Black Market Business

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Elizabeth Firpo
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Black Market ◽  
Regulation System ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Sex Industry ◽  
Gis Technology ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Dance Clubs ◽  
Demographic Shifts

This book is a grassroots social history of the clandestine market for sex in colonial Tonkin. It explores the ways in which sex workers, managers, and clients evaded the colonial regulation system in the turbulent economy of the interwar years. The book argues that the confluence of economic, demographic, and cultural changes sweeping late colonial Tonkin created spaces of tension in which the interwar black-market sex industry thrived. The clandestine sex industry flourished in sites of legal inconsistency, cultural changes, economic disparity, rural–urban division, and demographic shifts. As a nexus of the many tensions besetting late colonial Tonkin, the black-market sex industry serves as a useful lens through which to examine these tensions and the ways they affected marginalized populations. More specifically, an investigation of this black market shows how a particular population of impoverished women — a group regrettably understudied by historians — experienced the tensions. Drawing on an astonishingly diverse and multilingual source base, the book includes detailed cases of juvenile prostitution, human trafficking, and debt-bondage arrangements in sex work, as well as cases in Tonkin's bars, hotels, singing houses, and dance clubs. Using GIS technology and big data sets to track individual actors in history, it serves as a model for teaching new methodological approaches to conducting social histories of women and marginalized people.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Christina Elizabeth Firpo
Keyword(s):  
Sex Work ◽  
Black Market ◽  
Sex Industry ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Economic Disparity ◽  
Colonial Economy ◽  
Colonial Policies ◽  
Demographic Shifts

This chapter introduces the black market sex industry in late colonial Vietnam. It argues that the interwar black market sex industry thrived in spaces of tension, which were created by the confluence of economic, demographic, and cultural changes sweeping late colonial Tonkin. Tension developed in sites of legal inconsistency, cultural changes, economic disparity, rural–urban division, and demographic shifts, brought about by colonial policies. An investigation of this black market shows how a particular population of impoverished women — a group regrettably understudied by historians — experienced the tensions. Marginalized by the colonial economy and swayed by new cultural trends, these women came to participate in black market sex work by choice, by force, or, more often, by some combination of the two.

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 Labouring in the Sex Industry: A Conversation with Sex Workers on Consent and Exploitation

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 86
Author(s):  
Francine Tremblay
Keyword(s):  
Sex Work ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Service Industry ◽  
Sex Industry ◽  
Cultural Symbol

Sex work in all its forms is an occupation that belongs to the service industry, and like any other work, sexual labour is open to exploitation. However, the reason why sex work is seen to be different from other forms of labour is that it betrays the socially accepted rules of love and intimacy and is exercised within a criminalised environment. As a cultural symbol, sex work remains steadfastly linked to aberration and dangerousness. This article juxtaposes the legal and lay definitions of consent and exploitation based on conversations with fourteen Canadian sex workers. The objective of this exploratory article is to delve within two ill-defined and highly contested notions related to the sex industry—consent and exploitation.

scholarly journals Should society accept sex robots?

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 428-442
Author(s):  
Eleanor Hancock
Keyword(s):  
Sex Workers ◽  
Sex Industry ◽  
Sex Worker ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Radical Feminist ◽  
Female Sex ◽  
Moral Objection ◽  
Current State ◽  
Sex Robots ◽  
Informed Opinion

AbstractIn early 2015, Kathleen Richardson announced the arrival of the world’s largest, organised resistance group against the production of sex robots in society: The Campaign Against Sex Robots (CASR). Since the birth of the CASR, Richardson and other feminists have manipulated a combination of radical feminist rhetoric and sex industry abolitionist narratives, in order to promote the criminalisation of sex robots. Moreover, the CASR and Richardson have also made some rather unique claims regarding the “similarities” between sex workers and sex robots, which have not previously surfaced within the narratives of radical feminists in recent years. This article seeks to analyse if their analogous reference to sex workers and sex robots has credibility and viability in the context of the digitalised sex industry and in the wider teledildonic and sex robot market. Furthermore, this article will also formulate solutions for the ethical and social contentions surrounding the merge of sex dolls and robots within the contemporary sex industry. In order to disentangle the radical feminist arguments surrounding sex robots and the sex industry, the following contentions will be addressed:Is moral objection to female sex robots using client-sex worker analogies from feminists justified?Is opposition to sex robots based on informed opinion about the digitalised sex industry?To what extent are the positive considerations around sex robots/dolls and sex-technology ignored in the narratives of radical feminists and the CASR?What practical applications recommendations can be made to the sex robot industry from the stipulations of the CASR and the current state of sex dolls/robots in the sex industry?

scholarly journals Precarious or Protected? Evaluating Work Quality in the Legal Sex Industry

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 173-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Orchiston
Keyword(s):  
Sex Work ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Sex Industry ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
Industry Regulation ◽  
Regulatory Model ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Legal Sex

Decriminalising (or legalising) sex work is argued to improve sex workers’ safety and provide access to labour rights. However, there is a paucity of empirical research comparing how different regulatory approaches affect working conditions in the sex industry, especially in relation to venues that are managed by third parties. This article uses a mixed methods study of the Australian legal brothel sector to critically explore the relationship between external regulation and working conditions. Two dominant models of sex industry regulation are compared: decriminalisation and licensing. First, the article documents workplace practices in the Australian legal brothel sector, examining sex workers’ agency, autonomy and control over the labour process. Second, it analyses the capacity of each regulatory model to protect sex workers from unsafe and unfair working conditions. On the basis of these findings, the article concludes that brothel-based sex work is precarious and substantively excluded from the protective mantle of labour law, notwithstanding its legality. It is argued that the key determinant of conditions in the legal brothel sector is the extent to which the state enforces formal labour protections, as distinct from the underlying regulatory model adopted.

Migration, Agency, and the Sex Industry: Practitioners’ Perspectives on Foreign Sex Workers in Turkey

2017 ◽  
Vol 62 (10) ◽  
pp. 2954-2981
Author(s):  
Omur Kaya ◽  
Edna Erez
Keyword(s):  
Sex Workers ◽  
Close Contact ◽  
Sociocultural Factors ◽  
Sex Industry ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Legal Reforms ◽  
Sex Market ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Depth Interviews

The article presents the political, economic, and sociocultural factors that make Turkey an attractive destination for foreign sex workers, and reviews trends in official statistics of arrested traffickers, rescued victims, and deportation of migrant illegal sex workers. In-depth interviews of 20 law enforcement and nongovernmental organizations staff members, who in the course of their work come into close contact with foreign sex workers, shed light on the statistics. The interview data provide insights into the structure of the Turkish sex market, the factors that bring foreign women to work in this market, and the impact of legal reforms on the circumstances of foreign sex workers. The article concludes with the implications of the findings for public policy.

scholarly journals Del paradigma higienista a las teorías de la interseccionalidad. La construcción social de la ocupación de trabajadoras sexuales

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Teodora Hurtado Saa
Keyword(s):  
Sex Work ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Alternative View ◽  
Sex Industry ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
The Social ◽  
Colombian Women ◽  
Las Mujeres ◽  
Trabajadoras Sexuales ◽  
Sex Market

Resumen: Este artículo versa sobre el actual estado    de la teorización, de la terminología y del conocimien- to empírico relativo a la producción social y ejercicio del trabajo sexual, con atención especial a las teorías    y conceptos que estructuran el tema de la participación diferenciada de las mujeres en general, y de las muje- res con características étnicas/raciales subalternizadas en particular, en el mercado del sexo. Se delinea una postura alternativa a los planteamientos convenciona- les higienistas, criminalistas o victimistas desde donde tradicionalmente se ha analizado la cuestión. Adicio- nalmente, se reflexiona sobre el crecimiento, expansión y modernización de la industria del sexo, en la que algu- nos países post-industrializados asumen la condición de demandantes y los países en vía de desarrollo, la de ofer- tantes de mano de obra para el consumo de experiencias sexuales de diferente índole. De igual modo, se delibera sobre la importancia que tiene la comercialización del sexo, para el desarrollo económico de algunos países y el trabajo sexual como estrategia de “rebusque” frente a los embates de la vida cotidiana. Asimismo, describimos las formas de explotación y de ejercicio del oficio de tra- bajadoras del sexo.Palabras claves: Mercado global del sexo, construcción de la ocupación, interseccionalidad, trabajo sexual, mu- jeres afrocolombianas, sexualidades disidentesFrom the Hygienist Paradigm to Intersectionality. The Social Construction of Sexual WorkAbstract: The present article deals with the current state of the theorizing, the terminology and the empirical knowledge about the social production and exercise of sex work, with special attention to theories and concepts that structure the subject of the different participation in the sex trade of women in general, and of women with subalternized ethnic/racial features in particular. It de- lineates an alternative view to conventional hygienist approaches, or criminal or victimization approaches, traditionally used to analyze the issue. In addition, this paper reflects on the growth, expansion and moderniza- tion of the sex industry, in which some post-industrialized countries provide the demand and developing countries provide the supply of labor for the consumption of sexual experiences. Similarly, it discusses the importance of the commercialization of sex for the economic development of some countries and of sex work as a strategy of look- ing for informal work while coping with the ravages of everyday life. It also describes the forms of exploitation of sex workers in the exercise of their profession. Key words: global sex market, occupation, intersection- ality, sex work, Afro-Colombian women, dissident sexu- alities

scholarly journals Listening to Local and Foreign Sex Buyers of Men and Women in Cambodia

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-79
Author(s):  
Samantha Sommer Miller ◽  
Glenn Miles ◽  
James Havey
Keyword(s):  
Sex Workers ◽  
Sex Industry ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Phnom Penh ◽  
Bisexual Males ◽  
And Bisexual ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Sex With Men ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Sexual Services

Research on prostitution and trafficking has largely focused on the exploitation of girls and young women. This research comes out of the “Listening to the Demand” two-part study by an independent research team on the sex industry in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. “Listening to the Demand” is a series of research exploring often over-looked populations in the anti-trafficking conversation, including men and transgender people. The first of the studies was completed in 2013 and focuses on men who purchased sex with female sex workers. Interviews of 50 Cambodian and 50 foreign heterosexual and bisexual males explored the respondents’ views and use of prostituted women in Southeast Asia’s sex industry. The second part of the research was completed in 2014 and focuses on men who purchase sex with men. In this second part of the project, 51 Cambodian and 23 foreign men who have sex with men were interviewed about their views of prostitution, the individual sex worker, and their experiences of Cambodia’s sex industry. Due to its comparative nature, the research seeks to deliver information on the differences in culture between the foreign and Cambodian men who seek to pay for sexual services. Results point to the need for proper sex and gender education as well as different approaches when planning projects to reach out to men purchasing sex. In gaining a deeper knowledge of the beliefs and behaviours among the demand population, the findings suggest more holistic approaches are needed to combat the exploitation of sexual services in Cambodia.


scholarly journals Female Subversion through Sex Work: Transgressive Discourses

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-137
Author(s):  
Marta Olasik
Keyword(s):  
Sex Work ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Sociological Theory ◽  
Gender And Sexuality ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sex Industry ◽  
Female Sex ◽  
Lesbian Studies ◽  
The One

The main objective of this article is to provide a multi-faceted and spatially-sensitive reflection on sex work. Taking as a point of departure subversive feminist politics on the one hand and the much contingent notion of citizenship on the other, I intend to present various forms of prostitution as potentially positive and empowering modes of sexual and emotional auto-creation. Informed by the leading research of the subject, as well as inspired and educated by Australia-based Dr Elizabeth Smith from La Trobe University in Melbourne, who had researched and presented female sex workers as self-caring and subversive subjects who make own choices and derive satisfaction from their occupation, I wish to seek academic justice for all those women (and men or trans people, for that matter) in the sex industry who feel stigmatized by political pressure and ultra-feminist circles across Europe. Translating Dr Smith’s significant research into European (and Polish) social realities would be a valuable contribution to the local discussions on gender and sexuality, and axes they intersect with. More importantly, however, a framework of a conceptual interdisciplinary approach needs to be adopted—one in which a specific queer form of lesbian feminist reflection is combined with human geography, both of which have much to offer to various strands of sociological theory and practice. Therefore, as a queer lesbian scholar based in Poland, I would like to diverge a bit from my usual topic in order to pay an academic and activist tribute to the much neglected strand of sociology of sex work. However, my multi-faceted and interdisciplinary academic activity allows me to combine the matter in question with the field of lesbian studies. Both a female sex worker and a lesbian have been culturally positioned through the lens of what so-called femininity is, without a possibility to establish control over their own subjectivities. Hence, on the one hand the article is going to be an academic re-interpretation of sex work as such, but on the other, methodological possibilities of acknowledging and researching lesbian sex workers will be additionally considered with special attention to feminist epistemologies and praxis. While a sensitivity to a given locality is of utmost importance when dealing with gender and sexuality issues, I would like to suggest a somewhat overall approach to investigating both female empowerment through sex work and lesbian studies inclusive of sex workers. Importantly, the more common understandings of the sex industry need to be de-constructed in order for a diversity of transgressive discourses to emerge.

Gender and Sexuality in Brazil since Independence

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sueann Caulfield ◽  
Cristiana Schettini
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Sexual Minorities ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Gender And Sexuality ◽  
Sexual Revolution ◽  
Labor Rights ◽  
Sexual Roles ◽  
1960S And 1970S

Over the past forty years, increasing attention to gender and sexuality in Brazilian historiography has given us a nuanced understanding of diverse ways in which women and men in Brazil’s past experienced patriarchy, racism, and other forms of oppression. As gender historians have shed light on how racialized and patriarchal gender and sexual roles have been reconstituted in different historical contexts, empirical studies in the field of social history have focused primarily on the historical agency of women, particularly non-elite women, who lived within or pushed against the confines of prescribed gender roles. Pioneering histories of sexual minorities have accompanied this trajectory since the 1980s, although this subfield has grown more slowly. A few nodal themes help to explain transformations in gender relations during each of the major periods of Brazil’s social and political history. Under the empire (1822–1889), honor is the entryway for analysis of gender and sexuality. Gendered standards of honor were critical tools used to mark class and racial boundaries, and to traverse them. Historians of the imperial period also stress the centrality of gender to the social, cultural, and economic networks built by members of various occupational, familial, and kinship groups. During the First Republic (1889–1930), the focus shifts to state vigilance and social control, together with debates over modernization of sexual and gender norms, particularly regarding urban space and prostitution. In the Vargas era (1930–1945), patriarchy and racialized sexuality formed the core of intellectual constructions of the nation’s history and identity, at the same time that homosexuality and women’s and worker’s rights generated intense debate. A new emphasis on domesticity emerged in the context of developmentalism in the 1950s, helping to spur a reaction in the form of the counterculture and sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. The dictatorship (1964–1985) went to great lengths to suppress challenges to gender and sexual norms as part of its broader strategy to demobilize society and repress oppositional political movements. These challenges reemerged in the 1970s, when feminists and sexual minorities gained much greater visibility within a new wave of social movements. The 1988 constitution articulated these movements’ aspirations for social justice and equality through its foundational principal of human dignity. Significant legal changes followed over subsequent decades, including recognition of equal labor rights for domestic and sex workers, affirmative-action policies, and the legalization of same-sex marriage, in 2011. Despite notable setbacks, the momentum toward gender and sexual equality at the start of the 21st century was remarkable. This momentum was halted by the political coup that ousted the first woman president in 2016. The anti-feminist mood that accompanied the impeachment process underscored an overarching theme that runs through the historiography of gender and sexuality in Brazil: the centrality of gender to the major legal and political shifts that mark the nation’s history.

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