Examining Professionalisation as a Strategy for Sex Worker Empowerment and Mobilisation
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2392321 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nadine Glo (0000-0003-2966-5818, Global Network of Sex Work Projects, Scotland), Nadine Gloss (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 154-170 |
| Publication date | 2024-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Sociological Research Online (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1360-7804 • E-ISSN: 1360-7804 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/13607804231170520 |
| OpenAlex | W4375866142 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 20 |
In this article, I examine the concept of professionalisation in sex work as a strategy shaped by political activism that aims to empower and mobilise sex workers to fight for labour rights. Using a participant-based action research approach, I investigated one sex worker professionalisation programme in Germany to better understand how the design, training and goals of the programme reflected ideas and priorities from the Association for Erotic and Sexual Service Providers, a nationwide sex worker rights organisation in Germany. Through my analysis, I found that the programme for professionalisation was mainly oriented around criticism against the new German Prostitute Protection Act (2017), framing data protection as a sex worker rights issue, and encouraging critical resistance to authorities enforcing the Act. Based on these themes, I offer two new perspectives on the aims of the programme in relation to empowering and destigmatising sex workers. First, the tools of resistance offered through the programme as a way of empowering sex workers were confounded by sex workers' individual situations that limited their ability to practice resistance. Second, the politics of funding for the programme, guided by the goal of ensuring sex workers are less of a public health risk, may interfere with the broader goal of destigmatising sex work
Empowerment · Political science · Politics · Population · Public relations · Sex work · Sex workers · Sociology · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Law · Medicine · Sex work and related issues · Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology
Introduction to Action Research
Women's Empowerment
Pragati
Empowering sex workers? Critical reflections on peer-led risk-reduction workshops in Soweto, South Africa
From Sex as Sin to Sex as Work
From Sex as Sin to Sex as Work
Sex workers as peer health advocates
Self-empowerment and 'professionalism
Using Peer Education to Promote Psychosocial and Occupational Health and Empowerment Among Female Sex Workers in Nepal
Lack of Confidence in Police Creates a “Blue Ceiling” for Sex Workers' Safety
Ambivalent Professionalisation and Autonomy in Workers' Collective Projects
Precarious or Protected? Evaluating Work Quality in the Legal Sex Industry
Transnational Social Mobility Strategies and Quality of Work among Latin-American Women Sex Workers in Spain
The Relative Quality of Sex Work
They won't change it back in their heads that we're trash
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |