When Sex Is Work: Exploring Diversity In The Relations Street-Based Sex Workers Have With Their Clients

Introduction & objectives (methods) In an earlier study examining the sexuality of street-based sex workers, my colleagues and I found that women were less likely than men to enjoy sexual activities with their clients and much less likely to experience orgasm. No such differences were found in sexual pleasure in the personal lives of these women and men (Weinberg, Shaver & Williams 1999). But, sexuality is more complex than the physical enjoyment of hand-jobs or giving and receiving oral sex — it also includes emotional and relational elements. Thus, along with the gender difference regarding sexual enjoyment with clients, there is likely to be much diversity within gender categories in the way sex workers relate sexually and otherwise with their clients. Drawing on a study of 107 sex workers (women & men) conducted in Montreal and Toronto in 1993 & 1994, this paper will explore the extent and nature of this diversity. Main body/Results The analysis is based on a closer look at the responses of women and men working in the sex industry to a series of open-ended questions about their work activities and how they perceive and manage the sexual nature of their work. Relying on the 3-fold definition of sexuality adopted in the New View manifesto (available at http://www.fsd-alert.org/manifesto.html), the detailed responses to these questions are thoroughly examined in order to provide some clues about the physical, emotional, relational aspects of the sex worker-client interactions. Conclusions The results from this study suggest that sexual relations between workers and clients is complex and better studied when adopting the 3-fold definition. Gender diversity was not as prominent as expected. There seemed to be many equivalencies between women and men sex workers suggesting that men too care about the emotional and relational elements of sexuality—at least with respect to sex work.

Conflict of Interest: None disclosed
Financial Support/Funding: Social Sciences And Humanities Research Council Of Canada; Concordia University, General Research Fund
Sydney Australia, April 2007