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Purpose – Exploration of the methodological aspects of male sex work is rather limited. Without a strong methodological toolkit to draw from, research in male sex work will not be able to accurately capture changes in the dynamic sex work environment. Thus, the author provides a comprehensive review of methods in male sex work along with a broad spectrum of methodological insights through which future research can be advanced.

Methodology/approach – Drawing from two studies that the author conducted in the male independent escorting space, this chapter provides a range of methodological insights and offers avenues for future research.

Findings – This chapter reviews the methods used in male sex work research over the years and details the lack of research on methodological inquiry in the field.

Originality/value – With the increasing normalization and dynamism of male sex work, it is necessary for the research to provide methodological guidance for the next wave of studies in the field. The recommendations and research directions proposed herein are hoped to have implications for research in the larger sex work context.

This chapter explores sex work and compares legal regimes in two case study contexts of Scotland and New Zealand. It highlights parallels in policy norms and approaches towards women in sex work and women who use drugs, including stigmatisation and punishment of ‘deviant’ women or alternatively, approaches that seek to ‘rescue’ women and which frames them as victims. Different policy approaches and regulatory regimes are discussed but the chapter argues that without attention to social justice issues, the structural drivers of women’s engagement in sex work will continue to be overlooked. Participation in policy processes by those with lived experience is emphasised, both to ensure better understanding of sex work by policymakers, and also in recognition of the citizenship, voice and agency of sex workers.

Drawing on ethnographic field research on female sex workers and male clients in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s global sex industry, this paper complicates our understanding of human trafficking in two ways. First, introducing the term perverse humanitarianism, the paper extends work on carceral feminism by offering concrete examples of interagency commitments between NGOs and the police. Second, my ethnography reveals that women framed their relationships with male clients as mutually beneficial because the men provided them with alternate pathways to economic mobility outside of sex work. Drawing on the same tropes of victimhood employed by the NGOs, sex workers elicited sympathy from male clients that they leveraged into gifts of money. Using men’s charitable gifts, many women became small entrepreneurs who opened local businesses and empowered other sex workers far beyond what NGOs were able to provide.

Radical feminists position any forms of sex work as gender violence against individuals and more broadly for all women in society. I argue against the ideological stance that sex work is inherently violent and as a result should be outlawed, setting out how this ideology and dogma has allowed structural factors to persist. In this paper, I argue that despite the unacceptable high levels of violence against sex workers across the globe, violence in sex work is not inevitable. Through a review of the literature as well as drawing on research from the United Kingdom, I deconstruct the myth of inevitable violence. In turn I argue that violence is dependent on three dynamics. First, environment: spaces in which sex work happens has an intrinsic bearing on the safety of those who work there. Second, the relationship to the state: how prostitution is governed in any one jurisdiction and the treatment of violence against sex workers by the police and judicial system dictates the very organization of the sex industry and the regulation, health and safety of the sex work communities. Third, I argue that social status and stigma have significant effects on societal attitudes toward sex workers and how they are treated. It is because of these interlocking structural, cultural, legal, and social dynamics that violence exists and therefore it is these exact dynamics that hold the solutions to preventing violence against sex workers. Toward the end of the paper, I examine the UK’s “Merseyside model” whereby police treat violence against sex workers as a hate crime. It is in these examples of innovative practice despite a national and international criminalization agenda against sex workers, that human rights against a sexual minority group can be upheld.

This paper aims to explore the prevalence, motivations and support for student sex work within North East higher education institutions. With limited existing research in this area, this study fills a crucial gap in understanding student sex work in the UK and its specific manifestation in the North East region.

To achieve its objectives, this study adopted an exploratory, cross-sectional design conducted entirely online due to the Covid-19 pandemic. A mixed-methodology approach was used, inspired by previous research, gathering quantitative data through a semi-structured questionnaire and qualitative data through open-ended survey questions.

The study revealed that 11.4% of students engaged in sex work, primarily in indirect and online-based forms. lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ)+ students were more likely to participate in sex work compared to heterosexual students. Financial difficulties and lifestyle preferences were identified as significant motivations for student sex work.

A limitation of the study was the lack of diversity in the sample, with predominantly young, white, heterosexual and cis-gender females, potentially neglecting other demographics' struggles. Future research should include larger and more diverse samples to ensure representative findings.

The research highlights the need for greater awareness and support for student sex workers within North East universities. Policies and services should consider the unique challenges faced by LGBTQ+ student sex workers to reduce stigma and potential dangers.

Understanding the prevalence of student sex work sheds light on the need to challenge societal assumptions and stigmas surrounding sex work, particularly concerning gender and sexuality.

This study breaks new ground by providing novel insights into an understudied research area – the prevalence of student sex work in North East England. The findings lay the foundation for future research and can inform policies and support systems to improve the safety and well-being of student sex workers. Furthermore, the study contributes to broader discussions on gender, sexuality and sex work in academic settings.

Dirty workers occupy jobs and perform tasks that are unpleasant and considered distasteful or “tainted” to other members of society. However, while they experience challenges in managing stigma, they are generally successful in creating positive self-identities. Among these dirty jobs is prostitution. As dirty workers, women sex workers in American history have been treated with humor, ridicule and derision. This study aims to explain the social contexts and the limited economic choices these women faced and examine how they may have managed their dirty work’s stigma to create positive self-identities.

This paper uses primary and secondary sources to examine a 53-year period of American history and to frame these women’s stigma management within a “dirty work” perspective.

The author suggests that sex workers in riskier roles (e.g. street walkers, crib workers or “upstairs girls” in saloons) would have been less able to effectively manage stigma and create positive self-identities as compared to brothels workers, due to the brothel’s strong social support, healthier work culture and richer resources.

While sex work has changed significantly in the past century, the principles of identity management in this difficult and dirty work remain. Understanding the economic, social and individual challenges faced by these dirty workers will aid our understanding of the difficulties confronted by today’s sex workers.

Sex work is nearly absent from scholarly management literature. The lack of historical perspective and knowledge in this field limits a full understanding of how various types of dirty workers manage stigma.

In the UK the indoor sexual marketplace of brothels, saunas and massage parlours has historically been left to manage itself, with limited regulation from policing agencies. This paper examines the current nature of the indoor sex markets in light of the Home Office's co‐ordinated prostitution strategy. It looks critically at the impact of ‘disrupting sex markets’, and examines the arguments for rejecting a system that regulates the indoor sex venues. It also discusses the proposal to change the law to enable ‘two (or three)’ women to work together indoors and plans to minimise exploitation through an action plan on trafficking and the implications for practitioners and policy are assessed.

To discuss the gender dimension of migration and human rights, and to provide an assessment of how to improve human rights protections for migrant women workers in janitorial services and night clubs across registered and unregistered migrant women workers in North Cyprus.

A survey is done to establish the employment conditions of migrant women workers in both sectors. The conditions are evaluated to assess the compliance with North Cyprus labor and immigration legislation and international human rights protocols.

Registered and unregistered segment of the janitorial services and unregistered segment of sex industry are dominated by Turkish migrant women. The registered part of sex industry is dominated by Eastern European migrant women mostly due to the legislative framework within which these two activities operate, primarily with respect to immigration requirements and also as it pertains to the remunerative potential of activity. No evidences of human rights abuses of Turkish immigrants in either segment of the cleaning services sector are founded but lack of knowledge of their conditions in unregistered sex work. Eastern European migrants working in the registered segment of the sex industry suffer human rights and basic migrant rights abuses at the hands of the state and the employer.

Lack of knowledge of Turkish migrant women workers' conditions in unregistered segment of sex work limits the findings of the research. A survey across unregistered Turkish sex workers is suggested for future research.

Legalization of commercial sex among registered konsomatrices would provide an opportunity for labor rights legislation to be fully applied to their primary income‐earning activities. Most of the human and immigrant rights violations are the result of legislation applied to nightclubs and work visas for konsomatrices. Improvements in the legislation and work visas for konsomatrices would guarantee the women to have access to assistance in case of human rights violations.

The paper provides practical suggestion for the improvement of human rights protections for migrant women workers in North Cyprus.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between sexual health principles and the procurement of sexual services. Most that has been written about sex work has been done so from the perspective of deviancy; in contrast, recent work examining the practice of sex work has explored and evidenced how emotional and intimacy needs are met through procurement. Recognising the conventional aspects of procuring sexual services, this paper seeks to examine and understand this social practice through applying Braun-Harvey and Vigorito’s (2015) six principles of sexual health.

Based on a mixed method approach, this paper presents findings from a survey consisting of a sample of 309 men who procure sexual services and 20 interviews from a sub-sample of the men who were surveyed and female sex workers who provide such services.

The findings illustrate the reasons for men’s procurement of sexual services, which corroborate with the accounts of women who sell the services and reflect how the procurement of sexual services align with principles of sexual health, which, in turn, challenge the stigma of buying sex.

The practical implications of this study are: provision of examining and understanding sex work through the principles of sexual health; provision of a framework to examine and understand sex work in a less stigmatising way; support for the growth of sexual health and criminal justice research; and provision of a platform for further research examining sexual health, sex work and decriminalisation.

This study is unique as it brings together principles of sexual health as a tool for examining the procurement of sexual services, a practice that is demonised in many parts of the globe. A consequence of this study is its presentation of a novel understanding for the social practice of procurement that aides in both challenging the stigmatisation and criminalisation of sex work.

The purpose is to assess the impact of online platforms on the sex industry, focusing specifically on direct sex work, and evaluate what approaches to platform regulation is likely to align with the interests of sex workers.

The paper presents a review of interdisciplinary conceptual and empirical literature on sex work combined with analysis of key issues using a transaction cost framework.

Online platforms generally make sex work safer. Regulation aimed at preventing platforms from serving sex workers is likely to harm their welfare.

Regulation of online platforms should take great care to differentiate coercive sex from consensual sex work, and allow sex workers to experiment with governance mechanisms provided by entrepreneurs.

The paper demonstrates how a transactions costs approach to market behaviour as applied to personal services like ridesharing can also shed light on the challenges that sex workers face, partly as a result of criminalisation, and the dangers of over-regulation.