Sex work is "the exchange of sexual services , performances, or products for material compensation. 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. 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. Types of sex work include, but are not limited to, street prostitution, indoor prostitution escort services, brothel work, massage parlor-related prostitution, bar or casino prostitution , phone sex operation, exotic dancing, lap dancing , webcam modeling , pornographic film performing, and nude peepshow performing.
The list is sometimes expanded to include jobs in the sex industry that less directly involve the sexuality of the worker in the exchange of sexual performances, services, and products, such as the producers and directors of adult films, manufacturers and sellers of sex toys , managers in exotic dance clubs, escort agents, bouncers, etc. In , a Medline search and review of "prostitution" articles was conducted in order to create a global typology of types of sex work using arbitrary categories.
Prostitution varies by forms and social contexts including different types of direct and indirect prostitution. This study as conducted in order to work towards improving the health and safety of sex workers. Full criminalization of sex work is the most widely practiced legal strategy for regulating transactional sex.
Under this framework, the seller, buyer and any third party involved is subject to criminalization under the law. This includes anyone who profits from commercial sex in any location or physical setting. Criminalization has been linked to higher rates of STD infections, partner violence and police harassment. According to research conducted by Human Rights Watch , criminalization makes sex workers more vulnerable to instances of rape, murder and discrimination due to their marginalized position and ability to be prosecuted by the police even if they come forward as a victim.
