Understanding Resilience among People in Sex Work

A special issue of Sexes (ISSN 2411-5118).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2024 | Viewed by 17443

Special Issue Editors

Social Dimensions of Health Program, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8P 5C2, Canada
Interests: marginalized populations; intersectionality; structural and social dimensions of health; youth welfare; access to health services
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The concept of resilience—the capacity to withstand or overcome major stress or hardship—is becoming increasingly prevalent in research that focuses on structurally marginalized groups, including people in sex work. This Special Issue aims to publish original work on resilience among sex workers, whereby they conserve their physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health despite exposure to material hardship, health vulnerabilities, and psychosocial difficulties due to prejudice, stigmatization, and discrimination.

The impetus behind this Special Issue emerged from a lingering problem in studies of people in sex work, which presents them in a simplistic and one-dimensional fashion, overlooking their diverse lived realities, complex experiences, capabilities, and strategies to thrive in the face of adversity. Like other stigmatized groups who are structurally marginalized—such as people who are Indigenous, racialized, 2SLGBTQIA+, use substances, are street-involved, live with disabilities, and/or are/were engaged in child welfare systems—people in sex work challenge normative models of physical, mental, emotional and social resilience, thus pushing back against stereotypes and other tools of oppression.

There is a clear need to consider at great depth how people in sex work self-determine their own models of resilience, and how these are both helped and hindered by micro-, meso-, and macro-level factors, including self-awareness and self-esteem, interpersonal relationships, community support, policies, and legislative frameworks.

We invite empirical research papers that highlight some of the following:

  • The application of different models and frameworks of resilience that are specific to people in sex work;
  • To identify ways that resilience influences structural, social, and individual determinants of health for people in sex work;
  • To identify strategies of resilience employed by sex workers at individual, organizational, and/or community levels;
  • To show how models of resilience integrate with intersectional frameworks that are specifically related to people in sex work and/or when conducting research with people in sex work.

Prof. Dr. Cecilia M. Benoit
Dr. Andrea Mellor
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sexes is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • resilience
  • people in sex work
  • social determinants of health
  • diversity
  • social location
  • systematic marginalization
  • prejudice
  • stigma
  • discrimination
  • intersectionality

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 8294 KiB  
Article
“Carefully Curated/For Heart and Soul”: Sensing Place Identity in Sex Workplaces
by Alison L. Grittner
Sexes 2023, 4(4), 473-492; https://doi.org/10.3390/sexes4040031 - 26 Sep 2023
Viewed by 818
Abstract
In the face of ongoing interpersonal and structural violence towards sex workers in Canada, this research inquiry explores nine women and gender-diverse sex workers’ experiences of place identity within their workplaces. Employing multisensory and arts-based ethnographic fieldwork, the co-researchers storied their embodied place-based [...] Read more.
In the face of ongoing interpersonal and structural violence towards sex workers in Canada, this research inquiry explores nine women and gender-diverse sex workers’ experiences of place identity within their workplaces. Employing multisensory and arts-based ethnographic fieldwork, the co-researchers storied their embodied place-based experiences of identity. The research findings illuminate place-identity processes within sex workplaces, suggesting that the context, materiality, and multisensory atmospheres of the co-researchers’ work environments were entwined with internal and external self-concepts. The co-researchers created personalized multisensory atmospheres in their workplaces through the use of colour, visual art, and music. Having workplaces that positively supported place identity fostered workplace comfort, control, and empowerment. Ultimately, this research suggests that place-identity processes in sex workplaces have the possibility to resist and shift sex work stigma. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Understanding Resilience among People in Sex Work)
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17 pages, 308 KiB  
Article
Sex Workers’ Online Humor as Evidence of Resilience
by Gwyn Easterbrook-Smith
Sexes 2023, 4(2), 310-326; https://doi.org/10.3390/sexes4020021 - 07 Jun 2023
Viewed by 5553
Abstract
Sex workers’ humor has received comparatively little attention in the literature to date, and work that does consider this phenomenon focuses on humor in face-to-face contexts. Increasingly, elements of sex workers’ labor and community building take place online. This article examines the emergence [...] Read more.
Sex workers’ humor has received comparatively little attention in the literature to date, and work that does consider this phenomenon focuses on humor in face-to-face contexts. Increasingly, elements of sex workers’ labor and community building take place online. This article examines the emergence of sex work humor in online spaces, considering how this humor provides evidence of resilience within this community. The article uses a critical discourse analysis approach blended with a cultural studies lens to examine 171 discrete texts drawn from sex work communities in Australia and New Zealand. These include social media postings from peer-led organizations and correspondence between sex workers and their clients, which was profiled in news media during the COVID-19 lockdowns. The humor evident within these texts falls into three major categories: humor about clients; humor as a mechanism of discussing stigma and discrimination; and humor as an agent of activism and social change. The findings indicate that humor can be evidence of resilience among sex-working communities, that it is politically productive and effective from a communications perspective, and present the possibility that it may also contribute to resilience. The presence of humor in online sex work spaces of sociality further highlights the importance of these spaces for community building, and draws attention to additional harms created by deplatforming. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Understanding Resilience among People in Sex Work)
16 pages, 249 KiB  
Article
Experiencing, Negotiating and Challenging Stigma in Sex Work: Examining Responses from Brothel-Based and Transient Sex Workers in Kolkata, India
by Satarupa Dasgupta
Sexes 2023, 4(2), 269-284; https://doi.org/10.3390/sexes4020018 - 04 May 2023
Viewed by 2087
Abstract
Stigma is felt, constructed, understood and negotiated differently by varied marginalized groups, including diverse groups among commercial sex workers themselves. Brothel-based sex workers in India have more visibility and undergo greater social scrutiny, moral surveillance and stigmatization. For the transient sex workers, invisibility [...] Read more.
Stigma is felt, constructed, understood and negotiated differently by varied marginalized groups, including diverse groups among commercial sex workers themselves. Brothel-based sex workers in India have more visibility and undergo greater social scrutiny, moral surveillance and stigmatization. For the transient sex workers, invisibility and non-identification as sex workers are strategically used to mitigate stigmatization. The current research conducts semi-structured interviewing of 23 brothel-based and 21 transient sex workers in and around Kolkata in Eastern India. The results delineate the differences between the impact of stigmatization on brothel-based and transient sex workers in India and how these two groups negotiate with and resist stigma in their lives. The current study shows that the impact and extent of stigmatization varied among the sex workers in accordance to their location and status. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Understanding Resilience among People in Sex Work)
34 pages, 838 KiB  
Article
The Lived Experiences of Male Sex Workers: A Global Qualitative Meta-Synthesis
by Michael G. Curtis and Joshua L. Boe
Sexes 2023, 4(2), 222-255; https://doi.org/10.3390/sexes4020016 - 04 Apr 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 7810
Abstract
The sex industry literature predominantly focuses on the lived experiences of cisgender female sex workers, their customers, and work dynamics. Recently, there has been a shift in the discourse regarding sex work as the sex industry has been openly represented within art, fashion, [...] Read more.
The sex industry literature predominantly focuses on the lived experiences of cisgender female sex workers, their customers, and work dynamics. Recently, there has been a shift in the discourse regarding sex work as the sex industry has been openly represented within art, fashion, and film. As such, there has been a growing number of qualitative studies dedicated to investigating cisgender men’s experiences of the sex industry. This article seeks to identify and synthesize these emergent findings to identify possible gaps in the literature, aid in defining new research opportunities, and guide public health policy development. Using qualitative meta-synthesis, 66 original studies were identified and analyzed. Nine meta-themes emerged. Findings demonstrated that male sex workers (MSWs) encounter many of the same experiences that have been previously documented by female sex workers, such as work-related discrimination and the influence of economics on their interest and involvement in the industry. However, MSWs also experience areas of privilege and discrimination unique to their lived experiences. This was particularly salient for men who sold sex in countries where sexual minorities are criminalized or decriminalized but not legalized. These findings highlight the need for responsive sex worker resources tailored to address the unique issues faced by MSWs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Understanding Resilience among People in Sex Work)
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