The Role of Sex Work Stigma in Victim Blaming and Empathy of Sexual Assault Survivors

Sprankle, Eric; Bloomquist, Katie; Butcher, Cody; Gleason, Neil; Schaefer, Zoe

doi:10.1007/s13178-017-0282-0

Cited by 42 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 23 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…FSSWers may also be arrested when they report violence, including trafficking, to the police because, even though the FSSWers are victims of violence, they are still criminalized. Additionally, FSSWers receive more victim blame and less empathy after experiencing a sexual assault in comparison to the general population (Sprankle, Bloomquist, Butcher, Gleason, & Schaefer, 2018). Accordingly, many FSSWers are unlikely to trust or engage with public safety systems as these very systems have failed to keep them or their colleagues safe, and have even done further harm.…”

Section: Unique Struggles Of Fssw and Clinical Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Culturally competent health care for sex workers: an examination of myths that stigmatize sex work and hinder access to care

Sawicki¹,

Meffert²,

Read

et al. 2019

Sexual and Relationship Therapy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Sex workers are individuals who offer sexual services in exchange for compensation (i.e., money, goods, or other services). Within the United States the full-service sex work (FSSW) industry generates 14 billion dollars annually there are estimated to be 1-2 million FSSWers, though experts believe this number to be an underestimate. Many FSSWers face the possibility of violence, legal involvement, and social stigmatization. As a result, this population experiences increased risk for mental health disorders. Given these risks and vulnerabilities, FSSWers stand to benefit from receiving mental health care however a constellation of individual, organizational, and systemic barriers limit care utilization. Destigmatization of FSSW and offering of culturally competent mental health care can help empower this traditionally marginalized population. The objective of the current review is to (1) educate clinicians on sex work and describe the unique struggles faced by FSSW and vulnerability factors clinicians must consider, (2) address 5 common myths about FSSW that perpetuate stigma, and (3) advance a research and culturally competent clinical training agenda that can optimize mental health care engagement and utilization within the sex work community.

show abstract

Section: Unique Struggles Of Fssw and Clinical Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Culturally competent health care for sex workers: an examination of myths that stigmatize sex work and hinder access to care

Sawicki¹,

Meffert²,

Read

et al. 2019

Sexual and Relationship Therapy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Research on sex work often addresses violence as a central concern for laborers (Bernstein, 2007; Footer et al., 2019; O’Doherty, 2011; Sprankle et al., 2018). Scholarship on professional BDSM departs from this pattern.…”

Section: Prior Research On Professional Bdsmmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Participants in commercial sexual encounters may draw upon a range of industry-specific scripts regarding negotiation, pleasure, power dynamics, and (non)consent (Bernstein, 2007; Brooks, 2010). In a site where all providers are presumed to be cisgender women, broader patriarchal misperceptions intersect with attitudes that enable and justify violence against sex workers (O’Doherty, 2011; Sprankle et al., 2018). The notions that “women enjoy rape” and “women lie about being raped” entangle with such notions as “sex workers consent to everything by virtue of their profession” and “sex workers’ reports of rape are really complaints about underpayment.” Widespread beliefs about heterosexual, cisgender men’s entitlement to cisgender women’s bodies are joined by widespread beliefs that men who pay for women’s sexual services are entitled to do and demand what they like.…”

Section: Navigating Race/racism In Client Meets and Dressing Roomsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The notions that “women enjoy rape” and “women lie about being raped” entangle with such notions as “sex workers consent to everything by virtue of their profession” and “sex workers’ reports of rape are really complaints about underpayment.” Widespread beliefs about heterosexual, cisgender men’s entitlement to cisgender women’s bodies are joined by widespread beliefs that men who pay for women’s sexual services are entitled to do and demand what they like. Police, prosecutors, judges, and jurors who may already be inclined to doubt women’s narratives of violence (Dinos et al., 2015; Sleath and Bull, 2017) may be even less willing to recognize or respond to violence against women in the sex industry (Footer et al., 2019; O’Doherty, 2011; Sprankle et al., 2018). Collectively, these perceptions and practices contribute to tremendous rates of violence against sex workers worldwide (Deering et al., 2014; Schwitters et al., 2015; Ulibarri et al., 2014), particularly those who face intersectional oppressions and/or whose work is criminalized.…”

Section: Navigating Race/racism In Client Meets and Dressing Roomsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Female-to-male to mistress: A layered account of layered performances

Levine

2020

Sexualities

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Professionals in bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, and sadism and masochism (BDSM) have received minimal attention in the literature on sex work. Moreover, investigations of performance in sex work have focused overwhelmingly on cisgender women professionals, and tended to emphasize laborer–client encounters within paid sessions while neglecting encounters among colleagues. In this article, I engage in sociological introspection to provide a layered autoethnographic account of dungeon labor. I draw upon 10 months’ experience as a White, Jewish, queer, transmasculine person who enacted a White, sometimes Jewish, queer, cisgender womanhood throughout workplace encounters. Analyses emphasize gendered and sexual normativities, racism and discourses of client “taste,” violence in the workplace, and tensions between dungeon laborers’ professional personas and sense of authenticity.

show abstract

“…Female sex workers receive particularly strong negative stigma associated with promiscuous sexual behavior (Vanwesenbeeck, 2001;Sprankle et al, 2018). At least since the early 19 th century, female sex work has been politically and socially discussed as an issue of social disorder, unwieldly female sexuality, and unrestricted sexual autonomy (Anderson, 2002;Sanders & Brents, 2017; but see Gauthier, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prejudice towards sex workers depends on the sexual activity and autonomy of their work, hobbies and daily activities

Kellie¹,

Brooks²

2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Women are more likely than men to be sexualized, objectified, and dehumanized. Female sex workers experience stigma and violence associated with these judgements at far higher rates than other women. Here, we use a pre-registered experimental design to consider which aspects of sex work – the level of sexual activity, earned income, or perceived autonomy of the work – drive dehumanization. A first group of participants (N = 217) rated 80 vignettes of women varying by full-time employment, hobbies and interests on humanness. These ratings were subtracted from the ratings of a second group of participants (N = 774) who rated these same vignettes which additionally described a part-time job, hobby or activity that varied in sexual activity, income earned and autonomy over one’s actions. We find that women and especially men dehumanize women they believe are engaging in penetrative sex. We also find that women’s autonomy of, but not their income from, their sexual activity increases dehumanization. Our findings suggest that opposition to women’s ability to pursue casual sex and generalizations about the exploitative conditions of sex work may drive the harshest negative prejudice towards female sex workers and, by similar mechanisms, women’s sexuality in general.

show abstract

The Role of Sex Work Stigma in Victim Blaming and Empathy of Sexual Assault Survivors

Cited by 42 publications

References 23 publications

Culturally competent health care for sex workers: an examination of myths that stigmatize sex work and hinder access to care

Culturally competent health care for sex workers: an examination of myths that stigmatize sex work and hinder access to care

Female-to-male to mistress: A layered account of layered performances

Prejudice towards sex workers depends on the sexual activity and autonomy of their work, hobbies and daily activities

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About