Massage parlors and “hand whores”. Some sociological observations∗

Bryant, Clifton D.; Palmer, C. Eddie

doi:10.1080/00224497509550898

Cited by 26 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…People needed to be enticed to come back to the region. Massage parlors opening up around military bases in the U.S. expanded after the Vietnam War ended because of returning military troops looking for sexual services they had received and had become accustomed to in Southeast Asia (Bryant and Palmer, 1975). Men now returning to areas known for its sex tourism include "businessmen" who spend their vacation and work time participating in sex tours.…”

Section: Overview Of Current Situation In Thailandmentioning

confidence: 99%

Addressing the sex trade in Thailand: Some lessons learned from NGOs, part I1

Arnold¹,

Bertone²

2002

Gend. Issues

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Section: Overview Of Current Situation In Thailandmentioning

confidence: 99%

Addressing the sex trade in Thailand: Some lessons learned from NGOs, part I1

Arnold¹,

Bertone²

2002

Gend. Issues

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“…Ethnographies show that massage parlour workers came from a range of backgrounds and included mothers, daughters, students, and career sex workers; most emphasized how they spent the majority of their time with clients talking and providing emotional support (Bryant & Palmer, 1975;Velarde, 1975;Velarde & Warlick, 1973). As one massage parlour worker told a journalist in 1974: "When I consider the kind of services I perform at times, I think of myself as a sort of social worker" (Katz, 1973, n.…”

Section: Contexts: History Popular Culture Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given that massage parlour work does not entail sexual intercourse, it may carry less stigma than other forms of sex work. Research by Bryant & Palmer (1975) and Velarde (1975) found that women massage parlour attendants occupied a tenuous place within the sex industry. On one hand, they worked in sex establishments, but on the other, they did not have intercourse with their clients.…”

Section: Massage Parlour Work: An Escape From Low-waged Service Work and Unemploymentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On one hand, they worked in sex establishments, but on the other, they did not have intercourse with their clients. The women Bryant & Palmer (1975) interviewed seldom referred to themselves as sex workers (p. 239); instead, they called themselves entertainers, or physical therapists who rendered a "service to the public" (ibid). colleagues by representing them as ordinary women who choose massage parlour work in an economy in which stable employment relations have dissolved and social safety nets are eviscerated.…”

Section: Massage Parlour Work: An Escape From Low-waged Service Work and Unemploymentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…51 50 Early research into massage parlour workers found they were aware of the stigma their work carried and felt its effects in their everyday lives. Many kept their jobs secret from family (Velarde & Warlick, 1973), were disturbed by the media's negative portrayal of their labour, and felt umbrage at being labeled deviants, sluts, and whores (Bryant & Palmer, 1975). To contest this negative portrayal, many had taken to writing letters to local newspapers, defending themselves as participating in the "open marketplace," and reminding readers to "judge not," since customers came of their own volition (Bryant & Palmer, 1975, p. 239).…”

Section: Massage Parlour Challenges: Criminalization Custody and Whore Stigmamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Beyond the Marked Woman : The New Sex Worker in American Popular Culture, 2006-2016

Kirshner¹

2022

Preprint

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This dissertation argues that between 2006 and 2016, in a context of rising tolerance for sex workers, economic shifts under neoliberal capitalism, and the normalization of transactional intimate labour, popular culture began to offer new and humanizing images of the sex worker as an entrepreneur and care worker. This new popular culture legitimatizes sex workers in a growing services industry and carries important de-stigmatizing messages about sex workers, who continue to be among the most stigmatized of women workers in the U.S. These new representations challenge stereotypical portrayals of sex workers – as immoral criminals or exploited victims – that support conservative and patriarchal ideologies. Drawing upon feminist theories of sex work, labour theory, and feminist media studies methodology for exploring the nexus of gender, sexuality, and popular culture, this dissertation examines feature films, TV series, and TV and online documentaries that depict five sex work occupations – erotic dancers, massage parlour workers, webcam models, call girls, and sex surrogates – to illustrate the new figure of the sex worker as entrepreneur and care worker under neoliberal capitalism. By emphasizing sex workers’ agency to choose their work, dignifying their skills, underscoring sex work as a means of economic mobility, and highlighting the positive contributions sex workers make to their clients’ lives, these popular culture representations challenge the anti-sex work position espoused by conservative patriarchal ideology and prohibitionist feminists. Some of these new representations, however, intertwine with a neoliberal post-feminist sensibility that frames empowerment as realizable through individualism and the market alone, rather than in collective ways, and pose few concrete solutions to the challenges faced by sex workers today, namely criminalization. Even so, this dissertation argues that these emerging twenty-first century representations of the sex worker as entrepreneur and care worker are progressive and mark a growing social tolerance for the idea that, for some women, sex work is legitimate work.

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Male and female prostitution: A review

Earls

David

1988

Annals of Sex Research

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Massage parlors and “hand whores”. Some sociological observations∗

Cited by 26 publications

References 2 publications

Addressing the sex trade in Thailand: Some lessons learned from NGOs, part I1

Addressing the sex trade in Thailand: Some lessons learned from NGOs, part I1

Beyond the Marked Woman : The New Sex Worker in American Popular Culture, 2006-2016

Male and female prostitution: A review

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