Healthy and unhealthy life styles of female brothel workers and call girls (private sex workers) in Sydney

Abstract

Two groups of female sex workers were compared with respect to their healthy or unhealthy life styles. Both 'call girls' (private sex workers) and brothel workers were infected with sexually transmitted diseases as often in their noncommercial sexual relations as in their work, smoking was a serious problem for both, and each group endured problems from clients specific to their work sites. However, overall, the call girls had healthier life styles, but were more vulnerable to pressures from clients for unsafe sex and to potential violence. (Aust N Z JPublic Health 1996; 20: 512-6) 0 \'ER the past decade, female prostitution in 'Sydney has been well researched, and, since the advent of acquired immune deficiency syndrome, a clear picture of the health of sex workers is gradually being established.'-" In this study, we investigated two major groups of female sex workers in New South Wales to determine the extent of healthy and unhealthy life styles among prostitutes. These were women working in brothels (or 'parlours' to use the parlance of the local sex trade) and those working alone or with one or two other sex workers in their own independent operations. The latter are known as 'call girls', because their operations are dependent on their clients calling them on the telephone for an appointment; they are also known as 'private workers' in the argot of the Australian sex industry because of their relatively clandestine operations. A recent study of Australian prostitution found that about two-thirds of Sydney sex workers worked in brothels, a quarter worked as call girls, and less than 10 per cent worked on the streets (p. 64).'Besides seeking to determine the extent of healthy or unhealthy life styles in female prostitution, a purpose of our study was to compare the two groups to ascertain to what extent safe sex was pursued by each, which health problems predominated for each, and whether any differences between them were due to their separate working environments or to more fundamental differences in their social backgrounds. MethodsM' e conducted a survey of female sex workers in 1993-1994, distributing a self-administered questionnaire among call girls and brothel workers. Most call girls work alone in their own homes, or more often in rented apartments. Since these women advertise their services and telephone numbers in local Sydney and district newspapers, to recruit them for our survey it was necessaly to phone them to explain the purpose of our study. Of 304 women contacted, 242 agreed to fill in a questionnaire if we posted it to them. We contacted the brothel workers more directly by visiting all brothels in New South Wales and asking the women who were on shift at the time if we could interview them. The first distribution resulted in a sample of 95 call girls (of 242) who returned completed questionnaires to us, and the second in a sample of 124 brothel workers who had agreed to be interviewed. Data from the completed questionnaires was entered on a VAX computer using SPSS.

New directions in research on prostitution

“…A Canadian study found similar differences between street workers and escorts -for robbery (37 vs. 9%), kidnapping (32 vs. 5%), sexual assault (37 vs. 9%), beatings (39 vs. 14%), strangling (31 vs. 5%), and attempted murder (10 vs. 0%) (Lowman and Fraser, 1995). Such significant disparities in victimization rates for street and indoor workers are reported in many other studies of Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States (Decker, 1979;Perkins, 1991;Perkins and Lovejoy, 1996;Perkins and Bennett, 1985;Plumridge and Abel, 2001;Prince, 1986;Whittaker and Hart, 1996;Woodward et al, 2004). Clearly, street prostitutes are much more vulnerable to victimization than indoor workers who engage in consensual sex work.…”

“…Within the indoor sector, call girls generally exercise more control over working conditions and express greater job satisfaction than do workers in brothels and massage parlors (Perkins, 1996;Prince, 1986;Vanwesenbeeck, 1994). Among indoor workers, status increases as we move from massage parlors to brothels to escort agencies to independent call girls (Heyl, 1979).…”

“…HIV infection rates vary markedly among street prostitutes (with the highest incidence among street workers who inject drugs [Vanwesenbeeck, 2001;Weiner, 1996]), but HIV is rare among call girls (Seidlin, 1988) and among women working in legal brothels in Australia, Holland, and Nevada (Pyett, 1996;Perkins and Lovejoy, 1996). None of Nevada's legal brothel workers has tested HIV-positive since testing was mandated in 1985.…”

“…In The Netherlands, three-quarters of indoor workers report that they enjoy their work (Dalder, 2004: 34). Research on 95 call girls in Sydney, Australia found that they were generally emotionally healthy (Perkins and Lovejoy, 1996). All of the escorts studied by Foltz (1979: 128) took "pride in their profession" and viewed themselves as "morally superior" to others: "they consider women who are not 'in the life' to be throwing away woman's major source of power and control [sexual capital], while they as prostitutes are using it to their own advantage as well as for the benefit of society."…”

Examining Sex Work from the Client's Perspective: Assessing Johns Using on-line Data

“…Both studies reflect conditions in the United Kingdom, providing little information on the way johns in other countries use computer mediated communications to discuss prostitution. The previous research also focuses entirely on escorts who typically operate on a higher social stratum than other forms of prostitution (Lucas 2005;Perkins and Lovejoy 1996;Vanwesenbeeck 1994).…”