New directions in research on prostitution

Weitzer, Ronald

doi:10.1007/s10611-005-1735-6

Cited by 184 publications

(163 citation statements)

References 55 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

151

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…As a result, escorts are now able to present themselves, through advertisements, to potential customers in innovative and resistant ways. It has been well documented that the Internet has played a crucial role in altering gendered demand for commercial sexual services (Weitzer 2005). Gender stereotypes surrounding pornographic content and sexual advertisements, which focus on sex as a masculine need, have not only been challenged, but altered to encourage female consumption (Van Zoonen 2002).…”

Section: Review Of the Literature Escort Services And The Internetmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Escorts services have become to generally resemble dating experiences; commonly referred to as the 'girlfriend experience' (GFE), which includes services such as a conversation, kissing and hugging (Lever and Dolnick 2010;Sharpe and Earle 2003;Weitzer 2005). Several studies go further to suggest that online escorts, in some circumstances, were expected to provide counselling and emotional support to clients, as well as providing a sexual service (Lever and Dolnick 2002).…”

Section: Review Of the Literature Escort Services And The Internetmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

What’s on Sale? A Discourse Analysis of Four Distinctive Online Escort Advertisement Websites

Burghart

2017

Sexuality & Culture

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Technological advances have contributed to the changing structure and organisation of sex work, heralding a dramatic growth in sex workers soliciting and advertising the selling of sex via the Internet. This study was concerned with four distinctive, independent online escort markets-male heterosexual, female heterosexual, gay and lesbian. A discourse analysis was conducted on ten online advertisements from each escort sample, in order to analyse how different online escorts advertise their sexual services in relation to gender, sexuality and social class. The findings reveal core differences between each of the escort samples in relation to gender and power dynamics. Findings highlighted that maleness and masculinity-aspower play a role whether we are looking at men as the buyers or the sellers of escort services. In stark contrast, advertisements presented femaleness and femininity as objectified, submissive and/or vulnerable regardless as to whether we are looking at women as the buyers or the sellers of escort services.

show abstract

Section: Review Of the Literature Escort Services And The Internetmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Review Of the Literature Escort Services And The Internetmentioning

confidence: 99%

What’s on Sale? A Discourse Analysis of Four Distinctive Online Escort Advertisement Websites

Burghart

2017

Sexuality & Culture

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Not only does it strip the girl or prostitute of her individuality -victimhood is, after all, no more than a condition or a status -but it also reduces the problem to the cliché of the pitiful and innocent victim exploited by a brutal villain. In reality, according to Weitzer [23], young prostitutes often contribute to their own situation. The prevailing image of the current pimping problem, namely that the pimp is always a ruthless perpetrator and the prostitute a helpless victim, represents a step backwards in light of the insight gained by victimologists that the problem usually lies in the relationship between two people.…”

Section: Imitating the Pimp And Ho Culturementioning

confidence: 99%

Secret seducers

San

Bovenkerk

2013

Crime Law Soc Change

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

At the end of the 1990s, a moral panic erupted in the Netherlands about the phenomenon of what came to be known as 'loverboys'. The suspicion was that a growing number of Dutch girls were being groomed by handsome young men who employed all sorts of devious methods to prepare their girlfriends for life as a prostitute. Stories about a new generation of pimps, often of Moroccan origin, regularly appeared in the Dutch media. In this article, based on ethnographic fieldwork on pimps operating in the red-light district of Amsterdam, we describe the ways in which these young men operate and how they justify their behaviour. On the basis of empirical research we intend to present a more realistic picture of what goes on in the prostitution industry and highlight the discrepancy between what is reported in the media and what is actually happening in the prostitution sector. We also examine the background to the moral panic about loverboys and the ways in which these young men were supposedly able to induce many young girls into becoming prostitutes.For more than a decade now, the Netherlands has been plagued by the criminal practices of what are referred to as 'loverboys'. This English term has a unique definition in Dutch: loverboys are young men who use their seduction skills with the aim of exploiting young girls as prostitutes. What we are actually dealing with here are ordinary pimps and when we take a closer look at the modus operandi of these young men, we find that there is nothing new under the sun. The story about a new generation of pimps, often of Moroccan origin, who are busy grooming young and innocent girls for prostitution that continues to pop up in the Dutch media, appears to be little more than an urban legend.

show abstract

“…New forms of sexual commerce based on physical and virtual exchange emerged in both West and non-West, attracting new workers and customers, with telephone sex, interactive TV channels, web cams and Internet chat rooms allowing sexual services to be purchased 'at a distance' (Bernstein, 2004, Weitzer, 2005. In Bernstein's (2007, 474) view, these technologies have helped remove the biggest obstacles to the buying and selling of sexual services: namely, shame and ignorance.…”

Section: The Transformation Of Commercial Sexmentioning

confidence: 99%

Revisiting the red light district: Still neglected, immoral and marginal?

Hubbard

Whowell

2008

Geoforum

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Twenty years ago, Ashworth et al (1988) offered a distinctive and innovative interpretation of a neglected aspect of the urban scene: the red-light district. Focusing on the location of female prostitution in a series of Western European cities, their paper suggested that the geographies of sex work are revealing of some of the 'less obvious' social and political processes that shape urban space. Here, we revisit Ashworth et al's paper in the light of subsequent developments in the organisation of commercial sex as well as the study of sexuality and space. Noting important continuities as well as major shifts in the location of sex work, with a significant shift to off-street forms of sex working having occurred, this paper argues that some of the ideas in Ashworth et al's paper remain highly pertinent, but others appear in need of updating. In particular, we stress the importance of focusing on men as both clients and workers within the sex industry, and flag up a number of connections that might be made with the emerging literatures on the geographies of sex itself. We hence conclude by considering Ashworth et al's paper as an important early intervention in debates surrounding the relations of sexuality and space, albeit one in which questions of gender, embodiment, and sexual desire remained largely unexplored.

show abstract

New directions in research on prostitution

Cited by 184 publications

References 55 publications

What’s on Sale? A Discourse Analysis of Four Distinctive Online Escort Advertisement Websites

What’s on Sale? A Discourse Analysis of Four Distinctive Online Escort Advertisement Websites

Secret seducers

Revisiting the red light district: Still neglected, immoral and marginal?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About