Crim 102 - Sex work Lecture 23 PDF

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Crim 102 Sex work Public attitudes -

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Assumption that sex work/prostitution = street sex work Most visible and most contested form of sex work The street is only a small proportion of the industry: as more people are working indoors due to the difficult nature of street working violence, criminalisation, stigma, safety Selling sex is not illegal, but there are conditions that must be followed

What is sex work? -

“exchange of sexual services for goods or money” (Ditmore 2011) “prostitution is popularly defined as the exchange of sex or sexual services for money and/or other material benefits” (O’Connell-Davidson, 1998)

Types of sex work -

Spatial structuring of sex industries: Street sex work: only 10-15% of sex work takes place on the street Indoor – the majority of sex work takes place indoors Online – increasing in recent years with the rise of the internet

What is street sex work? It may be easier to understand what it is not -

Not indoor market: i.e. brothels, parlours, saunas however this doesn’t mean it always takes place ON the street Can include inside cars, outdoor areas, warehouses, derelict buildings etc But the initial contact/negotiation takes place in an outdoor setting

Locations -

Street: major cities, arterial routes, industrial areas Indoors: brothels, saunas, flats, massage parlours, strip clubs Online – escort directories; forums (e.g. punternet)

UK: ‘walk ups’ -

Specifically located in Soho Usually migrant workers, with an English maid Very small Small waiting room and bedroom Recent raids

Brothels abroad -

Nevada, US India New Zealand Germany

Services sold -

Phone sex: internet assisted sex, dominatrix services, sadomasochism etc Emotional intimacy (Jordan 1997, Pickering et al 1992, Sanders 2005, Vanwesenbeeck et al 1993) Girlfriend experience (Sharp and Earle 2002) Variety of sexual partners and specific physical attributes (Campbell 1998, Campbell 1997, McKaganey 1994) Specific sexual acts (Campbell 1998, Jordan 1997, Kinnell 1989, Monto 2000)

Sex workers -

Male, female, transgender, gay, lesbian, heterosexual, bisexual 33% of people advertising as escorts self-identified as male 22% in their early twenties and 27% in their late twenties, 27% in their thirties, 16% were in their forties Female and trans escorts tend to advertise higher rates than male escorts

(Smith and Kingston 2015) -

Sex workers may be male, female, or transgendered, and the boundaries of sex work are vague, ranging from erotic displays without physical contact with the client, through to high risk unprotected sexual intercourse with numerous clients. Individuals may occasionally and opportunistically exact a fee or gift for a sexual favour without perceiving themselves to be sex workers, or they may engage more or less full (Hancourt & Donovan, 2005: 201).

Prevalence -

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Estimates that between 4% (Johnson et al 2001; Ward et al 2005) and 10% of men in the UK have paid for sex in their lifetime (Groom and Nandwani 2006 In London, research conducted by Johnson et al (1994, 2001) indicates that the number of men reporting having paid for sex has doubled over ten years, with up to 8.9% of men reporting that they have paid for sex over the previous five years (2001: 1837) Internationally, research has shown that over 25% of men in one survey had paid for sex in their lifetime in Spain (Belza et al 2008) and 15% of men in the US (Langer et al 2004)

Global view of prevalence Clients: -

Sweden: 13% (Ekberg, 2004) Australia: 15.6% (Rissel et al, 2003) Spain: 39% (Leridon, et al 1998) Thailand: 73% (Anderson & O’Connell Davidson, 2003) USA: 15-18% (Weitzer, 2009)

Extent of sex working -

UK: £534 million is spent each year in escort and parlour sex markets (Moffat and Peters 2004: 684) One online directory showed 27,408 registered members of the site who advertised as escorts and who had logged in within two months

Why choose sex work? -

Radical feminist standpoint: institutionalisation of gendered hierarchy = women do not choose this line of work they are socialised into this Prostitute must sell herself which is different from other occupations The reasons why people take money or gifts for sex are very varied. In some ancient tradition’s prostitution was recognised as the hereditary calling of particular subgroups or castes. In these cases, women were ‘‘born into prostitution.’’ There are echoes of this practice in India and Nepal where descendants of temple dancers (Devadasis) and female court musicians (Nautch girls) still follow their ‘‘hereditary’’ calling, although their ritual significance is greatly diminished. (Hancourt & Donovan, 2005: 201).

Legitimate choice -

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Liberal feminist standpoint: rather than assuming sex workers are ‘mindless robots’ and are passive and submissive we must recognise the conditions under which they make this choice Legitimate choice: limited options available to women socially and economically “Currently most sex work has a strong economic basis, primarily as a source of income for sex workers, but also for dependent kin and associates including pimps, managers, and ancillary workers. Individual sex workers have very different levels of need ranging from survival, debt, drug dependency, coercion, and social connection,15 to desire for wealth and social mobility. (Hancourt & Donovan, 2005: 201).

Individual and social factors - Link between sex work and the drug markets

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Other factors: Childhood abuse Lack of formal education Experience of local authority care Early homelessness Low self-esteem

These may result in a predisposition to use drugs and to use sex work as a way of buying these drugs (May et al 1999)...