Sex in the City

Abstract

Despite a well-established literature on the sociology of sex work and sociology of sex and place, currently we know very little about how and why sex workers choose to work on the streets that they do. Using the case study of a city in upstate New York and drawing upon Michel de Certeau’s (1984) theory of spatial patterns, this study builds on these literatures by discussing the importance of place and space in relation to sex work, namely how and why sex workers choose their locations for business. Data are drawn from semistructured interviews with female and male sex workers, police officers, and an outreach worker. The findings reveal the ways in which these spaces of street sex work are reworked by sex workers in response to strategies imposed by the police, community residents, and others. Within these spaces, sex workers employ a number of tactics to maximize business and minimize detection, arrest, and violence from clients and other sex workers. Directions for future research are also discussed.

Exploring the role of place in sex work through participant photography

“…Sex workers resist state imposed spatial isolation and associated experiences of violence and fear by attempting to create safe workplaces, employing tactics to ‘minimize detection, arrest, and violence’ (Williams, 2014: 659). In outdoor locations, this includes taking deliberate routes past security cameras or working in pairs (Williams, 2014), as well as using Apps to let fellow workers know when doing outcalls (Hannem, 2016). While these approaches increase sex workers’ safety and control over their workplaces, they also place the responsibility on sex workers to navigate the dangers promulgated by Canada’s current criminal code.…”

“…Sex workers resist state imposed spatial isolation and associated experiences of violence and fear by attempting to create safe workplaces, employing tactics to ‘minimize detection, arrest, and violence’ (Williams, 2014: 659). In outdoor locations, this includes taking deliberate routes past security cameras or working in pairs (Williams, 2014), as well as using Apps to let fellow workers know when doing outcalls (Hannem, 2016).…”