Palgrave Advances in Sex Work Studies – serie

This edited collection showcases innovative, up and coming researchers’ work in the field of sex work studies across labour/work and relationships. This research is pushing the boundaries of the subject, asking new questions, carving new methodological terrain, and contributing new ideas and empirical findings to the existing literature. Drawing on sociology, criminology, media studies, social and health policy, law and socio-legal studies, the chapters reflect a range of new topics in the sex work studies literature such as religious readings, porn workers and their interactions with fans; romantic relationships, and humour at work. Studies are drawn from Europe, South America, Turkey, Ireland, New Zealand and the USA. This book speaks to academics across the social sciences and humanities who are interested in sex work studies.

This edited collection showcases innovative, up and coming researchers’ work in the field of sex work studies across labour/work and relationships. This research is pushing the boundaries of the subject, asking new questions, carving new methodological terrain, and contributing new ideas and empirical findings to the existing literature. Drawing on sociology, criminology, media studies, social and health policy, law and socio-legal studies, the chapters reflect a range of new topics in the sex work studies literature such as religious readings, porn workers and their interactions with fans; romantic relationships, and humour at work. Studies are drawn from Europe, South America, Turkey, Ireland, New Zealand and the USA. This book speaks to academics across the social sciences and humanities who are interested in sex work studies.

This book provides a contemporary collection of key works that chart new and ongoing terrain on student sex work. It brings together experienced researchers, activists, practitioners, early career researchers and those with lived experience of doing sex work in the university setting from across the globe. The book addresses three core areas: Activism, Ideology and Exclusion; Motivations and Experiences; and University Policy, Practice and Service Delivery. This collection represents significant theoretical, methodological and policy and practice contributions within sex work studies. These new perspectives contribute to our existing knowledge, introduce new directions for scholarship and prompt new and exciting questions about how higher education students’ participation in sex work can be researched, understood and responded to in an ethical, non-stigmatising approach. The book will be of interest to students, researchers and service providers and given the interdisciplinary nature of the chapters, the book has a cross-disciplinary appeal.

This book provides a contemporary collection of key works that chart new and ongoing terrain on student sex work. It brings together experienced researchers, activists, practitioners, early career researchers and those with lived experience of doing sex work in the university setting from across the globe. The book addresses three core areas: Activism, Ideology and Exclusion; Motivations and Experiences; and University Policy, Practice and Service Delivery. This collection represents significant theoretical, methodological and policy and practice contributions within sex work studies. These new perspectives contribute to our existing knowledge, introduce new directions for scholarship and prompt new and exciting questions about how higher education students’ participation in sex work can be researched, understood and responded to in an ethical, non-stigmatising approach. The book will be of interest to students, researchers and service providers and given the interdisciplinary nature of the chapters, the book has a cross-disciplinary appeal.

This book examines the ways that brothels are managed under decriminalisation in New Zealand. New Zealand decriminalised sex work in 2003 with the passage of the Prostitution Reform Act, making it the first country to do so. Decriminalisation situates brothels as ‘businesses like any other’ and creates a legislative platform for better working conditions for sex workers. Nevertheless, we have limited understanding of how brothels are managed in New Zealand. Drawing on interviews with brothel operators and sex workers, this book explores how the law is understood and implemented, how brothel operators position their businesses, and how they seek legitimacy in a historically stigmatised sector. It also examines the rules and norms by which operators manage their businesses and the possibilities for sex workers to consent to commercial sexual services in the context of neoliberal norms of work and of managers who expect them to be professionalised, responsibilised and productive.

This book examines the ways that brothels are managed under decriminalisation in New Zealand. New Zealand decriminalised sex work in 2003 with the passage of the Prostitution Reform Act, making it the first country to do so. Decriminalisation situates brothels as ‘businesses like any other’ and creates a legislative platform for better working conditions for sex workers. Nevertheless, we have limited understanding of how brothels are managed in New Zealand. Drawing on interviews with brothel operators and sex workers, this book explores how the law is understood and implemented, how brothel operators position their businesses, and how they seek legitimacy in a historically stigmatised sector. It also examines the rules and norms by which operators manage their businesses and the possibilities for sex workers to consent to commercial sexual services in the context of neoliberal norms of work and of managers who expect them to be professionalised, responsibilised and productive.

This book examines sex worker health and the concept of care among sex workers in Rhode Island using mixed methods research conceived of and led by Ocean State Advocacy (O$A), a grassroots collective of sex workers in Rhode Island. Drawing upon survey data, in-depth interview research, as well as ethnographic and grounded theory principle, this text provides a nuanced look at why sex workers face disparate health outcomes, what defines the area of sex worker health, and practices of care that exist among sex workers in Rhode Island. Throughout this book, the authors examine how criminalization and stigma impact care and why sex workers find themselves in a distinctly challenging position when trying to stay healthy and well. Throughout this book, the authors explore both these vulnerabilities and sources of strength among the sex work community with the goal of gaining a better understanding of what sex workers in Rhode Island need for a healthier future.This book will be of interest to scholars and students within the fields of Sociology, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Labor Studies, Public Health, Social Medicine, Medical Humanities, and Medical Education.

This book examines sex worker health and the concept of care among sex workers in Rhode Island using mixed methods research conceived of and led by Ocean State Advocacy (O$A), a grassroots collective of sex workers in Rhode Island. Drawing upon survey data, in-depth interview research, as well as ethnographic and grounded theory principle, this text provides a nuanced look at why sex workers face disparate health outcomes, what defines the area of sex worker health, and practices of care that exist among sex workers in Rhode Island. Throughout this book, the authors examine how criminalization and stigma impact care and why sex workers find themselves in a distinctly challenging position when trying to stay healthy and well. Throughout this book, the authors explore both these vulnerabilities and sources of strength among the sex work community with the goal of gaining a better understanding of what sex workers in Rhode Island need for a healthier future.This book will be of interest to scholars and students within the fields of Sociology, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Labor Studies, Public Health, Social Medicine, Medical Humanities, and Medical Education.

This open access book draws on an international research project, using extensive and multiple methods to explore unwanted sexual contact and violence in sex work populations. A project delivered by a large team of sex workers, peer researchers, and academics, and with practitioner input over a four-year period, the central question they explore is: how do social, legal, and judicial contexts shape the safety and well-being of people engaging in sex work? The book compares survey and interview data conducted in 2023 across four different legal environments: legalisation (Nevada, USA), criminalisation (Northern Ireland), decriminalisation (New Zealand) and partial criminalisation (UK). It explores how the interaction between legal consciousness (how people in sex work interpret law, consent, their rights, and how or whether to report), legal norms (legal theory, case rulings, legal codes) and legal practices (what police, lawyers, and judges actually do) affects unwanted contact against sex workers. This book advances understanding of the various layers regulating sexual autonomy for marginalised peoples — the specific factors that impact the negotiation, experiences, and disposition of crimes of sexual violence in different socio-legal contexts.

This open access book draws on an international research project, using extensive and multiple methods to explore unwanted sexual contact and violence in sex work populations. A project delivered by a large team of sex workers, peer researchers, and academics, and with practitioner input over a four-year period, the central question they explore is: how do social, legal, and judicial contexts shape the safety and well-being of people engaging in sex work? The book compares survey and interview data conducted in 2023 across four different legal environments: legalisation (Nevada, USA), criminalisation (Northern Ireland), decriminalisation (New Zealand) and partial criminalisation (UK). It explores how the interaction between legal consciousness (how people in sex work interpret law, consent, their rights, and how or whether to report), legal norms (legal theory, case rulings, legal codes) and legal practices (what police, lawyers, and judges actually do) affects unwanted contact against sex workers. This book advances understanding of the various layers regulating sexual autonomy for marginalised peoples — the specific factors that impact the negotiation, experiences, and disposition of crimes of sexual violence in different socio-legal contexts.

This book centers the life histories of three women engaged in sex work in Kolkata, India to show how they make sense of their lived experiences and reveals deep insights into the risks women face in the current social environment of India. Much of the risk discourse surrounding sex work in India comes from academics, social and health workers, epidemiologists, and policymakers. Departing from this approach, the author foregrounds the lives and voices of the women themselves to provide a richly nuanced picture of the diverse and complex realities that shape many women’s lives in India. It provides a deeper understanding of the different but interrelated vulnerabilities to which many sex workers are subject, including poverty, familial violence, child marriage, marital rape, public ridicule, stigma, and health risks such as HIV/AIDS, along with their reasons for entry, exit, and reentry into sex work. This book will be of interest to researchers and students from a variety of academic disciplines, such as social work, anthropology and sociology, women’s studies, public health, and criminal justice. It has also been written in an accessible and engaging style that should appeal to a diverse global audience of non-academic professionals as well as scholars. It will resonate with professionals in health or social welfare fields (e.g., nurses, social workers, lawyers, psychologists) who address issues of violence against women, human trafficking, or health risks in sex work.

This book centers the life histories of three women engaged in sex work in Kolkata, India to show how they make sense of their lived experiences and reveals deep insights into the risks women face in the current social environment of India. Much of the risk discourse surrounding sex work in India comes from academics, social and health workers, epidemiologists, and policymakers. Departing from this approach, the author foregrounds the lives and voices of the women themselves to provide a richly nuanced picture of the diverse and complex realities that shape many women’s lives in India. It provides a deeper understanding of the different but interrelated vulnerabilities to which many sex workers are subject, including poverty, familial violence, child marriage, marital rape, public ridicule, stigma, and health risks such as HIV/AIDS, along with their reasons for entry, exit, and reentry into sex work. This book will be of interest to researchers and students from a variety of academic disciplines, such as social work, anthropology and sociology, women’s studies, public health, and criminal justice. It has also been written in an accessible and engaging style that should appeal to a diverse global audience of non-academic professionals as well as scholars. It will resonate with professionals in health or social welfare fields (e.g., nurses, social workers, lawyers, psychologists) who address issues of violence against women, human trafficking, or health risks in sex work.

"Transgender sex workers” is a scarcely explored area in academic discourses, garnering widespread interest amongst gender and sexuality scholars around the world. This book explores the narratives and experiences of Nachchi sex workers in contemporary Sri Lanka; a local term for a community assigned male at birth but who choose to live as women with a preference for male partners. It explores their lived experiences and stories through unique interviews, critically examining the historical and post-colonial (and post-war) discourses originating from the Sri Lankan state and civil society. It challenges the hegemonic, neo-liberal narratives that tend to homogenise and simplify their subjectivities. It also dissects the realm of ‘politics,’ particularly subaltern politics and how this colonial population is excluded from the hierarchy of power. This book takes a decolonial approach to the historical knowledge production on Nachchi sex worker subjectivities by unearthing important, yet suppressed verbal histories and narrations of living community members. The author also reflects on her journey, transitioning from a researcher and academic to a full-time politician, a transformation that shapes her evolving perspectives on politics throughout the writing of the book.

"Transgender sex workers” is a scarcely explored area in academic discourses, garnering widespread interest amongst gender and sexuality scholars around the world. This book explores the narratives and experiences of Nachchi sex workers in contemporary Sri Lanka; a local term for a community assigned male at birth but who choose to live as women with a preference for male partners. It explores their lived experiences and stories through unique interviews, critically examining the historical and post-colonial (and post-war) discourses originating from the Sri Lankan state and civil society. It challenges the hegemonic, neo-liberal narratives that tend to homogenise and simplify their subjectivities. It also dissects the realm of ‘politics,’ particularly subaltern politics and how this colonial population is excluded from the hierarchy of power. This book takes a decolonial approach to the historical knowledge production on Nachchi sex worker subjectivities by unearthing important, yet suppressed verbal histories and narrations of living community members. The author also reflects on her journey, transitioning from a researcher and academic to a full-time politician, a transformation that shapes her evolving perspectives on politics throughout the writing of the book.

This book examines Nigerian women’s experiences of migration, work and mobility across European borders through a unique problematisation of the boundary between madams and victims. Rizzotti brings together the voices of women positioned by humanitarian categories on both sides of the trafficking divide to show how their trajectories are shaped by similar dynamics of debt, kinship and constrained mobility. The book reframes trafficking as a field of negotiation, where agency and constraint coexist within women’s strategies of survival. It stands as an essential reference for anyone seeking to understand and rethink the gendered and racialised dynamics of trafficking, migration, and border control. Dr Nicola Mai, Professor of Criminology, University of Leicester, UKDespite the extensive research on trafficking from Nigeria to Europe, much of the existing knowledge remains victim-centred and rooted in the field of social assistance. This focus has been crucial in shaping our understanding of the anti-trafficking landscape—particularly in highlighting which aspects of victims’ experiences are prioritised by institutions when assessing claims for humanitarian protection. However, it has also resulted in a narrow perspective, largely limited to the narratives of individuals who have been officially recognised as victims. Rizzotti’s book reconfigures established understandings of trafficking by incorporating the voices of convicted women, alongside those of identified victims and key stakeholders. Her fieldwork illuminates the ways in which Nigerian women resist and navigate the constraints placed on their social and geographical mobility—constraints often reinforced by institutional labels such as “trafficker” and “victim”—in order to pursue individual and collective migration goals. Rizzotti demonstrates that both convicted women and identified victims frequently share similar experiences and aspirations, particularly in their efforts to overcome restrictive migration regimes and gendered expectations imposed on them as racialised migrants from the Global South.

This book explores ‘exiting’ programs for sex workers, which are behavioural change interventions that support people to stop selling sex. This book examines questions about how we should conceptualise and respond to ‘exiting’ and, by centring sex workers’ voices, it provides evidence of the impact of these programs. It examines sex work ‘exiting’, not as something sex workers need to stop doing, but as part of sex work careers. Drawing on interviews and a global program review to establish best practice, this book challenges the idea of sex work as something a person is ‘in’ or ‘out’ of. It also explores sex workers’ resistance to this area of programming to highlight the power and politics of ‘exiting’. Using a labour framing and seeing sex work as career, this book repositions ‘exiting’ as career development and sheds new light on everyday working circumstances, popular discourses, policies and programs and grassroots struggles for change. As a co-collaboration incorporating knowledge from researchers and lived experience experts, this book is a unique addition that challenges the dominant abolitionist, anti-sex work framings and is of interest to academics, policy makers, sex worker support organisations and non-government organisations globally.

This book offers an original, critical analysis of the governance of sexual labour in Greece, tracing how state regulationism and feminist interventions have systematically separated sex work from other forms of women’s labour, constructing it as an exceptional field requiring heightened surveillance, discipline, and control. By analysing how feminist currents in Greece have at times aligned with state agendas—embracing punitive approaches under the banner of gender justice—it challenges dominant narratives that obscure class dynamics, migration realities, and the broader political economy of reproductive and intimate labour. At the same time, the book foregrounds sex workers’ strategies of resistance, community-building, and collective action. The author wishes to dedicate this book to the memory of Paola Revenioti, who passed away shortly before publication.

This book explores the everyday lives of religious and spiritual sex workers in the United Kingdom and the United States. Challenging dominant assumptions that religiosity and sex work are inherently incompatible, it centres the voices of those whose experiences are routinely marginalised within dominant religious and secular discourse. Drawing on qualitative research, including participant-driven photographs, diaries, and in-depth interviews, the book examines how sex workers navigate belief, identity, stigma, intimacy, and belonging in their everyday lives. It reveals the complex ways religious and spiritual sex workers negotiate their occupational, religious, spiritual, familial, and personal identities, offering a nuanced account of lived religion and sex work. By focusing on micro-level experiences, the book moves beyond moral debates to illustrate how both religiosity and sex work are practised in ordinary moments and intimate spaces. In doing so, it challenges reductive portrayals of sex workers as either victims or sinners. Bridging sex work scholarship and the sociology of religion, this book will be of interest to academics, sex work support organisations, and policy makers seeking a more inclusive understanding of sex work and religiosity.

This book draws together interdisciplinary perspectives to examine the legal, moral, and socio-spatial regulation of sex work in the contemporary context. With a thematic focus on the gendered landscape of sex work, formal and informal methods of socio-spatial control, and (in)access to justice, this book explores the role of space in the regulation of sex work in diverse contexts, from the local to the global. The chapters collectively bring together complex, inter-related issues that impact the lives of sex workers throughout the world, providing evidence of the impacts of regulation on sex workers and subsequent barriers to accessing justice and rights. This collection centres the regulated lives of sex workers, using an intersectional lens that highlights the gendered and racialised impacts of stigma. Incorporating knowledge derived from both academic research and lived experience, this book provides a unique contribution that will be of interest to academics and policy-makers globally.