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A sex worker is anyone who earns money by providing sexual services. Some use this term to mean only prostitution, although the term is more commonly used to refer to a wide variety of sex industry workers (e.g. adult film actors, nude models, exotic dancers, peep show performers, masseuses in parlours, phone sex workers, and hostesses in clip joints).
Recently, there have been several efforts to gain legal recognition for sex workers. In the Netherlands, Germany, New Zealand and some Australian States, sex workers already enjoy recognition by their government. The term "sex worker" is primarily used among professionals who support formal organizations in an otherwise left-alone industry. Their proponents claim that formal organizations are going to help lower the victimization rate of the workers also reducing and preventing the transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among these workers and their clients.
In practice the growth in sex tourism has led to a corresponding growth in the sex industry. Illegal sex tourism with under-age boys and girls has become a notorious problem in Costa Rica and Thailand, for example. Meanwhile a legal and consensual sex industry often makes a significant contribution to local economies. The Hamburg Reeperbahn is a licensed and taxed prostitution zone serving tourists from all over the world, whilst the sex industry has also tended to thrive around military bases. The British naval port of Portsmouth had a flourishing local sex industry in the nineteenth century for example, whilst 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 a R&R (Rest and Recuperation) location for US troops involved in the Vietnam War in the early 1970s.
The euphemism Adult service provider is sometimes used for sex workers. Interestingly, the term "sex worker" can itself be a euphemism: as British columnist Theodore Dalrymple put it, "medical journals fear to print the word "prostitute" and use the delicate euphemism "sex worker" instead." However, it was brought into use by sex worker rights activists who want society to recognize the work they do and their contributions.
See also
Sources
- "''Decriminalize sex trade: Vancouver report", CBC.ca, June 13th, 2006
External links
- Open Directory Project: Politics of Sexuality -- Sex Work
- International Sex Worker Foundation for Art, Culture and Education
- Sex Worker Education And Advocacy Taskforce
- Commercial Sex Information Service (CSIS)
- COYOTE - Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics
- International Union of Sex Workers
- Sex Workers Art Show - Review
- Sex Workers Outreach Project - Australia
- Sex Workers Outreach Project - United States
- Sex Worker Maksim Maksimych - Russian Federation
- Interview with a former sex text worker
- StreetWomen.org
- Common Sense advice for Prostitutes
- Common Sense advice for Clients
Personal care and service occupations | Sex industry | Sex trade | Sex workers
"Sex worker"