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440 Sex Workers Cannot Be Wrong: Engaging and Negotiating Online Platform Power

Author

Listed:
  • Samantha Majic

    (Department of Political Science, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, New York, NY 10019, USA)

  • Melissa Ditmore

    (Independent Researcher, New York, NY 10009, USA)

  • Jun Li

    (Criminal Justice Doctoral Program, John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY 10019, USA)

Abstract

Online platforms shape and facilitate our social, economic, and political activities. Sex workers have long pioneered their use for advertising, providing services, screening clients, collecting payments, and peer-interaction, among other activities. To learn more about the platforms sex workers use and how they engage and resist platforms’ power, we consider the following questions: How and to what extent do sex workers engage with online platforms? How do these platforms’ policies and practices shape the conditions of their work? And, how do sex workers negotiate these platforms’ power? Drawing on data from a national survey of 440 sex workers, developed in partnership with sex workers across the United States, we found that sex workers use a range of online platforms for their work. However, platform policies and practices often remove and/or limit sex workers’ access, thereby restricting their ability to earn income and also compromising their safety, and these effects stratify along the lines of race, gender, and ability. Sex workers respond to and resist platforms’ policies through various pre-emptive and pro-active actions. Our study expands the existing research on sex work and online platforms, particularly to illuminate the consequences of corporate-led platform policy development and implementation for marginalized workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Samantha Majic & Melissa Ditmore & Jun Li, 2024. "440 Sex Workers Cannot Be Wrong: Engaging and Negotiating Online Platform Power," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-26, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:13:y:2024:i:7:p:337-:d:1422064
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Teela Sanders & Laura Connelly & Laura Jarvis King, 2016. "On Our Own Terms: The Working Conditions of Internet-Based Sex Workers in the UK," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 21(4), pages 133-146, November.
    2. Niels van Doorn & Olav Velthuis, 2018. "A good hustle: the moral economy of market competition in adult webcam modeling," Journal of Cultural Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(3), pages 177-192, May.
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