Sex worker

A sex worker is a person who earns money by providing sexual services. The term was coined by American prostitute-activist Carol Leigh (also known as "Scarlot Harlot") in the 1970s as a political term. It is sometimes used as a synonym or euphemism for prostitution, but most scholars define "sex workers" to include individuals who perform sexual or sexually oriented activities in the sex industry, such as strippers, erotic massage therapists, rubberists, pornography actors and actresses, live sex shows, webcam shows, and phone sex operators (Weitzer 2000).

Depending on regional law, sex workers' activities may be regulated, controlled, or prohibited. For example, prostitution is illegal in many countries, but is legal in the Netherlands, Belgium, New Zealand, Germany, Ethiopia, Indonesia and Nevada. In most countries, even those where sex work is legal, sex workers are stigmatized and marginalized, which can prevent sex workers from seeking legal redress for discrimination (e.g., racial discrimination by a strip club owner), non-payment by a client, assault, or rape.

Sex worker advocates argue that sex workers should have the same basic human and labour rights as other working people (Weitzer 1991). 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.

The growth in sex tourism has led to a corresponding growth in the sex industry in some countries. Illegal sex tourism with under-age boys and girls has become a notorious problem in Costa Rica and Thailand. Legal (above the age of consent) and consensual sex industries make a significant contribution to the local economies of some urban centers. The Hamburg Reeperbahn is a licensed and taxed prostitution zone serving tourists from all over the world.

Sex industries tend to thrive around military bases. The British naval port of Portsmouth had a flourishing local sex industry in the nineteenth 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 (Rest and Recuperation) location for US troops serving in the Vietnam War in the early 1970s.

The euphemism adult service provider is sometimes used for sex workers. Another example of the euphemism treadmill, according to Theodore Dalrymple, is that "medical journals fear to print the word "prostitute" and use the euphemism "sex worker" instead."

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

Sources

• Weitzer, Ronald. 1991. "Prostitutes' Rights in the United States," Sociological Quarterly, v. 32, no.1, pages 23-41.
• Weitzer, Ronald. 2000. Sex For Sale: Prostitution, Pornography, and the Sex Industry (New York: Routledge Press).
• "Decriminalize sex trade: Vancouver report", CBC.ca, June 13th, 2006

Advocacy

• COYOTE - Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics (US/North America)
• Politics of Sexuality — Sex Work at the Open Directory Project
• International Union of Sex Workers
• International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe
• International Sex Worker Foundation for Art, Culture and Education

Regional

• Sex Workers Outreach Project - United States
• Sex Workers Outreach Project - NSW Australia
• Commercial Sex Information Service (CSIS) (Canada)
• UK laws regarding prostitution updated for 2006
• Sex Worker Education And Advocacy Taskforce (South Africa)
• St. James Infirmary - San Francisco: The first occupational safety and health clinic for sex workers run by and for sex workers

Articles on prostitution

• Andrea Dworkin: Why Men Like Prostitution So Much Andrea Dworkin Keynote Speech at International Trafficking Conference, 1989. (Audio File: 22 min, 128 Kbps, mp3)
• Andrea Dworkin's Attorney General's Commission Testimony on Pornography and Prostitution
• Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) — list of resources on the sex industry (primarily focused on prostitution)
• Equality Now feminist activism against various forms of prostitution
• Fair Fund Human Trafficking website
• Polaris Project helps prostituted women recover. Located in Washington, D.C.
• The Lola Greene Baldwin FoundationProstitution Recovery Program. Excellent articles, resources and information.
• Prostitution Research & Education. mELISSA fARLEY
• 'Bad for the Body, Bad for the heart': Prostitution Harms Women Even if Legalized or Decriminalized by Melissa Farley 2004 Violence Against Women 10: 1087-1125.
• Prostitution and Male Supremacy by Andrea Dworkin
• Prostitution and the sex discrepancy in reported number of sexual partners. D. Brewer et. al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2000 24 October; 97(22): 1238512388.
• Prostitution and Civil Rights by Catharine A. MacKinnon
• Prostitution and Trafficking in 9 Countries: Update on Violence and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder by Melissa Farley, Ann Cotton., Jacqueline Lynne, Sybile Zumbeck, Frida Spiwak, Maria E. Reyes, Dinorah Alvarez, Ufuk Sezgin 2003 Journal of Trauma Practice 2 (3/4): 33-74.
• "Prostitution harms women even if indoors: Reply to Weitzer" by Melissa Farley, Violence Against Women 1(7): 971–977, July 2005
• “Prostitution, Trafficking, and Cultural Amnesia: What We Must Not Know in Order To Keep the Business of Sexual Exploitation Running Smoothly” by Melissa Farley 2006 Yale Journal of Law and Feminism 18:109-144.
• The question of prostitution - A Marxist analysis of prostitution
• Unequal (A Feminist Response to Marxist Views on Prostitution) by Melissa Farley

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