Sex Workers’ Professional Experiences in the Interplay of Structure and Agency in Croatia

Dados Bibliográficos

ID6163003
AutoresIvana Radačić (0000-0002-8552-2953, Institut društvenih znanosti Ivo Pilar, Zagreb), Marija Antić (0000-0001-7286-2759, Institut društvenih znanosti Ivo Pilar, Zagreb), Mirjana Adamović (0000-0002-2132-9345, Institute for Social Research in Zagreb)
Ano2023
Volume60
Fascículo4
Páginas112-136
Data de publicação2023-12-21
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoPolitička misao (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1846-8721 • E-ISSN: 0032-3241
EditoraFaculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb, Croatia (PUBLISHER • HR)
DOI10.20901/pm.60.4.05
OpenAlexW4390710065
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas1
Referências citadas31

There are still relatively few studies on job satisfaction and the quality of work among sex workers, partly due to the ideologies surrounding sex work. In this paper we move away from dichotomous thinking and investigate the professional experiences of indoor independent sex workers in Croatia against the background of criminalised context and gendered socio-economic realities. We look into sex workers’ motivations, perceptions and experiences, their control and safety strategies. The study shows that despite many structural constraints on the sex workers’ agency, all participants exercise some degree of autonomy and control over their working lives. The factors that seem to be the most relevant in terms of their ability to set up their own conditions, which in turn influences their experiences, are their economic situation, motivation and self-perception. Negative experiences mostly stem from criminalisation and stigmatisation of sex work, which affects women primarily, and creates more risks to their health and safety. The results of the study call for integrative policy approaches, which presuppose full decriminalisation of adult voluntary sex work

Agency (philosophy · Autonomy · Context (archaeology · Control (management · Geography · Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV · Ideology · Job satisfaction · Management · Perception · Political science · Politics · Population · Quality (philosophy · Set (abstract data type · Sex work · Sex workers · Social science · Sociology · Work (physics · Demography · Engineering · Global trade, sustainability, and social impact · Law · Medicine · Psychology · Sex work and related issues · Social Psychology