Sex Work and Financial Exclusion

• In Event: Gendered Violence

Abstract

Sex workers operating in highly financialised economically developed countries have been and continue to be routinely denied or retracted access to financial products and services (Bronstein 2021; NUM 2021; Hacking/Hustling 2020; Eros Association 2017). These services have become increasingly essential for carrying out most activities, whether professional or personal, and exclusion from them can put sex workers at risk of dangerous work conditions, poverty, houselessness and debt, mental health problems, and limit 'the ability of sex workers to improve their living and working conditions and achieve economic security' (NSWP 2020). Drawing on two scoping workshops with US-based sex workers working in different segments and regulatory frameworks of the sex industry, in this paper we present our participants' experiences, how they understand the reasons for the exclusions they face, the coping strategies they employ, and the avenues for change they seek. We consider our findings through the lens of zemiology - this allows us to focus on the harmful consequences of the exclusionary practices we have explored and how they interact synergistically, i.e. they produce new and even intensified harms for an already marginalised population.

Author

• Victoria McMahan, University of Nevada, Las Vegas