IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v10y2020i1p3-d467906.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Brothels as Sites of Third-Party Exploitation? Decriminalisation and Sex Workers’ Employment Rights

Author

Listed:
  • Gillian Abel

    (Department of Population Health, University of Otago, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand)

  • Melissa Ludeke

    (Department of Population Health, University of Otago, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand)

Abstract

Decriminalisation is arguably essential to protecting the human rights of sex workers. Nonetheless, there are suggestions that decriminalisation has less influence on sex workers’ experiences of working than many assume. This paper explores management practices in brothels in the context of decriminalisation in New Zealand, focusing on sex workers’ employment status, managerial control and agency. We interviewed 14 brothel operators and 17 brothel-based sex workers in this study. The findings suggest that there remain challenges for sex workers in that brothel operators treated them as employees rather than independent contractors. Brothel operators retained control over shift times and pricing of services, and working conditions were unclear. Most sex workers understood their rights, but when operators impinged on their rights, it was often more expedient to move place of work than make an official complaint. However, decriminalisation did have a meaningful impact on the way sex workers negotiated potentially exploitative dimensions of brothel-based work. Decriminalisation has provided the context where it is possible for sex workers to experience safer and more supportive work environments than they otherwise might, where they can (and sometimes do) contest managerial control.

Suggested Citation

  • Gillian Abel & Melissa Ludeke, 2020. "Brothels as Sites of Third-Party Exploitation? Decriminalisation and Sex Workers’ Employment Rights," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-15, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:10:y:2020:i:1:p:3-:d:467906
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/10/1/3/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/10/1/3/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alice Orchiston, 2016. "Precarious or Protected? Evaluating Work Quality in the Legal Sex Industry," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 21(4), pages 173-187, November.
    2. Jessica Van Meir, 2017. "Sex Work and the Politics of Space: Case Studies of Sex Workers in Argentina and Ecuador," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-40, April.
    3. Katie Cruz & Kate Hardy & Teela Sanders, 2017. "False Self-Employment, Autonomy and Regulating for Decent Work: Improving Working Conditions in the UK Stripping Industry," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 55(2), pages 274-294, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Colin C. Williams, 2023. "A Modern Guide to the Informal Economy," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 18668.
    2. Lilith Brouwers & Tess Herrmann, 2020. "“We Have Advised Sex Workers to Simply Choose Other Options”—The Response of Adult Service Websites to COVID-19," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-15, October.
    3. Laura Jarvis-King, 2024. "Trajectories of Vulnerability and Resistance Among Independent Indoor Sex Workers During Economic Decline," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 29(1), pages 137-153, March.
    4. Cecilia Benoit & Michaela Smith & Mikael Jansson & Priscilla Healey & Douglas Magnuson, 2021. "The Relative Quality of Sex Work," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 35(2), pages 239-255, April.
    5. Debra Howcroft & Birgitta Bergvall-KÃ¥reborn, 2019. "A Typology of Crowdwork Platforms," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 33(1), pages 21-38, February.
    6. Matthew Cole & Mark Stuart & Kate Hardy & David Spencer, 2024. "Wage Theft and the Struggle over the Working Day in Hospitality Work: A Typology of Unpaid Labour Time," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 38(1), pages 103-121, February.
    7. Virginia Gunn & Bertina Kreshpaj & Nuria Matilla-Santander & Emilia F. Vignola & David H. Wegman & Christer Hogstedt & Emily Q. Ahonen & Theo Bodin & Cecilia Orellana & Sherry Baron & Carles Muntaner , 2022. "Initiatives Addressing Precarious Employment and Its Effects on Workers’ Health and Well-Being: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-35, February.
    8. Yizhi Han & Jingyi Wang, 2022. "Autonomy or Working Conditions?—Research on Heterogeneity and Influencing Mechanism of Self-Employment on Job Satisfaction in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-22, December.
    9. Nadine Gloss, 2024. "Examining Professionalisation as a Strategy for Sex Worker Empowerment and Mobilisation," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 29(1), pages 154-170, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:10:y:2020:i:1:p:3-:d:467906. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.