Privileging Work Not Sex

Flexibility and Employment in the Sexual Services Industry

Bibliographic Data

ID3557014
AuthorsJanemaree Maher (0000-0002-6592-8390, Monash University), Sharon Pickering (0000-0002-0080-6296, Monash University), Alison Gerard (0000-0001-6756-8491, Monash University)
Year2012
Volume60
Issue4
Pages654-675
Publication date2012-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Sociological Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0038-0261 • E-ISSN: 1467-954X
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-954x.2012.02128.x
OpenAlexW1482843136
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited35

We present findings from a study of sex workers recruited in indoor licensed premises in Victoria. While the study addressed regulation, enforcement and working conditions, we focus on the value of flexible well-paid work for two particular groups of female workers (parents and students). We link this issue of flexibility to broader gendered employment conditions in Australia, arguing the lack of comparable employment is crucial to understanding worker decisions about sex work. Debates and regulation focus on gendered inequalities related to heterosexuality much more than they recognize gendered inequalities related to labour market conditions. The focus on criminalization, harm, exploitation and stigma obscures the centrality of work flexibility and conditions to women's decision-making. A more direct focus on the broader employment context may produce better recognition of why women do sex work

Context (archaeology) · Criminalization · Criminology · Economics · Flexibility (engineering) · Harm · Industrial sociology · Inequality · Management · Sex work · Sociology · Stigma (botany) · Work (physics) · Engineering · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Psychology · Sex work and related issues · Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology · Social Psychology

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