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sex work

 
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n.

The performance of sex acts for hire; prostitution.

sexworker sex worker n.
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Wikipedia: Sex worker
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A sex worker is a person that is paid to sexually gratify or arouse a customer.[1] Some sex workers are paid to engage in sexually explicit behavior which involve varying degrees of physical contact with clients (prostitutes, escorts, dominatrices); pornography models and actors engage in sexually explicit behavior which are filmed or photographed. Phone sex operators have sexually-oriented conversations with clients. Other sex workers are paid to engage in live sexual performance, such as web cam sex and phone sex[2] and performers in live sex shows. Some sex workers perform erotic dances and other acts for an audience (strippers, go-go dancers, burlesque performers, peepshow workers).

Contents

Legality and social views

Depending on regional law, sex workers' activities may be regulated, controlled, tolerated, or prohibited. In most countries, even those where sex work is legal, sex workers are stigmatized and marginalized, which can prevent them from seeking legal redress for discrimination (e.g., racial discrimination by a strip club owner), non-payment by a client, assault or rape. Social inequality and poverty are often seen the driving forces. [3][4]

Advocacy

Sex worker's rights advocates argue that sex workers should have the same basic human and labour rights as other working people.[5]

For example, the Canadian Guild for Erotic Labour calls for the legalization of sex work, the elimination of state regulations that are more repressive than those imposed on other workers and businesses, the right to recognition and protection under labour and employment laws, the right to form and join professional associations or unions, and the right to legally cross borders to work.

Also, the legalization of sex work would allow it to be carried out in better organized circumstances (e.g., legal brothels), where regulations (e.g., requiring condom use and regular health checkups for sex workers) could reduce the transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Sex tourism

Sex tourism occurs when people travel to engage in sexual intercourse or sexual activity with prostitutes, and is typically undertaken internationally by tourists from wealthier countries.

The World Tourism Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations, defines sex tourism as "trips organized from within the tourism sector, or from outside this sector but using its structures and networks, with the primary purpose of effecting a commercial sexual relationship by the tourist with residents at the destination".[6] The U.N. opposes sex tourism citing health, social and cultural consequences for both tourist home countries and destination countries, especially in situations exploiting gender, age, social and economic inequalities in sex tourism destinations.[6][7][8]

While sex tourism can refer to a variety of commercial sexual activities, agencies and academics sometimes also use the terms: adult sex tourism, child sex tourism and female sex tourism to refer to different kinds of sex tourism. Attractions for sex tourists can include reduced costs for services in the destination country, along with either legal prostitution or indifferent law enforcement and access to child prostitution.

Performance evaluations

Performance evaluations of the different local sex workers can be found at various escort review boards worldwide, online forums which are used to trade information between potential clients and sex workers and to advertise the various services available.

Military

Sex workers have always plied their trades to the military in virtually all cultures. For example, the British naval port of Portsmouth had a flourishing local sex industry in the 19th century, and until the early 1990s there were large red light districts near American military bases in the Philippines. The notorious Patpong entertainment district in Bangkok, Thailand, started as an R&R location for US troops serving in the Vietnam War in the early 1970s.

See also

Organized Labour portal

Further reading

References

  1. ^ "sex worker definition". yourdictionary.com. LoveToKnow, Corp. http://www.yourdictionary.com/sex-worker. Retrieved on 2009-06-24. 
  2. ^ Weitzer, Ronald. 2000. Sex For Sale: Prostitution, Pornography, and the Sex Industry (New York: Routledge Press)
  3. ^ Ethiopia: Poverty forcing girls into risky sex work
  4. ^ Kenya: Desperate times: women sell sex to buy food
  5. ^ [Weitzer, Ronald. 1991. "Prostitutes' Rights in the United States," Sociological Quarterly, v. 32, no.1, pages 23-41]
  6. ^ a b (17-22 October 1995) "WTO Statement On The Prevention Of Organized Sex Tourism". Adopted by the General Assembly of the World Tourism Organization at its eleventh session - Cairo (Egypt), 17-22 October 1995 (Resolution A/RES/338 (XI)), Cairo (Egypt): World Tourism Organization. Retrieved on 2006-12-20. 
  7. ^ U.N. Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI) Gender Mainstreaming Mandates
  8. ^ U.N. Congress On The Prevention Of Crime And The Treatment Of Offenders Press Release New Global Treaty to Combat Sex Slavery of Women and Girls

External links

Advocacy

International

Africa

Australia

Europe

North America

Anti Sex-worker campaigners


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Sex worker".  Read more