women's engagement in the sex industry as clients. We show how women's sexual agency and assertiveness as clients, inverts the female sex worker/male client binary assumed to characterize commercial sex and illustrates the overlap and convergence of male and female sexuality. Our research thus contributes to an understanding of female sexuality more broadly, as exemplifying the hallmarks of ‘transformational sexualities’ in cosmopolitanism (Plummer, 2015).

‘It’s a Puzzle You Have to Do Every Night’: Performing Creative Problem Solving at Work in the Indoor Canadian Sex Industry

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 424-440
Author(s):  
Tuulia Law ◽  
Menaka Raguparan
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Female Sex Workers ◽  
Qualitative Interview ◽  
Sex Industry ◽  
Skilled Workers ◽  
Creative Problem Solving ◽  
Class Culture ◽  
Creative Problem ◽  
Do So

In Canada, like in many other countries, people working in the sex industry are subject to prohibitive regulation, stigma and pervasive moral judgement. At the same time, workplace and client demands, in concert with various modes of socio-economic marginalization, shape sex workers’ experiences of and access to work. However, sex workers are seldom recognized for overcoming these challenges as skilled workers. Moving beyond arguments about whether or not sex work is a legitimate form of labour, we argue for the recognition of sex workers’ entrepreneurial and security strategies as creative problem solving and in turn cognitive skill. We do so by drawing on two qualitative interview-based studies highlighting the intersectional experiences of female sex workers who modulate their appearance and behaviour to perform race, gender, class, culture and sexuality to succeed in the Canadian indoor sex industry.

scholarly journals Identifying human trafficking indicators in the UK online sex market

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Giommoni ◽  
Ruth Ikwu
Keyword(s):  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Sex Work ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Female Sex Workers ◽  
Screening Process ◽  
Effective Screening ◽  
Female Sex ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Sex Market

AbstractThis study identifies the presence of human trafficking indicators in a UK-based sample of sex workers who advertise their services online. To this end, we developed a crawling and scraping software that enabled the collection of information from 17, 362 advertisements for female sex workers posted on the largest dedicated platform for sex work services in the UK. We then established a set of 10 indicators of human trafficking and a transparent and replicable methodology through which to detect their presence in our sample. Most of the advertisements (58.3%) contained only one indicator, while 3,694 of the advertisements (21.3%) presented 2 indicators of human trafficking. Only 1.7% of the advertisements reported three or more indicators, while there were no advertisements that featured more than four. 3, 255 advertisements (19.0%) did not contain any indicators of human trafficking. Based on this analysis, we propose that this approach constitutes an effective screening process for quickly identifying suspicious cases, which can then be examined by more comprehensive and accurate tools to identify if human trafficking is occurring. We conclude by calling for more empirical research into human trafficking indicators.

Selling Sex as an Edgework: Risk Taking and Thrills in China’s Commercial Sex Industry

2018 ◽  
Vol 63 (8) ◽  
pp. 1306-1329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eileen Yuk-ha Tsang
Keyword(s):  
Risk Taking ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Female Sex Workers ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Sex Industry ◽  
Female Sex Worker ◽  
Sex Worker ◽  
Female Sex ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Selling Sex

Academic discussions of the sex industry need to consider sex worker’s experience within the conceptual framework of “edgework.” Edgework is voluntary risky activity that combines danger with excitement and emotional pleasure. This article argues female sex worker must weigh possible outcomes in terms of the resulting benefits or consequences. The notion of edgework articulated by Stephen Lyng proposed there is a fine line for risky behavior going from pleasurable and manageable to turning dangerous and chaotic. This description of edgework applies to female sex workers, and needs to be extended to individualization in the Chinese context. Research data collected from two distinct ethnographies in Dongguan (195 sex workers) and Hong Kong (39 sex workers). The research findings provide insights into the experiences and motivations of an underexamined niche segment of sex workers. A significant number of sex workers embody the perspective of edgework to maintain self-esteem in difficult circumstances. For example, edgework explains several aspects of sex work including notions of excitement and personal pleasure, developing skills within the craft, developing interpersonal networks with peers, and gaining personal happiness through fulfilling sexual desire.

scholarly journals ‘I’m Not a Bloody Slave, I Get Paid and if I Don’t Get Paid Then Nothing Happens’: Sarah’s Experience of Being a Student Sex Worker

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 709-718 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Simpson ◽  
Sarah Smith
Keyword(s):  
Sex Work ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Sex Industry ◽  
Sex Worker ◽  
Gig Economy ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Competitive Nature

Sex work remains a contentious area of debate. Whether or not sex work is considered to be a form of labour is in itself contested. As discussion is often about rather than with sex workers, this article brings Sarah’s experiences of being both a student and a sex worker, in two different areas of the UK, to centre stage. This candid account highlights the precarious and competitive nature of being self-employed within the current neoliberal climate, as well as the similarities sex work shares with other ‘mainstream’ forms of labour particularly within the ‘gig economy’. Existing research has focused on how/why students enter the sex industry leaving a gap in the literature regarding what happens after university in this context. It appears from Sarah’s account that leaving sex work behind may not be as straightforward as she had originally anticipated, for reasons other than just making money.

scholarly journals A Systematic Review of Factors Influencing Condom Use among Female Sex Workers

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Caitlin McLachlan ◽  
Tinashe Dune
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Condom Use ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Female Sex Workers ◽  
Future Research ◽  
High Risk Population ◽  
Sex Industry ◽  
Female Sex ◽  
Male Clients

A systematic review of research published in English was conducted across seven electronic databases in public health, social and psychological sciences. The aim was to ascertain the factors that influence condom use among female sex workers in the commercial sex industry globally. The perspectives and experiences of 29,112 female sex workers (FSWs) and 1,792 male clients of FSWs with regards to condom use are represented across the 47 studies included in this review. Key themes comprised of Perceived self-efficacy, Relationship Types, Condom use and Attitudes, Violence and Abuse, Location and Support, Knowledge and Perceived Risk, Perception and Perspectives of Male Clients, Drug and Alcohol use, Criminalisation and Price and Payment. Female sex workers are defined as a high-risk population for HIV/AIDS. Condoms were used less frequently in situations where structural and cultural determinants heavily impacted the experiences and decisions of FSWs. Cultural contextual factors also heavily impacted on the perspectives and perceptions of male clients and their attitudes towards condom use. Criminalization and anti-sex work legislation in many of the countries where these studies were conducted meant that FSWs were a socially marginalised and ostracized population. Recommendations are explored for theory, practice and education and future research.

scholarly journals Informal settlements, Covid-19 and sex workers in Kenya

Urban Studies ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 004209802110446
Author(s):  
Rahma Hassan ◽  
Teela Sanders ◽  
Susan Gichuna ◽  
Rosie Campbell ◽  
Mercy Mutonyi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sex Workers ◽  
Urban Poor ◽  
Female Sex Workers ◽  
Urban Poverty ◽  
Informal Settlements ◽  
Sex Industry ◽  
Sex Worker ◽  
Urban Informal Settlements ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Selling Sex

This paper highlights the challenges faced by female sex workers living and working in the urban informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya, during the Covid-19 outbreak and the aftermath of the pandemic. Using data collected through phone interviews during the immediate crisis, we document the experiences of urban poor sex workers, illustrating the acute problems they faced, including precarious housing with the reality of eviction and demolition. The paper highlights the ramifications of the Covid-19 crisis for the sex industry and predominantly women working within this informal, illegal economy. Through our empirical data we illustrate how the nature of selling sex has changed for sex workers in this context, increasing risks of violence including police abuses. We argue that examining the Covid-19 crisis through the lens of one the most marginalised populations graphically highlights how the pandemic has and will continue to deepen pre-existing structural urban inequalities and worsen public health outcomes among the urban poor. Sex worker communities are often located at the intersections of structural inequalities of gender, class, race and nation and the socio-spatial fragmentations of how they live make them some of the most vulnerable in society. We close with comments in relation to sexual citizenship, exclusionary state practices and the feminisation of urban poverty.

scholarly journals Selling sex in Luganville: Ni-Vanuatu sex workers' experiences of, and limits to claiming their sexual and reproductive health rights in Luganville, Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Kate Florence Burry
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Health ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Female Sex Workers ◽  
Sexual And Reproductive Health ◽  
Sex Industry ◽  
Sex Worker ◽  
Northern Island ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
Health Rights ◽  
Selling Sex

<p>This thesis is a foundational piece of research into ni-Vanuatu sex workers’ experiences within the sex industry of Luganville, on the northern island of Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu. This research identifies and unpacks ni-Vanuatu sex workers’ limits to claiming their sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR), limits which are intricately associated with gender paradigms and hierarchies in Vanuatu.  Those interviewed were male and female sex workers, an ex-sex worker, ‘middle men,’ who manage sexual transactions, a client and an ex-boyfriend of a local sex worker. Discussions focused on the technicalities of Luganville’s sex industry, as well as sexual and reproductive health and rights, and the extent to which sex workers are able to exercise agency during interactions with clients. Thus, this thesis reveals both the intricate workings of the sex industry in Luganville, and the considerable extent to which sex workers are limited in making decisions about their wellbeing, leading to significant accounts of abuse.  The theory of ‘body work’ informs this thesis’ analysis of how ni-Vanuatu sex workers’ bodies are understood as a constitution of their self. This analysis reveals the extent to which sex workers are divested of personhood, thereby limiting their ability to have their rights as persons realised. This thesis also draws on the complex process of, as the author conceptualises, gender and developman in Vanuatu; that is, the ways in which Vanuatu has mingled with, co-opted, and rejected introduced commodities, ways, and beliefs in particularly gendered ways. In this way, this thesis is not only unique in investigating the sex industry in Luganville. This thesis also provides a deep analysis of sex work as a part of gender and developman in Vanuatu, and what that process reveals about sex workers’ agency in particular, and modern configurations of gender in Vanuatu in general.</p>

scholarly journals Ethical and Safety Issues in Doing Sex Work Research: Reflections From a Field-Based Ethnographic Study in Kolkata, India

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 893-908 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sunny Sinha
Keyword(s):  
Sex Work ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Female Sex Workers ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Epidemiological Studies ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Sex Industry ◽  
Safety Issues ◽  
Female Sex

While much has been said about the risks and safety issues experienced by female sex workers in India, there is a considerable dearth of information about the difficulties and problems that sex work researchers, especially female researchers, experience when navigating the highly political, ideological, and stigmatized environment of the Indian sex industry. As noted by scholars, there are several methodological and ethical issues involved with sex work research, such as privacy and confidentiality of the participants, representativeness of the sample, and informed consent. Yet, there has been reluctance among scholars to comment on their research process, especially with regard to how they deal with the protocols for research ethics when conducting social and behavioral epidemiological studies among female sex workers in India and elsewhere. Drawing on my 7 months of field-based ethnographic research with “flying” or non-brothel-based female sex workers in Kolkata, India, I provide in this article a reflexive account of the problems encountered in implementing the research process, particularly the ethical and safety issues involved in gaining access and acceptance into the sex industry and establishing contact and rapport with the participants. In doing so, it is my hope that future researchers can develop the knowledge necessary for the design of ethical and non-exploitative research projects with sex workers.

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