Exiting street-level prostitution is a complex, convoluted process. Few studies have described this process within any formal conceptual framework. This article reviews two general models and two prostitution-specific models and their applicability to the exiting process. Barriers encountered as women attempt to leave the streets are identified. Based on the four models, the barriers, the prostitution literature, and the authors' experience with prostituted women, a new integrated six-stage model that is comprehensive in scope and sensitive to women's attempts to exit prostitution is offered as a foundation for continued research on the process of women leaving the streets.

Between 1998 and 1999, 43 street‐level prostituted women were interviewed regarding their developmental experiences, including prostitution entry, maintenance, and exit attempts. Three years later, 18 of the original 43 participants were located and interviewed. This exploratory follow‐up investigation focused on the women's life experiences between the two points of contact, with emphasis on sex‐industry exit attempts. Five women had maintained their exit efforts and had not returned to prostitution, nine had returned to both prostitution and drug use, and one had returned to prostitution only. Three additional women had violated parole and been reincarcerated. Themes evident among those who were able to stay out of prostitution and refrain from substance use are compared to those whose exit attempts had not been successful. Suggestions for intervention and outreach are presented, as are directions for future work.

The subculture of street‐level sex work including the social environment, drug use and abuse, and violence was examined. Personal interviews were conducted with 43 women involved in streetwalking prostitution. Data were analyzed using Phenomenological Descriptive Analysis (Colaizzi, 1978). Several participants reported developing emotional relationships and having children with clients, former clients, or pimps; some participants were married to men who pimped them. Supportive relationships with other streetwalkers were largely nonexistent; streetwalking constitutes a solitary business for most. The majority reported drug addiction, although less than half entered prostitution to support an already established drug habit. Financial need propelled many into the streets. Victimization and subjection to multiple forms of abuse were commonly reported but did not constitute justification for leaving the streets. Implications of this investigation are discussed.

Synopsis written by Rus Ervin Funk, MSW Center for Women and Families, Louisville, KYThe author examined the dichotomy between the lives of real women who are prostituted on the street versus the popular imagery of prostituted women through the media (e.g. Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, Elizabeth Shue in Leaving Las Vegas and Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver). The author reviews the research on prostituted women that exposes the degree and amount of violence, abuse and exploitation they experience. Estimates of the rate of childhood sexual abuse that prostituted women experienced range from 10% to 73% -with the bulk of the research suggesting the higher range of violence. From this, two paths have been suggested between childhood sexual abuse and later prostitution. The first suggests a direct link between child sexual abuse and prostitution; the other being a more indirect ink which is largely mediated by run-away behavior. While it appears that most women who are prostituted have been sexually abused as children, to connect this solely with women being prostituted is a false linking. As Bollough and Bullough (1996) stated "…when all is said and done, no single factor stands out as causal in a woman becoming a prostitute" (sic) (p.171). Women who are prostituted enter from a complex culmination of multiple factors both interpersonally and contextually.The article is based on a research project involving 43 prostituted and formerly prostituted women in a "midsized Midwestern city." A subgroup of five women was also created for more in-depth interviews which provided a depth to the research that would not have been possible through the survey methods alone. The women ranged in age from 19 to 56 and most lived either in shelters or were incarcerated. Most of the women were no longer in prostitution although most had escaped prostitution only within the past year. Most of the women also reported being addicted to drugs (crack and alcohol being the most common) although the majority of these also reported being in recovery. Most of these women were also mothers, although only a minority was living with their children at the time of the research. The average age at which these women first were prostituted was 19, with a range of between 11 and 31, and most of the women were prostituted for an average of 11.5 years.The article provides a brief biographic description of the 5 women in the subgroup (who were representative of the larger group). Through these biographical descriptions, the reader is offered an opportunity to better "know" the women and come to read more about her story. Each women describes her early live within her family of origin, her current situation, and her life in prostitution. All of the five women described stories of extreme physical and sexual abuse within their families of origin. Most of the five described beginning to runaway at relatively early ages (10).