Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Vincent Amanor-Boadu / This research identifies factors that distinguish rural women who have migrated to Bangkok for the purpose of enhancing their economic wellbeing by engaging in the sex industry and those who have stayed in their rural communities and are not engaged in the sex industry. The research used primary data collected through interviews in the red light districts of Bangkok and Pattaya and in villages in the rural provinces of Buriram, Udon Thani, Sakon Nakhon, Chayaphum and Khon Kaen in Thailand. A total of 100 respondents provided information for the study: 55 percent from the red light districts and the remainder from the provinces. The data were analyzed using logit regression modeling approach as well as statistical analysis. The statistical analysis provided the descriptive statistics of the respondents and an overview of the data. The logit regression modeling approach facilitated the estimation of the responses of the probability of working in the red light entertainment districts to specified demographic and psychographic variables. The pseudo R-square of the logit model was 46.2 percent for the base model, which included age, marital status, number of male and female siblings respectively, birth position and number of children, education, financial responsibility and average monthly age. The results indicated that marital status was significant at the 1 percent level, exhibiting a marginal effect of about -35.2 percent. That is, when the marital status of a respondent changed from unmarried (0) to married (1), the probability of sex industry participation decreased by about 35 percent. Assessing the effect only among respondents with children, the results are not very different from the base model. The pseudo R-square for this model – which is the same as the base model, except that it has Teen Mother as a variable – was 61.4 percent with a total number of observations of 78 instead of the original 100. This implies that about 22 respondents did not have any children. In this model, the marital status variable is significant at the 1 percent level as was the number of female siblings. The average monthly wage is significant at the 5 percent level, with a 1000 Thai Baht increase in wages leading to a marginal 0.01 percent decline in the probability of sex industry participation. Education, under this model, is statistically significant at the 10 percent level, with another year of education decreasing the probability of sex industry participation by 2.5 percent. The foregoing provides some clear policy direction. Specific efforts may be invested in enhancing the education of women in Thailand, which is expected to increase their economic situation. However, this expectation would not materialize if investments are not made to enhance the economic opportunities available to women across the economic spectrum. Perhaps most importantly, however, this study shows that incremental improvement in educational and economic opportunities for rural women alone may not achieve lasting results if cultural paradigms regarding marriage, relational fidelity and imbalanced socio-cultural obligations of daughters are not addressed in tandem.

There are different reasons why women enter the sex industry; many of them were sexually abused as children and have been psychologically deceived, which is indicative of their vulnerable state and complex needs. Today, many studies show that the amount of women involved in sex work continues to rise. As a result more strip clubs have surfaced in the United States, and more and more females continue to obtain employment from these adult establishments. The purpose of this study is to get more information about the recovery process for women who have exited the sex industry. The methods used for this study were qualitative in-depth interviews with ex sex workers. Six participants were recruited through a snowball method, and after interviews were recorded, they were transcribed and analyzed using Grounded Theory Approach. The findings indicated that sexual abuse, and drug and alcohol abuse had been experienced at very high rates by women in the sex industry. The findings also revealed that the participants in study displayed a great amount of resiliency, as five out of six participants had obtained higher education degrees at the bachelor’s and master’s level after exiting the sex industry. In addition, the study found that there was a serious lack of social services being offered to this population of women, which if offered services, women transitioning out of the sex industry could have benefited from mental health services, housing, and career planning. In the area of policy recommendations, social work school students and faculty are encouraged to advocate for classes on sexuality to prepare students to deal effectively with sexual abuse and sex workers, considering we are in a time where more women earn a living by working in the sex industry. It is also recommended that social workers develop ways to reach out to this disenfranchised population.

The problems that sex industry brings have existed in human¡¦s society for a long time without being eliminated. Except for some licensed prostitutes (sex workers), sex trading is prohibited in Taiwan by law. However, neglecting the impossibility of eliminating sex industry intentionally will lead to the encouragement of underground prostitution and related social problems of public security. After the Council of Grand Justices made the interpretation of No. 666, the Social Order Maintenance Act was amended allowing local government to set up and manage red light districts. It stipulates that any sex trade outside of the designated areas will be penalized, and sex trade inside the areas will be exempted from penalty. However, local governments are opposed to setting up the red light districts, which disillusion the expectation that disadvantage workers had to solve the difficulty they have encountered. Due to the considerable accounts of underground sex industry and scarcity of effective result of banning it, I want to analyze whether the problems are brought by the deficiency of the legal system and managing policy with this study. Based on the 5 major frameworks of administration law, including the legal principles, administrative organization, administrative authority, administrative remedy and administrative supervision, this study aims at analyzing the legal system of managing the sex industry in Taiwan. Through researching with the 5 major frameworks, the reason why sex industry can not be run like other industries has been found out. Due to the traditional and conservative perspective of the public, sex industry has been regarded as a low class industry without ethics, so that a comprehensive legal system of managing sex industry can not be made, let alone protecting the right to work, the right of equality and the right to exist of sex workers and the balanced development of sex industry. The legal system of managing sex industry has not been adhering to the principle of legal reservation. The ineffectiveness of the scale of administrative organization, the fuzzy space of administrative remedy, the scarcity and insufficiency of the design and practice of administrative authority and the undeveloped interior and exterior controlling function of administrative supervision are all left to be adjusted by the government and the society with a profound discussion and a comprehensive mechanism. Finally, based on the 5 major frameworks of administrative law, this study will provide comprehensive suggestions as followings. A. Manage sex industry with the believing of goodness of human nature. Regard this industry as a regular category and respect its equity right given by the Constitution. B. Learn from the effective managing method from abroad to decriminalize the trading relationship between customers and providers and also to ban the ¡§third party¡¨ for exploiting with strict regulations. C. Establish a managing law for sex industry with coherence in the nation and to regulate authorized local governments to manage the industry. D. Administrate by the managing concept of administrative guidance and administrative contract in lieu of administration with public power. E. Enforce regional cooperative administration with related organizations and its participation in the management of sex industry. F. Design administrative penalty which is awarding the good and punishing the bad with public announcement. G. Strengthen the opinion exchanging on the Internet for supervising the management and starting a quick and effective administrative remedy by public will and the responds of sex workers. H. Facilitate the managing system of interior controlling to prevent the abuse of administrative authority by imitating universities evaluation. Followed by the above-mentioned suggestions, an appropriate adjustment is expected to create a balanced environment and development for sex workers and sex industry.

Despite evidence to the contrary, policy makers, some researchers and many who provide health and social services to sex workers continue to reflect and reinforce the notion that sex workers are dysfunctional and constitute a threat to public health. This thesis presents the results of a study which explicitly examined how indoor sex workers look after their psychological wellbeing. Twelve participants (who had worked as sex workers for at least 3 years) took part in semi-structured interviews and discussed how they looked after themselves both at work and in their wider social context. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Two main themes emerged from the data. The first, “doing sex work”, relates to workplace practices. The second theme, “being a sex worker”, relates to how the women understand their experience of being a sex worker in their social context and how they care for themselves in this arena; also apparent in this theme are aspects related to entry and exit of the industry. All participants took part in the study to increase understanding of and social justice for sex workers. Most of the participants see sex work as having a positive contribution to their personal growth. The findings show that participants are resilient and employ self-care practices that are commonly used by many in occupations that deal with people or who are stigmatised in some way. Major conclusions drawn from the study are that working in a supportive environment, prior understandings of sex work, personal traits and reasons for entering the sex industry are closely related to positive psychological wellbeing.

Amidst a considerable body of literature on erotic dance, the voices of third parties, that is, the people who organize, supervise, manage or coordinate the labour of dancers, seldom appear. Yet, these third parties provide a setting and services that are vital to dancers’ entrepreneurial success. Furthermore, perceptions of third parties as exploitative and coercive perpetuate framings of erotic dance – and sex work in general – as harmful, which in turn invisibilize dancers’ work, as well as their skills, labour rights and grievances. Drawing from qualitative interviews with 15 third parties and 15 dancers, as well as regional regulatory texts, this dissertation seeks to trouble these stigmatic assumptions by shedding light on the work of third parties and the organization of labour in Ontario’s erotic dance sector. Mapping the occupational roles and relationships amongst third parties (e.g., managers, bouncers, disc jockeys) reveals the organizational structure and peripheries of the strip club. Through this map, we see how third parties together form the organizational structure, which operates as a parallel entity to dancers who, as independent contractors, are for the most part responsible for their own work activities and income. At the same time, because dancers and third parties must equally provide quality service to their shared customers, they are both interdependent on, and independent of, each other. This relationship ‘plays out’ through occupational and situationally adaptive performances, which reiterate and resist normative gender, racial, and class scripts to produce the ‘party’ environment of the strip club. Simultaneously ambiance and organizational culture, the ‘party’ environment shapes third parties’ and dancers’ occupational performances for, and perceptions of, each other. The continuity of performance required to maintain this environment also results in third parties reproducing certain regulatory discourses and mechanisms in their surveillance and rule enforcement practices, and disregarding and subverting others, which in turn impacts upon dancers’ safety. Third parties’ relationships with each other and dancers are also permeated by stigma, stereotypes and perceptions of risk that echo regulatory and broader social discourses. These findings demonstrate that third parties’ engagement with regulation and normative discourses are deeply inter-related and impact the quality of the services they provide to dancers. On this basis it is argued that the context and conditions of dancers’ labour will be improved by rethinking narrow-minded regulatory frameworks and social norms.

The purpose of this qualitative study is to enrich the understanding of the counselling and psychotherapy experiences of women who have previously or currently worked in the Canadian sex industry. I conducted semi-structured interviews with 6 participants ranging in age from 19 to 52 who described an individual counselling experience in which they revealed their sex work employment status. I analyzed the interview drawing from a Gadamerian hermeneutic phenomenological approach grounded in feminist standpoint theory. The results revealed 17 themes organized in 5 categories: (a) seeking counselling, (b) the therapeutic relationship, (c) disclosure of sex work, (d) counselling outcomes, and (e) recommendations for counsellors working with sex workers. The results shed light on indoor sex worker clients’ heterogeneous counselling needs, expectations, and experiences, providing valuable considerations for culturally responsive and socially just practice with sex workers. The discussion of the results reflects previous research studies, clinical implications, and suggestions for future research.

No description available.

Background: Prostitution has been documented in most societies, although the context in which it occurs may vary greatly. In Queensland, Australia, sex workers can operate from legal brothels or privately but all other sectors of the sex industry are prohibited. It is assumed that regulation of the sex industry through legalization leads to better health and social outcomes for sex workers and their clients. However, this assumption has rarely been subjected to empirical scrutiny. Aims: This research examined the occupational health and safety of female sex workers in Queensland and explored the relationship between legislative change, workplace violence, mental health and job satisfaction. Sex workers interviewed in 2003 (after legalisation) were compared to a prior study of this population conducted in 1991 (before official regulation of the sex industry). Further, in-depth analysis of the 2003 cohort compared sex workers employed in legal and illegal sectors, to assess violence, health status and job satisfaction. Methods: Cross-sectional, convenience sampling was used to collect data from female sex workers in 2003. This data was compared with data collected earlier (in 1991) and explored differences in the two samples using bivariate analysis. Similar recruitment strategies on both occasions were used to recruit women from all known sectors of the Queensland sex industry. The 1991 comparison sample (Boyle et al. 1997) included 200 women (aged between 16 and 46 years), and in 2003, 247 women (aged 18 to 57) participated. The 2003 sample included workers from legal brothels (n=102), private sole-operators (n=103) and illegal street-based sex workers (n=42). Using data collected in 2003, this study assessed the relationship between physical and mental health and job satisfaction and two main independent variables, i.e., current work sector and recent workplace violence. Bivariate analysis of physical health and independent variables showed no significant relationships and therefore further analysis was not undertaken. However, analysis of mental health and job satisfaction showed complex interactions between multiple variables and therefore linear modeling was performed to adjust for confounding. Results: Analysis of the 1991 and 2003 samples showed little apparent change over time in self-reported sexually transmitted infections (STIs). There were substantial changes over time in the types of sexual services being provided to clients, with the 2003 sample more likely to provide 'exotic' services. Violence experienced ever in their lifetime differed; in 1991, 29% reported having ever been raped compared with 42% in 2003 (p= &lt0.01). In 2003, 50% of illegal sex workers reported having ever been raped by a client compared with 12% of private sex workers and 3% of brothel-based sex workers (p=&lt0.01). Overall, the sex workers reported roughly equivalent job satisfaction to Australian women. A desire to leave the sex industry was most strongly correlated with reduced job satisfaction (p=&lt0.01). Satisfaction was also relatively low among those whose family was not aware of their sex work (p=&lt0.01). Similarly, the mental and physical health of this sample was comparable to age-matched women from the general population. Wanting to leave the sex industry was most strongly associated with poor mental health (p=&lt0.01), as was recent sexual or physical assault by a client (p=0.06) and the woman's main work sector (p=0.05). Illegal sex workers reported substantially lower mental health scores than their counterparts in legal sex work. Conclusions: Self-reported STI diagnosis was high in these samples but the prevalence appears not to have changed over time. Comparing 2003 to 1991, there were trends towards safer and more diverse sexual practices. It is likely the sex industry has 'professionalized' and now includes more sex workers providing specialist, 'exotic' services. This sample of female sex workers reported high rates of violence, with those working illegally at greatest risk. Analysis suggests a complex interaction between variables contributing to mental health and job satisfaction. In general, it appears that the majority of sex workers enjoyed at least as much job satisfaction as women working in other occupations. It also appears that this sample had equivalent mental health to women from the general population, although the sub-group of illegal workers generally had poorer health. Job satisfaction and the extent of workplace hazards (especially risk of violence) were also strongly associated with different sectors of the sex industry. It is probable that legalisation has benefited some (perhaps most) but there are health and safety concerns for those outside the legal framework. Legislative reform should focus on violence prevention, promoting reporting of violent events to police, and further exploration of the impact of legislation on the health of workers in the sex industry.

Studies on prostitution have typically focused on the experiences, problems, and histories of prostitutes, rather than examining men who seek to purchase sex. Race has also been overlooked as a central factor in shaping the sex industry and the motivations of men who seek to purchase sex. This study utilizes online reviews of prostitutes to examine the way men who purchase sex discuss Asian prostitutes in comparison to White prostitutes. This paper traces the history of colonialism and ideas of the exotic Orient to modern stereotypes of Asian women. These stereotypes are then used to frame a quantitative and qualitative analysis of online reviews of prostitutes and compare the ways in which Asian prostitutes and white prostitutes are discussed. Further, the reviews are used to examine more broadly what services, traits, and behaviors are considered desirable by men who use prostitutes. The study finds that there are significant quantitative and qualitative differences in how men discuss Asian and White prostitutes within their reviews, and that these differences appear to be shaped by racially fetishizing stereotypes of Asian women. Prostitution also appears to reinforce male dominance and patriarchy in the form of masculine control and the feminine servicing of male sexual and emotional needs.

The U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) was the first piece of legislation designed to combat human trafficking on all fronts, both domestically and internationally, and was upheld as a model worldwide. Although human trafficking as an issue seemed to appear out of nowhere onto the congressional agenda and a number of heated debates ensued during .the making of the TVPA, the legislation passed quickly by an unlikely coalition of players. The purpose of this dissertation research was to gain insight into the forces which led to the making of the TVPA through the lens of the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) model of the policy making process.The ACF's focus on belief systems in order to increase one's understanding of the policy making process makes it an interesting model to use to examine policy making in arenas dominated by issues that involve deeply held beliefs. The human trafficking policy subsystem is one such arena, in which beliefs and attitudes regarding sexual behavior, prostitution, morality, sexual deviancy, immigrants and immigration policy, feminist issues, and public health concerns come into play. In addition, human trafficking, widely acknowledged as a public evil, is a valence issue. This dissertation research also serves as a case to examine how the ACF "holds up" as a model used to examine valence issues.This study was a dual-method study in which in-depth interviews of twenty-one key policy players involved in the making of the legislation and a content analysis of congressional hearings related to human trafficking during the 1995-2000 time period were used as methodologies.Findings reveal that advocacy coalitions did exist within the human trafficking policysubsystem and that the primary coalition responsible for the focus on human trafficking as a legislative issue was a left/right coalition made up of radical feminists, conservativeChristians, and human rights organization representatives, which was built from a pre-existing coalition. With the support of my research findings, I pose the question: was the TVPA created to protect victims of human trafficking or was the issue of human trafficking used to push a greater moral agenda including abolishing prostitution worldwide?