IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v6y2017i2p42-d96170.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sex Work and the Politics of Space: Case Studies of Sex Workers in Argentina and Ecuador

Author

Listed:
  • Jessica Van Meir

    (Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA)

Abstract

While many studies examine how different legal approaches to prostitution affect sex workers’ living and working conditions, few studies analyze how sex workers’ physical workspaces and the policies regulating these spaces influence sex work conditions. Based on interviews with 109 current or former sex workers, 13 civil society representatives, 12 government officials, and 5 other actors in Ecuador and Argentina, this study describes sex workers’ uses of urban space in the two countries and compares how they experience and respond to government regulation of locations of prostitution. Argentina and Ecuador took different approaches to regulating sex work space, which appear to reflect different political ideologies towards prostitution. Sex workers expressed different individual preferences for spaces, and government limitation of these spaces represented one of their major concerns. The results illuminate how sex workers’ workspaces influence their working conditions and suggest that governments should consider sex worker preferences in establishing policies that affect their workspaces. Abstracto: Mientras que muchos estudios examinan cómo las diferentes estrategias legales respecto a la prostitución afectan las condiciones de trabajo y de vida de las y los trabajadores sexuales, pocos estudios analizan cómo los espacios de trabajo físicos de las y los trabajadores sexuales y las políticas que regulan estos espacios influyen en las condiciones del trabajo sexual. Este estudio, basado en entrevistas con 109 trabajadores sexuales actuales o anteriores, 13 representantes de la sociedad civil, 12 funcionarios gubernamentales y otros 5 actores en Ecuador y Argentina, describe los usos del espacio urbano por parte de las y los trabajadores sexuales en los dos países y compara cómo experimentan y responden a la regulación gubernamental de lugares de prostitución. Argentina y Ecuador adoptaron diferentes estrategias para regular los espacios de trabajo sexual, las cuales parecen reflejar diferentes ideologías políticas hacia la prostitución. Las y los trabajadores sexuales expresaron diferentes preferencias individuales por los espacios, y la limitación gubernamental de estos espacios representó una de sus principales preocupaciones. Los resultados ilustran cómo los espacios de trabajo de las y los trabajadores sexuales influyen en sus condiciones de trabajo, y sugieren que los gobiernos deben considerar sus preferencias en el establecimiento de políticas que afectan sus espacios de trabajo.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:6:y:2017:i:2:p:42-:d:96170
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/6/2/42/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/6/2/42/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Phil Hubbard & Teela Sanders, 2003. "Making space for sex work: female street prostitution and the production of urban space," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 75-89, March.
    2. Nussbaum, Martha C, 1998. ""Whether from Reason or Prejudice": Taking Money for Bodily Services," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 27(2), pages 693-724, June.
    3. Jason Prior & Spike Boydell & Philip Hubbard, 2012. "Nocturnal Rights to the City: Property, Propriety and Sex Premises in Inner Sydney," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 49(8), pages 1837-1852, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. 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.

    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. Corrinne Sullivan, 2021. "‘Hot, Young, Buff’: An Indigenous Australian Gay Male View of Sex Work," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(2), pages 52-60.
    2. Jimena Silva Segovia & Pablo Zuleta Pastor & Estefany Castillo Ravanal & Tarut Segovia-Chinga, 2021. "Experiences of Being a Couple and Working in Shifts in the Mining Industry: Advances and Continuities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-18, February.
    3. David K. Seitz, 2015. "The Trouble With Flag Wars: Rethinking Sexuality in Critical Urban Theory," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(2), pages 251-264, March.
    4. Gregory DeAngelo & Jacob N. Shapiro & Jeffrey Borowitz & Michael Cafarella & Christopher Ré & Gary Shiffman, 2019. "Pricing risk in prostitution: Evidence from online sex ads," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 59(3), pages 281-305, December.
    5. Marina Della Giusta & Maria Laura Di Tommaso & Isilda Shima & Steinar Strøm, 2009. "What money buys: clients of street sex workers in the US," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(18), pages 2261-2277.
    6. William Paul Simmons, 2024. "Rethinking Dignity and Exploitation in Human Trafficking and Sex Workers’ Rights Cases," Societies, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-17, January.
    7. Neil Howard, 2014. "Teenage Labor Migration and Antitrafficking Policy in West Africa," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 653(1), pages 124-140, May.
    8. Steve A. Fotios & Chloe J. Robbins & Stephen Farrall, 2021. "The Effect of Lighting on Crime Counts," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-14, July.
    9. Andreas Lindenblatt & Peter Egger, 2017. "The long shadow of the Iron Curtain for female sex workers in German cities: Border effects and regional differences," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 54(3), pages 649-677, February.
    10. Amrita Pande, 2009. "Not an ‘Angel’, not a ‘Whore’," Indian Journal of Gender Studies, Centre for Women's Development Studies, vol. 16(2), pages 141-173, June.
    11. Klimentová Ivana & Valkovičová Veronika, 2017. "‘You can say – we do not want the junkies and the sex workers. But they are here!‘: On the spatial exclusion of anti-social behaviour in Bratislava - Nové Mesto," Central European Journal of Public Policy, Sciendo, vol. 11(2), pages 61-72, December.
    12. Christina Leuker & Lasare Samartzidis & Ralph Hertwig & Timothy J Pleskac, 2020. "When money talks: Judging risk and coercion in high-paying clinical trials," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, January.
    13. Cecilia Benoit, 2021. "Editorial: Understanding Exploitation in Consensual Sex Work to Inform Occupational Health & Safety Regulation: Current Issues and Policy Implications," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-9, June.
    14. Francine Tremblay, 2021. "Labouring in the Sex Industry: A Conversation with Sex Workers on Consent and Exploitation," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-20, March.
    15. Teela Sanders, 2004. "The Risks of Street Prostitution: Punters, Police and Protesters," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 41(9), pages 1703-1717, August.
    16. repec:rdg:wpaper:em-dp2004-13 is not listed on IDEAS

    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:6:y:2017:i:2:p:42-:d:96170. 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.