Article published in:
Narrative Inquiry
Vol. 30:2 (2020) ► pp. 294–315

A bene placito

Narratives of sex work

| Sechenov University | University of Łódź
| University of Oslo
Sex work is often interpreted through master narratives that see women as victimized and subjected to stigmas and negative attitudes. This paper offers an insight into narratives that challenge or can be seen as an alternative to these narratives. Data are from a sample of 15 interviews with women who show an interest in sex work, conducted in a netnographic context. While widespread master narratives about sex work tend to revolve around the notion of commodification, these alternative narratives present scenarios in which sex work is interpreted as a complex activity of networking and self-promotion. The women’s narratives describe how sex work can have positive implications for the development of careers, social impact and female emancipation, and is morally coherent. Arguably, they can be important in understanding the stories that instigate and sustain sex work.
Keywords: deep interest, ethnography, interview, master narrative, narrative, online, sex work
Published online: 19 May 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.18053.pop
References

References

Albright, E., & D’Adamo, K.
(2017) The media and human trafficking: a discussion and critique of the dominant narrative. In Human Trafficking Is a Public Health Issue (363–378). Springer, Cham. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Andrews, M.
(2004) Opening to the Original Contributions: Counter-Narratives and the Power to Oppose. In M. Bamberg and M. Andrews (eds). Considering Counter-Narratives: Narrating, Resisting, Making Sense (1–6). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Co.. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Attwood, L.
(1993) Sex and the Cinema. Sex and Russian society, 64–88.Google Scholar
Barry, K.
(1979) Female sexual slavery. Englewood Cliffs, New York: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Bamberg, M. & M. Andrews
(Eds) (2004) Considering Counter-Narratives: Narrating, resisting, making sense. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bamberg, M.
(2003) Positioning with Davie Hogan – Stories, Tellings, and Identities. In: Narrative analysis: Studying the development of individuals in society, ed. C. Daiute, and C. Lightfoot, 135–157. London: Sage.Google Scholar
(2004) Considering counter narratives. In M. Bamberg and M. Andrews (Eds): Considering Counter-Narratives: Narrating, resisting, making sense (p. 351–372). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Benoit, C., & Millar, A.
(2001) Dispelling Myths and Understanding Realities: Working Conditions. Health Status, and Exiting Experiences of Sex Workers, Victoria, Prostitutes, Education, Empowerment and Resource Society (PEERS).Google Scholar
Bernstein, E.
(1999) What’s wrong with prostitution? what’s right with sex work?: comparing markets in female sexual labor. Hastings Women’s Law Journal, 10(1), 91–117.Google Scholar
Bertrand, C. & Bourdeau, L.
(2010) ‘Research interviews by Skype: A new data collection method’. In: ESTEVES, J., ed. 9th European Conference on Research Methodology for Business and Management Studies 2010 Madrid.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, P.
(2002 [1977]) Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Brewis, J., & Linstead, S.
(2000) “The worst thing is the screwing”: Consumption and the management of identity in sex work. Gender, Work & Organization, 7(2), 84–97. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Cameron, S., & Newman, E.
(Eds.) (2008) Trafficking in humans: social, cultural and political dimensions. Tokyo: United Nations University press.Google Scholar
Cavanagh, S.
(2008) Sexing the teacher: School sex scandals and queers pedagogies. Seattle: University of Washington Press.Google Scholar
Church, S., Henderson, M., Barnard, M., & Hart, G.
(2001) Violence by clients towards female prostitutes in different work settings: questionnaire survey. Bmj, 322(7285), 524–525. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Clifton, J., & Van De Mieroop, D.
(2016) Master narratives, identities, and the stories of former slaves (Vol. 22). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Cornish, F.
(2006) Challenging the stigma of sex work in India: material context and symbolic change. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 16(6), 462–471. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Delacoste, F.
(Ed.) (2018) Sex work: Writings by women in the sex industry. New York: Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
De Villiers, N.
(2017) Sexography: Sex Work in Documentary. University of Minnesota Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Di Nicola, A.
(2013) 3 Researching into human trafficking: Issues and problems. In M. Lee (eds.) Human trafficking (pp. 61–84). London: WillanGoogle Scholar
Erler, M. C.
(2003) Gendering the master narrative: Women and power in the middle ages. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Farley, M.
(2003) Prostitution, Trafficking and Traumatic Stress. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
(2006) Prostitution, trafficking, and cultural amnesia: What we must not know in order to keep the business of sexual exploitation running smoothly. Yale JL & Feminism, 18, 109.Google Scholar
Foucault, M.
(1990) The history of sexuality: An introduction. Hammondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar
Frank, A. W.
(1995) The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness, and Ethics. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2012) Practicing Dialogical Narrative Analysis, in J. A. Holstein and J. F. Gubrium, eds, Varieties of Narrative Analysis, 33–52. London: Sage. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Gaffney, J.
(2007) A co-ordinated prostitution strategy and response to Paying the price – but what about the men?. Safer Communities, 6(1), 27–33. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Gair, S., & Moloney, S.
(2013) Unspeakable stories: when counter narratives are deemed unacceptable. Qualitative Research Journal, 13(1), 49–61. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Gikandi, S.
(2001) Globalization and the claims of post-coloniality. South Atlantic Quarterly 100(3): 627–658. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Goffman, E.
(1963) Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. New York: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Hallgrímsdóttir, H. K., Phillips, R., Benoit, C., & Walby, K.
(2008) Sporting girls, streetwalkers, and inmates of houses of ill repute: Media narratives and the historical mutability of prostitution stigmas. Sociological Perspectives, 51(1), 119–138. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Halverson, J. R., Goodall, H. L., & Corman, S. R.
(2011) Master narratives of Islamist extremism. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Harper, K.
(2001) Environment as master narrative: Discourse and identity in environmental problems. Anthropological Quarterly 74(3): 101–103. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hubbard, P., Matthews, R., & Scoular, J.
(2008) Regulating sex work in the EU: prostitute women and the new spaces of exclusion. Gender, Place & Culture, 15(2), 137–152. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hunt, A.
(2002) “Regulating Heterosocial Space: Sexual Politics in the Early Twentieth Century.” Journal of Historical Sociology 15: 2–34. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hulusjö, A.
(2013) The multiplicities of prostitution experience: Narratives about power and resistance. Faculty of Health and Society, Malmö: Malmö University.Google Scholar
Jäger, S.
(2001) Discourse and knowledge: Theoretical and methodological aspects of a critical discourse and dispositive analysis. In: R. Wodak & M. Meyer (eds.), Methods of critical discourse analysis. London: SAGE Publications.Google Scholar
Jenness, V.
(1990) From sex as sin to sex as work: COYOTE and the reorganization of prostitution as a social problem. Social Problems, 37(3), 403–420. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Jones, S. V.
(2012) Human Trafficking Victim Identification: Should Consent Matter? Indiana Law Review, 45, 483–505.Google Scholar
Kaye, K.
(2007) Sex and the unspoken in male street prostitution. Journal of Homosexuality, 53(1–2), 37–73. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kapur, R.
(2001) “Post-Colonial Economies of Desire: Legal Representations of the Sexual Subaltern”, Denver University Law Review 78(4): 855–85.Google Scholar
Kempadoo, K., Sanghera, J., & Pattanaik, B.
(2015) Trafficking and prostitution reconsidered: New perspectives on migration, sex work, and human rights. London: Routledge. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kesler, K.
(2002) Is a feminist stance in support of prostitution possible? An exploration of current trends. Sexualities, 5(2), 219–235. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Keipi, T., & Oksanen, A.
(2014) Self-exploration, anonymity and risks in the online setting: Analysis of narratives by 14–18-year olds. Journal of Youth Studies, 17(8), 1097–1113. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kozinets, R. V.
(2010) Netnography: Doing ethnographic research online. London: Sage publications.Google Scholar
Leidholdt, D. A.
(2004) Prostitution and trafficking in women: An intimate relationship. Journal of Trauma Practice, 2(3–4), 167–183. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Link, B. G., & Phelan, J. C.
(2001) Conceptualizing stigma. Annual review of Sociology, 27(1), 363–385. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Loseke, D. R.
(2007) The study of identity as cultural, institutional, organizational, and personal narratives: Theoretical and empirical integrations. The Sociological Quarterly, 48(4), 661–688. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lowman, J., & Fraser, L.
(1995) Violence against persons who prostitute. The experience. British Columbia, Canada: Departments of Justice and Solicitor General.Google Scholar
Maynes, M. J., Pierce, J. L., & Laslett, B.
(2008) Telling Stories. The Use of Personal Narratives in the. Social Sciences and History, lthaca and London: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
O’Brien, E.
(2015) Prostitution ideology and trafficking policy: The impact of political approaches to domestic sex work on human trafficking policy in Australia and the United States. Journal of Women, Politics & Policy, 36(2), 191–212. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
O’Connell Davidson, J.
(1998) Prostitution, power and freedom. London: Polity. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Phillips, R., & Benoit, C.
(2005) Social determinants of health care access among sex industry workers in Canada. In Health Care Services, Racial and Ethnic Minorities and Underserved Populations: Patient and Provider Perspectives (pp. 79–104). Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.Google Scholar
Poppi, F. I. M. & Gattinara, P. C.
(2018) Aliud pro alio: Context and narratives within a neo-Nazi community of practice. Journal of Language and Politics, 17(4), 552–572. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Poppi, F. I. M.
(2019) Omnia vincit amor: Narratives of sexual promiscuity. Sexuality & Culture, 1-24Google Scholar
Poppi, F. I. M., & Verde, A.
(2019) Odi et amo: Discursive strategies and ambiguity in the narratives of violence. European Journal of Criminology, CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Poppi, F. I. M., Travaglino, G. A., & Di Piazza, S.
(2018) Talis pater, talis filius: the role of discursive strategies, thematic narratives and ideology in Cosa Nostra. Critical Discourse Studies, 15(5), 540–560. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Presser, L. & S. Sandberg
(Ed.) (2015) Narrative criminology. Understanding Stories of Crime. New York: New York University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Raitanen, J., Sandberg, S., & Oksanen, A.
(2019) The bullying-school shooting nexus: Bridging master narratives of mass violence with personal narratives of social exclusion. Deviant behavior, 40(1), 96-109. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Richardson, L.
(1990) Narrative and sociology. Journal of contemporary ethnography, 19(1), 116–135. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Rubin, G.
(1984) Thinking sex: Notes for a radical theory of the politics of sexuality. In Vance, C. (ed.), Pleasure and danger. Boston: Routledge.Google Scholar
Sandberg, S.
(2010) What can ‘lies’ tell us about life? Notes towards a framework of narrative criminology. Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 21(4): 447–465. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Sanders, T.
(2005) ‘It’s just acting’: Sex workers’ strategies for capitalizing on sexuality. Gender, work & organization, 12(4), 319–342. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2006) Female sex workers as health educators with men who buy sex: Utilising narratives of rationalisations. Social Science & Medicine, 62(10), 2434–2444. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2007) Becoming an ex–sex worker: Making transitions out of a deviant career. Feminist Criminology, 2(1), 74–95. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2013) Sex work. London: Routledge. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Sarracino, C., & Scott, K. M.
(2008) The porning of America: The rise of porn culture, what it means, and where we go from here. Boston: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Satz, D.
(1995) Markets in women’s sexual labour. Ethics, 106(1), 63–85. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Scambler, G.
(2007) Sex work stigma: Opportunist migrants in London. Sociology, 41(6), 1079–1096. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Scoular, J.
(2004) “Criminalizing ‘Punters’: Evaluating the Swedish Position on Prostitution”, Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law 26: 195–210. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Shaver, F. M.
(2005) Sex work research: Methodological and ethical challenges. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 20(3), 296–319. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Skilbrei, M. L.
(2012) The Development of Norwegian Prostitution Policies: A Marriage of Convenience Between Pragmatism and Principles. Sexuality Research and Social Policy 9 (3):244–257. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Snajdr, E.
(2013) Beneath the master narrative: Human trafficking, myths of sexual slavery and ethnographic realities. Dialectical Anthropology, 37(2), 229–256. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Surratt, H. L., Inciardi, J. A., Kurtz, S. P., & Kiley, M. C.
(2004) Sex work and drug use in a subculture of violence. Crime & Delinquency, 50(1), 43–59. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Tamboukou, M.
(2008) Reimagining the narratable subject. Qualitative Research, 8(3), 283–292. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Tiefenbrun, S. W.
(2001) Sex sells but drugs don’t talk: Trafficking of women sex workers and an economic solution. T. Jefferson L. Rev., 24, 161.Google Scholar
Tunçalp, D., & L. Lê, P.
(2014) (Re) Locating boundaries: a systematic review of online ethnography. Journal of Organizational Ethnography, 3(1), 59–79. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Vance, C. S.
(1984) Pleasure and danger: Toward a politics of sexuality. Pleasure and danger: Exploring female sexuality, 1–27.Google Scholar
Wallman, S.
(2001) Global threats, local options, personal risk: Dimensions of migrant sex work in Europe. Health, risk & society, 3(1), 75–87. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Weitzer, R.
(2005) Flawed theory and method in studies of prostitution. Violence against women, 11(7), 934–949. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2009) Sociology of sex work. Annual Review of Sociology, 35, 213–234. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 3 other publications

Poppi, Fabio I.M. & Marta Dynel
2021. Ad libidinem: Forms of female sexualisation in RoastMe humour. Sexualities 24:3 ► pp. 431 ff. Crossref logo
Poppi, Fabio Indìo Massimo
2021. Pro Domo Sua: Narratives of Sexual Abstinence. Sexuality & Culture 25:2 ► pp. 540 ff. Crossref logo
Poppi, Fabio Indìo Massimo & Alfredo Ardila
2021. In nomine Diaboli: The ideologies of organized crime. European Journal of Criminology ► pp. 147737082110066 ff. Crossref logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 18 april 2021. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.