Sex worker

Bronze statue Belle in Amsterdam's red-light district De Wallen, in front of the Oude Kerk. It was unveiled in March 2007 with the inscription "Respect sex workers all over the world."

A sex worker is a person who works in the sex industry.

Sex workers may be employed as prostitutes, strippers, go-go dancers, burlesque performers, escorts, dominatrices, peepshow workers, phone sex operators, hustlers, foot fetish models, brothel workers, or porn performers, among other things. Some sex workers are paid to engage in sex acts which involve varying degrees of physical contact with clients. Other sex workers are paid to engage in live sexual performance, such as web cam sex and phone sex.[1] Still others are paid merely to be companions.

Contents

Evolution of the term

"Sex worker" is credited as being first introduced in the late 1970s by the American sex workers rights activist Carol Leigh.[2] According to Leigh:

"I never imagined it would be the only term we could use to refer to prostitutes. As a matter of fact, sex worker describes the entire range. It helps unify peep show dancers, strippers, and prostitutes. Prior to this, other workers in the sex industry would not identify with prostitutes. This is a term invented so we could have some solidarity."[2]

One important theoretical consequence of the political term sex worker is that it re-frames the debate around the sex industry and those who are employed by it, whether legally or illegally, as primarily one of labor and human rights rather than one of criminality, deviance or morality. The term also serves to create a political and cultural community across a vast array of work and life experiences.

Despite increasing acceptance, the term remains controversial among organizations or individuals who oppose all forms of sex work on religious or cultural grounds or simply view all sex work as inherently abusive. In these cases the phrase is often rejected on the grounds that its use might be seen to imply an equality with other types of work or that it masks the inherent abusiveness of the work.

Legality

Depending on regional law, sex workers' activities may be regulated, controlled, tolerated, or prohibited.

Social views of sex workers

In most countries, even those where sex work is legal, sex workers are stigmatized and marginalized, which can prevent them from seeking legal redress for discrimination (e.g., racial discrimination by a strip club owner), non-payment by a client, assault or rape.

Advocacy

Sex worker's rights advocates argue that sex workers should have the same basic human and labour rights as other working people[3].

For example, the Canadian Guild for Erotic Labour calls for the legalization of sex work, the elimination of state regulations that are more repressive than those imposed on other workers and businesses, the right to recognition and protection under labour and employment laws, the right to form and join professional associations or unions, and the right to legally cross borders to work.

Also, the legalization of sex work would allow it to be carried out in better organized circumstances (e.g., legal brothels), where regulations (e.g., requiring condom use and regular health checkups for sex workers) could reduce the transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Sex tourism

Many sex workers across the world reap both the benefits and consequences of a booming sex tourism trade.

Performance evaluations

Performance evaluations of the different local sex workers can be found at various escort review boards worldwide, online forums which are used to trade information between potential clients and sex workers and to advertise the various services available.

Military

Sex workers have always plied their trades to the military in virtually all cultures. For example, the British naval port of Portsmouth had a flourishing local sex industry in the 19th century, and until the early 1990s there were large red light districts near American military bases in the Philippines. The notorious Patpong entertainment district in Bangkok, Thailand, started as an R&R location for US troops serving in the Vietnam War in the early 1970s.

See also

Further reading

References

  1. ↑ Weitzer, Ronald. 2000. Sex For Sale: Prostitution, Pornography, and the Sex Industry (New York: Routledge Press)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Quan, Tracy. 2006. The Name of the Pose: A Sex Worker by Any Other Name. In: Spector J (ed). Prostitution and Pornography: Philosophical Debate About the Sex Industry. (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.) p 342. ISBN 0-8047-4938-8.
  3. ↑ [Weitzer, Ronald. 1991. "Prostitutes' Rights in the United States," Sociological Quarterly, v. 32, no.1, pages 23-41]

External links

Advocacy

International
Africa
Australia
Europe
North America

Anti Sex-worker campaigners