The Relative Quality of Sex Work

Abstract

This article presents descriptive findings on sex workers’ structural disadvantage and their evaluation of the quality of their work, relative to their other jobs. In-person interviews were conducted in 2013 with sex workers ( n = 218) from Canada. Participants reported they experience precarity (i.e. uncertainty and instability) in employment and other domains of their lives. Compared to the work quality of their other jobs, the majority said sex work was more satisfying and granted greater control and money. In a context of low income and instability in employment, participants make strategic choices to engage in sex work, even when contending with its low social status. The article concludes that sex work should be recognized as valuable work for Canadian sex workers, given the circumstances of their lives under contemporary capitalism. The findings indicate a need for macro-level changes to challenge precarity in the economy and other societal institutions.

Job Attributes and Mental Health: A Comparative Study of Sex Work and Hairstyling

“…Our study builds on our previous research that compared sex work to other jobs sex workers were doing concurrently (Benoit et al 2020b) and that compared it to related occupations (Benoit et al 2015a(Benoit et al , 2015b. This study added to those studies by examining a variety of work attributes common to two frontline service jobs: hairstyling and sex work.…”

“…Yet, this research has largely ignored sex work. There is a growing literature showing the value of examining sex work as an economic activity that involves the performance of various forms of labor for economic returns (Benoit et al 2017(Benoit et al , 2020bRosen and Venkatesh 2008;Sanders 2005). Meanwhile, several studies have suggested links between sex work and mental health ( Krumrei-Mancuso 2017; Puri et al 2017;Treloar et al 2021;Vanwesenbeeck 2005) but have focused on stigma and mistreatment by others and have typically ignored work attributes that are not uniquely associated with sex work (Benoit et al 2016).…”

“…A heterogeneous sample of sex workers aged 19 and over in five Canadian census metropolitan areas found the median total income (earnings and government transfers) for people in sex work was $39,500 CAD compared with $34,204 CAD for the general Canadian population aged 15 and over (Benoit et al 2020b) but was much lower compared with the employment income (wages, salaries, and commissions plus net self-employment income) of full-time, full-year workers aged 15 and over ($53,431 CAD;Statistics Canada 2018). Hairstyling (Nakao and Treas 1994) has low occupational prestige and is at the low end of socio-economic status (SES) scales.…”

“…Stigma is a major determinant of health (Goffman 1963;Hatzenbuehler et al 2014). Sex work is highly stigmatized, in part because of moral, religious, and ideological arguments against it (Benoit et al 2019(Benoit et al , 2020b, even where it is decriminalized and regulated (Abel and Fitzgerald 2010). Many occupations carry a stigma, especially those that involve the body (Black 2004) or dirty work (Ashforth and Kreiner 1999;Hughes 1962).…”

“…One exception is a recent intra-comparative study of sex work that involved faceto-face interviews with a relatively large sample (n = 218) surveyed in six metropolitan areas of Canada (Benoit et al 2020b). Most respondents had worked in several personal Soc.…”