Sex Work: Crime or Employment?

• In Event: Sex Work and Demand for Commercial Sex

Abstract

Some criminologists argue that certain forms of crime can be usefully treated as a form of employment; others argue that crime is in no way comparable to paid labor. A parallel divide occurs in conversations about the sex industry; some scholars see some types of selling sex as akin to employment, whereas others see them exclusively as forms of exploitation. There is, however, little systematic research on the issue. We address this shortcoming with a comparative analysis of the similarities and differences between working in one of three, front-line service jobs: sex work, food and beverage serving, and hairstyling. Although each of these ways of earning a living has a number of unique features, they share an emphasis on emotional labor, working on bodies, low average wages, and the importance of tips. Our data were gathered in two cities, one in which selling sexual services is a criminal offense, the other where it is not. We examine a number of dimensions of work—scheduling, remuneration, control—to assess the extent to which sex work is similar to and differs from other service jobs. Our analysis suggests that criminology would benefit from examining some types of offending from a labor perspective.

Authors

• Bill McCarthy, University of California, Davis

• Angela Carter, University of California, Davis

• Cecilia Benoit, University of Victoria

• Mikael Jansson, Centre for Addictions Research of BC, University of Victoria