An exploration of responses to harm associated with indoor sex work

The association of violence with sex work has been widely documented

within research and policy. This Book provides a critique and development

of such perspectives. Framed from a qualitative approach, it extends current

research which has offered limited insight into the realities of how violence is

experienced and responded to by sex workers and agencies involved in the

provision of support to sex workers. In this way, the research develops

beyond a presumption and narrow understanding of violence/harm in sex

work to consider how sex workers and service providers experience, define,

and thus construct their responses to harm. Findings from the data indicate

variation amongst participants in their responses to harm associated with

sex work, with experiences of violence or supporting violence and

relationships and interactions between sex workers and service providers

being important factors in how these responses are constructed. Both sex

workers and service providers, however, recognised and understood

associations of sex work with violence and victimisation, and related

attempts to encourage individuals to cease or limit involvement in sex work,

although this may not apply or be appropriate to all experiences of sex work

and sex workers. The Book contends that in order to gain an informed

understanding of, and develop responses to, harm associated with sex

work, it is important to consider the diversity of existing experiences of sex

work. This should include alternative understandings and experiences of

harm that are not limited to, or focused on, violence within sex work, as

informed by the experiences of different sex workers. In doing so, there is

the potential to better understand and accommodate a range of sex workers'

experiences, needs and interests in ways that do not impact on sex workers'

safety, or contribute to continued stigmatisation or exclusion, where some

sex workers do not identify with a view of their work as harmful, or wish to

exit sex work. Consequently this could aid the provision and development of

services that respect and offer support where required, for different

experiences of sex work amongst sex workers.