Portal:Sex work

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Introduction

The Red Light district in Amsterdam

Sex work is "the exchange of sexual services, performances, or products for material compensation. It includes activities of direct physical contact between buyers and sellers as well as indirect sexual stimulation". Sex work only refers to voluntary sexual transactions; thus the term does not refer to human trafficking and other coerced or nonconsensual sexual transactions such as child prostitution. The transaction must take place between consenting adults who are of the legal age and mental capacity to consent and must take place without any methods of coercion, other than payment. The term emphasizes the labor and economic implications of this type of work. Furthermore, some prefer the use of the term because it seemingly grants more agency to the sellers of these services. Due to the legal status of some forms of sex work and the stigma associated with sex work, the population is difficult to access; thus there has been relatively little academic research done on the topic. Furthermore, the vast majority of academic literature on sex work focuses on prostitution, and to a lesser extent, exotic dancing; there is little research on other forms of sex work. These findings cannot necessarily be generalized to other forms of sex work. Nonetheless, there is a long documented history of sex work and its personal and economic nature. (Full article...)

Selected article - show another

Legality of brothel prostitution in Nevada by county

Prostitution permitted, at least one active brothel

Prostitution permitted, no active brothels

Prostitution prohibited

Nevada is the only U.S. state where prostitution is legally permitted in some form. Prostitution is legal in 10 of Nevada's 16 counties, although only six allow it in every municipality. Seven counties have at least one active brothel, which mainly operate in isolated, rural areas. The state's most populated counties, Clark (which contains Las Vegas) and Washoe (which contains Reno), are among those that do not permit prostitution. It is also illegal in Nevada's capital, Carson City, an independent city.

Despite there being a legal option, the vast majority of prostitution in Nevada takes place illegally in the metropolitan areas of Las Vegas and Reno. About 66 times more money is spent by customers on illegal prostitution in Nevada than in the regulated brothels. Some scholars have argued that Nevada’s brothels should not be seen as aberrant or deviant, "but rather are part and parcel of today's neoliberal consumer economy ... in which personal consumer choice is elevated to a moral right". (Full article...)

List of selected articles

Selected images

Image 1Femmes de Maison, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, c. 1893–95 (from Prostitution)
Image 2Fresco from the Pompeii brothel (from Prostitution)
Image 3A sex worker in Berlin in 2001 (from Sex work)
Image 4A political cartoon from 1787 jesting about the notion of taxation affecting prostitutes (from Prostitution)
Image 5The Procuress by Dirck van Baburen (1622) (from Prostitution)
Image 6A detail from plate 1 of William Hogarth's (1697–1764) The Harlot's Progress, showing brothel-keeper Elizabeth Needham, on the right, procuring a young woman who has just arrived in London (from Prostitution)
Image 7Prostitutes on display in Yoshiwara during the Meiji Period, Japan (from Prostitution)
Image 8Customer and a prostitute illustrated on an ancient Greek wine cup; an act of prostitution is indicated by the coin purse above the figures (from Prostitution)
Image 9An oiran preparing herself for a client, ukiyo-e print by Suzuki Haronubu (1765) (from Prostitution)
Image 10Sex workers demonstrating for better working conditions at the 2009 Marcha Gay in Mexico City (from Sex work)
Image 11Prostitute c. 1890 (from Prostitution)
Image 12Kisaeng women from outcast or slave families. (from Prostitution)
Image 13An Ancient Greek urn depicts a prostitute and her client. (from Sex work)
Image 14De Wallen red-light district in Amsterdam (from Prostitution)
Image 15Prostitution Information Centre in Amsterdam (from Prostitution)
Image 16Stickers affixed to a payphone in São Paulo, 2006 (from Prostitution)
Image 17Statue to honor the sex workers of the world. Installed March 2007 in Amsterdam, Oudekerksplein, in front of the Oude Kerk, in Amsterdam's red-light district De Wallen. Title is Belle, the inscription says "Respect sex workers all over the world." (from Prostitution)
Image 18A street prostitute talking to a potential customer in Turin, Italy, 2005 (from Prostitution)
Image 19Brothel scene; Brunswick Monogrammist, 1537; Gemäldegalerie, Berlin (from Prostitution)
Image 20
  Legalization - prostitution legal and regulated
  Decriminalization - No criminal penalties for prostitution
  Abolitionism - prostitution is legal, but organized activities such as brothels and pimping are illegal; prostitution is not regulated
  Neo-abolitionism - illegal to buy sex and for 3rd party involvement, legal to sell sex
  Prohibitionism - prostitution illegal
  Legality varies with local laws
(from Prostitution)
Image 21The White Slave by Abastenia St. Leger Eberle (from Prostitution)
Image 22Prostitute in Mexico, 2009 (from Prostitution)
Image 23A prostitute in Amsterdam's red-light district talks with a potential customer. (from Prostitution)
Image 24Tart cards in a British phone box advertising the services of call girls (from Prostitution)
Image 25Decriminalizing Sex Work (from Sex work)
Image 26The Red Light district in Amsterdam (from Sex work)
Image 27Women in an early San Francisco bordello in 1870 (from Prostitution)

Related portals

Selected general sex worker

Image 1

David Aaron Clark and friends

David Aaron Clark (September 5, 1960 – November 28, 2009) was an author, musician, pornographic actor, and pornographic video director. (Full article...)
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John Philip Kemble as Vincentio in the 1794 rendition of Measure for Measure

Measure for Measure is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to be written in 1603 or 1604 and first performed in 1604, according to available records. It was published in the First Folio of 1623.

The play's plot features its protagonist, Duke Vincentio of Vienna, stepping out from public life to observe the affairs of the city under the governance of his deputy, Angelo. Angelo's harsh and ascetic public image is compared to his abhorrent personal conduct once in office, in which he exploits his power to procure a sexual favour from Isabella, whom he considers enigmatically beautiful. The tension in the play is eventually resolved through Duke Vincentio's intervention, which is considered an early use of the deus ex machina in English literature. (Full article...)
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Chloe Cherry (born August 23, 1997), previously known as Chloe Couture, is an American actress, former pornographic actress, and model. She started her pornographic career in 2015 with Hussie Models, eventually appearing in over 200 films. She made her acting debut as Faye on the HBO teen drama television series Euphoria (2022–present). (Full article...)
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Brittany O'Connell is an American former pornographic actress. (Full article...)
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This page lists characters from the television series Firefly. (Full article...)
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Metairie Cemetery tomb originally of Josie Arlington

Josie Arlington (1864 – February 14, 1914) was a brothel madam in the Storyville district of New Orleans, Louisiana. (Full article...)
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Linda Lovelace (born Linda Susan Boreman; January 10, 1949 – April 22, 2002) was an American pornographic actress who became both famous and infamous for her performance in the 1972 hardcore film Deep Throat. Although the film was an enormous success, Boreman later said that her abusive husband, Chuck Traynor, had threatened and coerced her into participation. In her autobiography Ordeal, she described what went on behind the scenes. She later became a born-again Christian and a spokeswoman for the anti-pornography movement. (Full article...)
Image 8

Storm at the Miss Exotic World Pageant, 2006

Tempest Storm (born Annie Blanche Banks; February 29, 1928 – April 20, 2021), also dubbed "The Queen Of Exotic Dancers," was an American burlesque star and motion picture actress. Along with Lili St. Cyr, Sally Rand, and Blaze Starr, she was one of the best-known burlesque performers of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Her career as an exotic dancer spanned more than 60 years, and she was still performing in the early 21st century. (Full article...)
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Ran Masaki (Japanese: 真咲乱, Hepburn: Masaki Ran) (July 26, 1965 - ) is a former Japanese AV idol, pink film actress and gravure model who was active in the 1980s and rose to prominence as Nikkatsu's final "SM Queen" (SMの女王, SM no joō) from 1985 to 1986. Masaki starred in three Roman Porno films (two of them written by Oniroku Dan). She also appeared until 1987 in several adult videos mainly focusing on her full-figured body.

Some sources, such as the JMDB, erroneously list her as the same person with Ran Mizukami (水上乱, Mizukami Ran), a pink film actress of the same period, also known as the fetish model Sawako (佐和子). (Full article...)
Image 10

Kross in 2015

Kayden Kross (born 1985) is an American pornographic actress and director. (Full article...)
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Kōji Wakamatsu (若松孝二, Wakamatsu Kōji, 1 April 1936 – 17 October 2012) was a Japanese film director who directed such pinku eiga films as Ecstasy of the Angels (天使の恍惚, Tenshi no Kōkotsu, 1972) and Go, Go, Second Time Virgin (ゆけゆけ二度目の処女, Yuke Yuke Nidome no Shojo, 1969). He also produced Nagisa Ōshima's controversial film In the Realm of the Senses (1976). He has been called "the most important director to emerge in the pink film genre," and one of "Japan's leading directors of the 1960s."

His 2010 film, Caterpillar, was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival. (Full article...)
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Preston in 2013

Chanel Preston is an American pornographic actress. She entered the adult film industry in 2010. She was the Penthouse magazine Penthouse Pet for March 2012. (Full article...)
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Herrington in Tokyo in 2011

William Glen Harold Herrington (July 14, 1969 – March 2, 2018), known professionally as Billy Herrington, was an American model and pornographic film actor. In the late 2000s, his appearances in various gay pornography movies led him to become a popular Internet meme on video sharing websites such as Japan's Nico Nico Douga, where he was referred to by the sobriquet "Aniki" (兄貴, lit. "older brother"). Since then, at least 110,000 short mash-up parodies of his clips—known as "Gachimuchi Pants Wrestling" (ガチムチパンツレスリング Gachimuchi Pantsu Resuringu)—have been produced by fans. (Full article...)
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Jelena Jensen at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2017

Jelena Jensen (born October 7, 1981) is an American pornographic actress, nude model, webcam model, and radio personality. (Full article...)
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Aino Kishi (Japanese: 希志あいの,, Hepburn: きしあいの, Kishi Aino, born February 1, 1988), is a Japanese actress, singer and former AV idol. Starting her career in 2008, Kishi starred in over 400 adult films and was named among the most popular adult film actresses of her generation, with her popularity crossing into mainstream acting appearances as well. She was also a member of the first generation of the idol group Ebisu Muscats between 2008 and 2013. Kishi retired from the adult film scene in December 2015 and returned into civil life. (Full article...)
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Princess Donna at the 2011 AVN Awards

Princess Donna is an American pornographic actress and adult movie director. She was formerly the director of the websites Public Disgrace, Bound Gang Bangs, and Ultimate Surrender, all three produced by Kink.com. Virtually all of her performances and directorial projects have been within the genre of BDSM pornography. She has appeared as a subject in a number of documentaries, including Graphic Sexual Horror in 2009 and Public Sex, Private Lives in 2012. (Full article...)
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Fredrik Eklund (born April 26, 1977) is a Swedish New York City-based real estate broker, a Bravo TV reality star, a former IT entrepreneur in his native Sweden, and the author of The Sell. (Full article...)
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Sampson posing on the movie box of "my first sex teacher"

Holly Joy Sampson (born September 4, 1973), also known as Nicolette Foster, Andrea Michaels or Zoe is an American actress and model who has appeared in both mainstream and pornographic films over the course of her career. She is noted for her appearances on several television shows and her appearance in the 1990 comedy-drama feature film Pump Up The Volume. She is also known for playing the title role in the Emmanuelle 2000 series of films. (Full article...)
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Rand in 1937

Sally Rand (born Helen Gould Beck; April 3, 1904 – August 31, 1979) was an American burlesque dancer, vedette, and actress, most noted for her ostrich feather fan dance and balloon bubble dance. She also performed under the name Billie Beck. (Full article...)
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Portrait by John de Mirjian, before 1929

Faith Bacon (born Frances Yvonne Bacon; July 19, 1910 – September 26, 1956) was an American burlesque dancer and actress. During the height of her career, she was billed as "America's Most Beautiful Dancer". (Full article...)
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Edelweiss (Bulgarian: Еделвайс) (born 1 September 1977 in Tyumen, Russia) is a Russian-Bulgarian actress, TV host, erotic model and former pornographic actress. She lives in Italy and is married to the Bulgarian photographer Aleksandar "Alex" Lomski. (Full article...)
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Scott Schwartz

Scott Schwartz (born May 12, 1968) is an American child actor best known for his roles in The Toy, A Christmas Story and Kidco. (Full article...)
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Toppsy Curvey is a former big-bust feature dancer and pornographic video actress in the United States. She was a feature dancer in the late 1980s and by 1994 she began a brief soft-core pornographic video career. She is also the younger sister of fellow big-bust feature dancer and one-time porn actress Lulu Devine. (Full article...)
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Taylor St. Claire (born June 1, 1969) is an American pornographic film producer, director and retired actress. She was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame in 2014. (Full article...)

Did you know...

... that a report by Chinese journalist Chen Jieren on university students turning to prostitution to pay for their tuition fees sparked a major debate about prostitution in China?
... that Nino Tkeshelashvili and other early Georgian feminists campaigned to uphold women's "moral standards", labeling prostitution a "social evil"?
... that the Wrens of the Curragh group of sex workers (members depicted) lived in "nests" hollowed from the ground near Curragh Camp in the 19th century?
... that Akira the Hustler was a member of the Biters, a performance art group whose members were both artists and sex workers?
... that in Playing the Whore, Melissa Gira Grant contends that categorizing all sex work as exploitation or empowerment creates a false dichotomy?
... that after her speech on the subject of marriage to the Womanhood Suffrage League of New South Wales in 1891, Eliza Ashton was accused of promoting "free love" and prostitution?