Portal:Sex work

Introduction

Sex work is "the exchange of sexual services, performances, or products for material compensation. It includes activities of direct physical contact between buyers and sellers as well as indirect sexual stimulation". Sex work only refers to voluntary sexual transactions; thus, the term does not refer to human trafficking and other coerced or nonconsensual sexual transactions such as child prostitution. The transaction must take place between consenting adults of the legal age (generally 18 and older) and mental capacity to consent and must take place without any methods of coercion, other than payment. The term emphasizes the labor and economic implications of this type of work. Furthermore, some prefer the use of the term because it grants more agency to the sellers of these services. (Full article...)

Selected article - show another

Sex work, the consensual provision of sexual services for money or goods, is criminalized in most countries. Decriminalization is distinct from legalization (also known as the "regulationist" approach).

Advocates of decriminalization argue that removing the criminal sanctions surrounding sex work creates a safer environment for sex workers, and that it helps fight sex trafficking. Opponents of decriminalization argue that it will not prevent trafficking (or even increase trafficking) and could put sex workers at greater risk. Evidence from New Zealand, Belgium, and several Australian States (which have implemented this legal model) demonstrates that decriminalization is an evidence-based harm reduction approach.

Organizations including: the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the World Health Organization (WHO), Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and the medical journal The Lancet have called on countries to decriminalize sex work in the global effort to tackle the HIV/AIDS epidemic and ensure sex workers' access to health services. Almost all organisations run by sex workers themselves around the world favour the decriminalisation of sex work, and it tends to be their main goal. The Global Network of Sex Work Projects works with over 300 Sex Worker Organisations in 110 countries, all of whom are united on the goal of full decriminalisation and workers rights. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

Selected images

Image 1An illustration depicting street prostitution (from Prostitution)
Image 2A liberated Chinese girl who had been forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military sits on a stretcher and speaks to a Royal Air Force officer. (from Prostitution)
Image 3Sex workers demonstrating for better working conditions at the 2009 Marcha Gay in Mexico City (from Sex work)
Image 4Stickers affixed to a payphone in São Paulo, 2006 (from Prostitution)
Image 5Prostitution Information Centre in Amsterdam (from Prostitution)
Image 6Boat based window prostitute in Utrecht (from Prostitution)
Image 7A prostitute in Amsterdam's red-light district talks with a potential customer. (from Prostitution)
Image 8Kisaeng women from outcast or slave families. (from Prostitution)
Image 9A political cartoon from 1787 jesting about the notion of taxation affecting prostitutes (from Prostitution)
Image 10Fresco from the Pompeii brothel (from Prostitution)
Image 11World map of prostitution laws
  Decriminalization – No criminal penalties for prostitution
  Legalization (regulation) – Prostitution legal and regulated
  Abolitionism – Prostitution is legal, but organized activities such as brothels and pimping are illegal; prostitution is not regulated
  Neo-abolitionism (Nordic model) – Illegal to buy sex and for 3rd party involvement, legal to sell sex
  Prohibitionism – Prostitution illegal in all aspects (selling and buying)
  Legality varies with local laws
(from Sex work)
Image 12A detail from plate 1 of William Hogarth's (1697–1764) The Harlot's Progress, showing brothel-keeper Elizabeth Needham, on the right, procuring a young woman who has just arrived in London (from Prostitution)
Image 13Prostitute c. 1890. (from Prostitution)
Image 14An Ancient Greek urn depicts a prostitute and her client. (from Sex work)
Image 15A prostitute and her customer illustrated on an ancient Greek wine cup; the act of prostitution is indicated by the coin purse above the figures. (from Prostitution)
Image 16Women in an early San Francisco bordello in 1870 (from Prostitution)
Image 17The red light district in Amsterdam (from Sex work)
Image 18An oiran preparing herself for a client, ukiyo-e print by Suzuki Haronubu (1765) (from Prostitution)
Image 19News report about three brothels operating in Albuquerque, New Mexico that were raided by police in 1922 (from Prostitution)
Image 20
  Legalization – prostitution legal and regulated
  Decriminalization – No criminal penalties for prostitution
  Abolitionism – prostitution is legal, but organized activities such as brothels and pimping are illegal; prostitution is not regulated
  Neo-abolitionism – illegal to buy sex and for 3rd party involvement, legal to sell sex
  Prohibitionism – prostitution illegal
  Legality varies with local laws
(from Prostitution)
Image 21The Procuress by Dirck van Baburen (1622) (from Prostitution)
Image 22Statue to honor the sex workers of the world. Installed March 2007 in Amsterdam, Oudekerksplein, in front of the Oude Kerk, in Amsterdam's red-light district De Wallen. Titled Belle, the inscription to the piece says "Respect sex workers all over the world." (from Prostitution)
Image 23Tart cards in a British phone box advertising call girls, 2005 (from Prostitution)
Image 24A sex worker in Berlin in 2001 (from Sex work)
Image 25Brothel scene; Brunswick Monogrammist, 1537; Gemäldegalerie, Berlin (from Prostitution)
Image 26Prostitutes on display in Yoshiwara during the Meiji Period, Japan (from Prostitution)

Related portals

Selected general sex worker

Image 1

Julia Bulette (c. 1832 – January 19/20, 1867) was an English-born American prostitute in Virginia City, Nevada, a boomtown serving the Comstock Lode silver mine. She was murdered in 1867, and a French drifter named John Millain was quickly convicted and hanged for the crime. Subsequent legends surrounding Julia's life and status as a sex worker and a madam have grown over time and become a part of Virginia City's folklore. (Full article...)
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Mortuary photograph of Stride, 1888

Elizabeth "Long Liz" Stride (née Gustafsdotter; 27 November 1843 – 30 September 1888) is believed to have been the third victim of the unidentified serial killer known as Jack the Ripper, who killed and mutilated at least five women in the Whitechapel and Spitalfields districts of London from late August to early November 1888.

Unlike the other four canonical Ripper victims, Stride had not been mutilated following her murder, leading some historians to suspect Stride had not actually been murdered by Jack the Ripper. However, Stride's murder occurred less than one hour before the murder of the Ripper's fourth canonical victim, Catherine Eddowes, within walking distance, and her act of murder is suspected to have been disturbed by an individual entering the crime scene upon a two-wheeled cart. In addition, both women had been murdered by slash wounds to the throat, leading most authors and researchers to consider Stride to be the third of the Ripper's canonical five victims. (Full article...)
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Daniels in 2015

Stephanie A. Gregory Clifford (born Stephanie A. Gregory; March 17, 1979), known professionally as Stormy Daniels, is an American pornographic film actress, director and former stripper. She has won many industry awards and is a member of the NightMoves Hall of Fame, AVN Hall of Fame, XRCO Hall of Fame, and Vanity Fair Hall of Fame. In 2009, a recruitment effort led her to consider challenging incumbent David Vitter in the 2010 Senate election in her native Louisiana.

Daniels became involved in a legal dispute with U.S. president Donald Trump in 2018. Trump's attorney Michael Cohen paid $130,000 in hush money to silence her about an affair she says she had with Trump in 2006. Trump denied the affair and accused her of lying. He was charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal payments made to Daniels, and was convicted on May 30, 2024. (Full article...)
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Morganna Roberts (born July 4, 1947) is an American entertainer who became known as Morganna or Morganna, the Kissing Bandit in baseball and other sports from 1969 through 1999. She was also billed as "Morganna the Wild One" when appearing as a dancer in the 1980s.

Morganna rushed the field on many occasions and kissed Major League Baseball players including Nolan Ryan, Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, George Brett (twice), Steve Garvey, Len Barker and Cal Ripken Jr. She has been described as "baseball's unofficial mascot" and "the grand dame of baseball". She also crashed National Basketball Association games, where Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was one of her most notable victims. (Full article...)
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Urach in 2016

Andressa de Faveri Urach (born 11 October 1987) is a Brazilian reality television personality and porn actress, best known for being a contestant on the sixth season of A Fazenda, the Brazilian version of The Farm. (Full article...)
Image 6
Charlotte Rose is an English sex worker, dominatrix, sexual trainer and political candidate from Nottingham, who lives in London. In 2013 she won the award of "Sex Worker of the Year" at the Sexual Freedom Awards where she is now a resident judge. In 2014 she took up politics, campaigning for sexual freedom as an independent candidate in the Clacton and Rochester and Strood by-elections. (Full article...)
Image 7

Annie Sprinkle in 2005

Annie M. Sprinkle (born Ellen F. Steinberg on July 23, 1954) is an American certified sexologist, performance artist, former sex worker, filmmaker, and advocate for the decriminalization of sex work.

Sprinkle has worked as a prostitute, sex educator, feminist stripper, pornographic film actress, sex film producer and director, and documentary film director. In 1996, she became the first known porn star to get a doctoral degree, earning a Doctor of Philosophy in human sexuality from the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco. (Full article...)
Image 8

Veitch at the 2006 Adult Entertainment Expo

Heather Veitch (born on March 7, 1974) is an American Christian missionary who worked previously as a stripper but now seeks to help women working in strip clubs leave the adult entertainment industry. She is the founder of the Christian ministry JC's Girls, based out of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Veitch is a frequent speaker, working with both secular and religious audiences throughout the United States. Her expertise and knowledge in reaching out to women working in strip clubs has been utilized throughout the world by organizations seeking to develop like-minded ministries. (Full article...)
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Annabel Battistella (February 14, 1936 – February 10, 2021), known professionally as Fanne Foxe, was an Argentine-American stripper best known for being involved in a 1974 sex scandal surrounding Arkansas Congressman Wilbur Mills. At the time, Mills was the chair of the United States House Committee on Ways and Means and a powerful Democratic politician. The scandal was one of the most reported political sex scandals of the 1970s. In 2009, Foxe was on the Time list of top 10 mistresses, and her affair with Mills was on the Bloomberg list of top 10 U.S. sex scandals. (Full article...)
Image 10

Dawn in 2007

Anett Bocsi, known by her stage name Anette Dawn, is a Hungarian call girl, make-up artist, ceramist, model and former pornographic actress. She rose to prominence for her career as a model and adult film actress during the 2000s. She is known for playing in both lesbian films and solo scenes.

Dawn began her career as an erotic photography model in Budapest, and made her adult film debut with the film Wild Adventures (2002), produced by Private, which was followed by several adult films throughout the 2000s. She subsequently appeared in the films Girl + Girl 9 (2004) and Street Heat 2 (2004). Her most prominent role was as a supporting actress in the film Butterfly (2005), in addition to appearing in other Viv Thomas productions, including Our Movie (2005) and Viv's Dream Team (2005). Dawn also played a softcore solo scene in the film Prime Cups 1 (2007), followed by a major supporting role in the high-budget production Downward Spiral (2008). (Full article...)
Image 11

Fleiss in 2006

Heidi Lynne Fleiss (born December 30, 1965) is an American former madam. She ran an upscale prostitution ring based in Los Angeles and is often referred to as the "Hollywood Madam". Fleiss also formerly worked as a columnist and was a television personality regularly featured in the 1990s American media. (Full article...)
Image 12
Theresa Berkley or Berkeley (died September 1836) was a 19th-century English dominatrix who ran a brothel in Hallam Street, just to the east of Portland Place, Marylebone, London, specialising in flagellation. She is notable as the inventor of the "chevalet" or "Berkley Horse", a BDSM apparatus. (Full article...)
Image 13

Portrait by Tintoretto, ca. 1575

Veronica Franco (c. 1546–1591) was an Italian poet and courtesan in 16th-century Venice. She is known for her notable clientele, feminist advocacy, literary contributions, and philanthropy. Her humanist education and cultural contributions influenced the roles of courtesans in the late Venetian Renaissance.

In her notable works, Capitoli in Terze rime and Lettere familiari a diversi ("Familiar Letters to Various People"), Franco uses perceived virtue, reason, and fairness to advise male patricians and other associates. She exercised greater autonomy in her authorship than any other traditional Venetian woman due to her established reputation and influence. (Full article...)
Image 14

Favor in 2016

Suzy Favor Hamilton (born August 8, 1968) is an American former middle-distance runner and escort. She competed in the 1992, 1996, and 2000 Summer Olympics. (Full article...)
Image 15

Mata Hari, c. 1910

Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod (née Zelle, Dutch: [mɑrɣaːˈreːtaː ɣeːrˈtrœydaː ˈzɛlə]; 7 August 1876 – 15 October 1917), better known by the stage name Mata Hari (/ˈmɑːtə ˈhɑːri/ MAH-tə HAR-ee, Dutch: [ˈmaːtaː ˈɦaːri]; Indonesian for 'sun', lit. 'eye of the day'), was a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy for Germany during World War I. She was executed by firing squad in France.

The idea of a beautiful exotic dancer using her powers of seduction as a spy made her name synonymous with the femme fatale. Mata Hari's story has inspired books, films, and other works. It has been said that she was convicted and condemned because the French Army needed a scapegoat, and that the files used to secure her conviction contained falsifications. Some have even stated that she could not have been a spy and was innocent. (Full article...)
Image 16
Raphael's The Triumph of Galatea

Imperia Cognati (also called Imperia La Divina, meaning Imperia The Divine, or The Queen of Courtesans, 3 August 1486 – 15 August 1512), was a Roman courtesan. She has been considered the first celebrity of the class of courtesans, which was created in Rome in the late 15th century. (Full article...)
Image 17
Sheila R Vogel-Coupe (née Davis; January 1929 – 25 November 2022) was an English escort and media personality. She was known for being the oldest sex worker in the United Kingdom. (Full article...)
Image 18
Gangubai Harjeevandas (1907 – 8 September 1977), better known as Gangubai Kothewali or Gangubai Kathiawadi, was an Indian social activist, sex worker and madam of a brothel in the Kamathipura area of Mumbai during the 1960s. Gangubai worked for the rights of sex workers and for the well-being of orphans. She gradually ended up operating her own brothel and is known to also have lobbied for the rights of commercial sex workers. (Full article...)
Image 19

Elizabeth Thompson (born Mary Elizabeth Haley; 18 October 1855 – 13 April 1953) was a prostitute and dance hall girl who worked in Dodge City, Kansas and other frontier cattle towns during the 1870s. She later became famous as Squirrel Tooth Alice, madam of a brothel in Sweetwater, Texas. (Full article...)
Image 20

Thunder From Down Under in 2015

Australia's Thunder from Down Under is an Australian male revue who perform in Las Vegas and tour internationally. The show is a 90-minute, interactive performance with choreographed dance and flashing lights. Their main competitor is Chippendales. The show is co-owned by Adam Steck and founder Billy Cross.

Since its debut in 1991, nearly 10 million people have watched them perform. Originally, the show uses the Australian practice of no tipping as a way to attract audiences. Their first show was in an old theater in The Frontier in '01 and booked a show in the Excalibur Hotel in '02. Since then, Thunder has toured over 15 countries including Russia, England, Canada, South Africa, Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Mexico, Ireland and, in 2017, will be headed to Thailand and China as well. (Full article...)
Image 21

Storm at the Miss Exotic World Pageant, 2006

Tempest Storm (born Annie Blanche Banks; February 29, 1928 – April 20, 2021), also dubbed "The Queen Of Exotic Dancers," was an American burlesque star and motion picture actress. Along with Lili St. Cyr, Sally Rand and Blaze Starr, she was one of the best-known burlesque performers of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Her career as an exotic dancer spanned more than 60 years and she was still performing in the early 21st century. (Full article...)
Image 22
Lilliane Catherine Diomi (born June 1, 2001), known professionally as ppcocaine (previously known as trapbunniebubbles), is an American social media personality and rapper. She is perhaps best known for her song "3 Musketeers" that gained popularity on the video-sharing platform TikTok. (Full article...)
Image 23

Cardi B in 2024

Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar (formerly Cephus; born October 11, 1992), known professionally as Cardi B, is an American rapper. Born and raised in New York City, she is noted for her unfiltered public image and lyrics. First gaining recognition on Vine, Instagram, and as a cast member on VH1's Love & Hip Hop: New York, Cardi B released her two mixtapes between 2016 and 2017.

Her first studio album, Invasion of Privacy (2018), debuted atop the Billboard 200 with the largest female rap album streaming week of all time and became the best-selling and the highest-certified female rap album of the 21st century. Ranked by Rolling Stone as the best debut album of all time by a female rapper, it made Cardi B the first solo female artist in history to win the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. Its singles "Bodak Yellow" and "I Like It" both topped the Billboard Hot 100 and were certified diamond by the RIAA; the former made Cardi B the first female rapper to top the Hot 100 with a solo song in the 21st century and the first to achieve a diamond-certified song, while the latter made her the first with multiple number-one songs. Her third US number-one, the collaboration "Girls Like You" in 2018, made her the first female rapper to earn multiple RIAA diamond-certified songs. (Full article...)
Image 24

Lee in 1956

Gypsy Rose Lee (born Rose Louise Hovick, January 8, 1911 – April 26, 1970) was an American burlesque entertainer, stripper, actress, author, playwright and vedette, famous for her striptease act. Her 1957 memoir, Gypsy: A Memoir, was adapted into the 1959 stage musical Gypsy. (Full article...)
Image 25
Pearl "Polly" Adler (April 16, 1900 – June 9, 1962) was an American madam and author, best known for her work A House Is Not a Home, which was adapted into a film of the same name. In 2021, Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Debby Applegate published a comprehensive account of Adler's life and times entitled Madam: The Biography of Polly Adler, Icon of the Jazz Age with Doubleday. (Full article...)

Did you know...

... that a Harvey's franchise known for being a hub for sex work was described by one artist as a "legendary Toronto icon"?
... that Lea Ackermann, a German nun of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa, fought against forced prostitution and sex tourism in East Africa?
... that the posthumously released documentary Clean centered on the life of Sandra Pankhurst, a former sex worker, drag queen, and crime scene cleaner?
... that some Japanese sex workers after World War II organised their own self-defence groups?
... that Indonesian politician Sanusi's parents discouraged him from becoming a government employee, because his salary would be paid partly from taxes on alcohol and prostitution?
... that An Amorous History of the Silver Screen has been read as a biographic metafilm, paralleling its lead's rise from prostitution into film stardom?