Analysis of the Trajectories of Independent Sex Workers

• In Event: Poster Session

Abstract

This study aims to better understand the life course of women who have, at one time or another, engaged in indoor prostitution, independently (no third parties involved – in part or in whole). In order to arrive at an understanding of these journeys as experienced by these women, the events and significant experiences of the participants' lives up to the moment when they began to practice commercial sexual activities were first restore. This made it possible to identify certain predominant factors for the entry of these women into the sex industry. Then, particular attention was paid to their trajectory in the sex industry, where the motivations, the variations in their practices, the risks and/or experiences of victimization associated with them, as well as the strategies put in place to reduce these risks were discussed. Subsequently, the object of study focuses as much on the trajectories leading to the prostitution environment as on the variations and the components structuring them. To achieve these objectives, a qualitative approach is mobilized where semi-structured interviews were combined with the method of life history calendars, which were administered to independent sex workers.

Author

• Cloe Gobeil, Université de Montréal