Prostitution as a Form of Work

Weitzer, Ronald

doi:10.1111/j.1751-9020.2007.00010.x

Cited by 29 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…In the authors' view, poverty is one precondition for prostitution, in addition to female gender" (2000: p.12). This clear articulation also supports theoretical conceptions of prostitution as work (Weitzer, 2007a;2007b;.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

“We Get a Lot of Crack Whores”: Official Perceptions of Rural Prostitution in Four Rural Counties

Mattley¹,

Ven²,

Faust³

2015

JSSW

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While there is a well-established literature on prostitution in sociology, the lion's share of it treats prostitution as an exclusively urban phenomenon. Given the paucity of knowledge on rural prostitution, our exploratory study attempts to shed light on perceptions of the sex trade in several rural counties. The current study employs the use of semi-structured interviews with law enforcement officers and with social service agency workers in four rural counties in Appalachia. Our informants shared their perceptions on the prevalence, distribution, and accomplishment of rural prostitution and lend understanding to the omission of the rural sex trade from most official sources of crime data. Law enforcement officers and social service agency workers also discussed the manner in which they are trained to understand and respond to prostitution in rural areas. Our data hint that prostitution may be far more common than official statistics suggest. Far from being unaware of prostitution, both law enforcement and social service providers have detailed understandings of prostitution, yet they differ in their perceptions regarding its frequency. Some see it as an economic strategy women use to deal with the tremendous unemployment and poverty in the region, but also as related to drug use. Finally we discuss the ways in which prostitution is accomplished and transacted and how rural prostitution may be similar to and different from urban prostitution.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

“We Get a Lot of Crack Whores”: Official Perceptions of Rural Prostitution in Four Rural Counties

Mattley¹,

Ven²,

Faust³

2015

JSSW

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“…Specialized efforts occurring separately within IPV and sex work research have resulted in the development of nuanced but mostly parallel categorizations and sub-phenomena within each field, such as those distinguished by relative risk of danger and deprivation of liberty (e.g., Holtzworth-Munroe & Stuart, 1994; Jacobson & Gottman, 1998; Johnson, 1995, 2008; Weitzer, 2007, 2009). The scholarly construction of these continua as unrelated disguises the systemic nature of each form of violence on women’s bodies and psyches.…”

Section: Ipv and Sex Work As Parallel Phenomenamentioning

confidence: 99%

The Girl Is Mine

Thaller

Cimino

2016

Violence Against Women

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Intimate partner violence (IPV) and sex work have been primarily constructed as mutually exclusive phenomena within scholarly literature, though both can be situated under the umbrella of gender-based violence and traced to male sexual proprietariness. Specialized research has resulted in deeper understanding of nuanced categorizations of sub-phenomena within both IPV and sex work, with parallel constructions along a spectrum of increasing danger. However, the scholarly construction of these continua as parallel-and thus unrelated-disguises the systemic nature of each form of violence and potentially pits victims against each other in the struggle for legitimacy. We propose a more systemic approach to understanding and researching IPV and sex work and provide examples of research already moving in this direction.

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“…Throughout history and across cultures, the image of the prostitute has typically been female and socially disgraced (Almog, 2008;Roberts, 1993). Liberal ideas see prostitution as a legitimate barter transaction, in which sex is bought and sold on a consensual basis between the parties involved (Boris, Gilmore, & Parrenas, 2010;Weitzer, 2007). In recent decades, radical feminist scholars have defined prostitution as an act of violence that is perpetrated against a woman and establishes a relationship of exploitation, humiliation, oppression and control, which the victim experiences as extreme trauma (Almog, 2010;Farley, 2003;MacKinnon, 1989).…”

Section: Perceptions Of Prostitution: the Israeli Contextmentioning

confidence: 97%