Young Women in the Sex Economy: Counter Narratives to Entry Pathways

• In Event: 035 - Section on Sex and Gender Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Section on Sex and Gender Roundtables (one-hour).Table 01. Economies of Sex and Gender

Abstract

Mainstream research and popular discourse surrounding young women involved in the street sex trade often argues that commercially sexually exploited children (CSEC) are underage vulnerable girls coerced into the trade by controlling violent adults (pimps and traffickers), and the CSEC have no agency and need to be rescued. Listening to what young women involved in the sex economy (YWISE) reveals a more complex picture. This paper draws on secondary data-- focus group interviews conducted in 2006 and field interviews conducted from 2011 to 2013 with youth involved in trading sex for money or other survival needs. Young women describe a range of pathways into their trading sex, challenging the pervasive dominant narrative of force and violence by older men. Positioning young women as experts of their own lives deepens our understanding of the contexts of their plight. A critical multi-racial feminist perspective and youth strengths-positive approach locates young women as resourceful actors fighting an onslaught of brutal injustice such as childhood homelessness, family violence, poverty, sexual assault, and more. This contextual positioning of youth is rare and not usually available to them—or the public—because the young women have been represented, and therefore have seen themselves, in the derogative as prostitutes, victims, or delinquents.

Author

• Laurie Schaffner, University of Illinois-Chicago