Portal:Sex work

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Introduction

Sex work is "the exchange of sexual services, performances, or products for material compensation. It includes activities of direct physical contact between buyers and sellers as well as indirect sexual stimulation". Sex work only refers to voluntary sexual transactions; thus, the term does not refer to human trafficking and other coerced or nonconsensual sexual transactions such as child prostitution. The transaction must take place between consenting adults of the legal age and mental capacity to consent and must take place without any methods of coercion, other than payment. The term emphasizes the labor and economic implications of this type of work. Furthermore, some prefer the use of the term because it grants more agency to the sellers of these services. (Full article...)

Selected article - show another

Prostitution in Germany is legal, as are other aspects of the sex industry, including brothels, advertisement, and job offers through HR companies. Full-service sex work is widespread and regulated by the German government, which levies taxes on it. In 2016, the government adopted a new law, the Prostitutes Protection Act, in an effort to improve the legal situation of sex workers, while also now enacting a legal requirement for registration of prostitution activity and banning prostitution which involves no use of condoms. The social stigmatization of sex work persists and many workers continue to lead a double life. Human rights organizations consider the resulting common exploitation of women from Eastern and Southeastern Europe to be the main problem associated with the profession. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

Selected images

Image 1Women in an early San Francisco bordello in 1870 (from Prostitution)
Image 2Brothel scene; Brunswick Monogrammist, 1537; Gemäldegalerie, Berlin (from Prostitution)
Image 3Statue to honor the sex workers of the world. Installed March 2007 in Amsterdam, Oudekerksplein, in front of the Oude Kerk, in Amsterdam's red-light district De Wallen. Titled Belle, the inscription to the piece says "Respect sex workers all over the world." (from Prostitution)
Image 4Fresco from the Pompeii brothel (from Prostitution)
Image 5A prostitute and her customer illustrated on an ancient Greek wine cup; the act of prostitution is indicated by the coin purse above the figures. (from Prostitution)
Image 6The Procuress by Dirck van Baburen (1622) (from Prostitution)
Image 7Stickers affixed to a payphone in São Paulo, 2006 (from Prostitution)
Image 8A sex worker in Berlin in 2001 (from Sex work)
Image 9
  Legalization – prostitution legal and regulated
  Decriminalization – No criminal penalties for prostitution
  Abolitionism – prostitution is legal, but organized activities such as brothels and pimping are illegal; prostitution is not regulated
  Neo-abolitionism – illegal to buy sex and for 3rd party involvement, legal to sell sex
  Prohibitionism – prostitution illegal
  Legality varies with local laws
(from Prostitution)
Image 10A political cartoon from 1787 jesting about the notion of taxation affecting prostitutes (from Prostitution)
Image 11An oiran preparing herself for a client, ukiyo-e print by Suzuki Haronubu (1765) (from Prostitution)
Image 12World map of prostitution laws
  Decriminalization – No criminal penalties for prostitution
  Legalization (regulation) – Prostitution legal and regulated
  Abolitionism – Prostitution is legal, but organized activities such as brothels and pimping are illegal; prostitution is not regulated
  Neo-abolitionism (Nordic model) – Illegal to buy sex and for 3rd party involvement, legal to sell sex
  Prohibitionism – Prostitution illegal in all aspects (selling and buying)
  Legality varies with local laws
(from Sex work)
Image 13Prostitution Information Centre in Amsterdam (from Prostitution)
Image 14Tart cards in a British phone box advertising call girls, 2005 (from Prostitution)
Image 15News report about three brothels operating in Albuquerque, New Mexico that were raided by police in 1922 (from Prostitution)
Image 16Femmes de Maison, painting by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, c. 1893—1895 (from Prostitution)
Image 17Kisaeng women from outcast or slave families. (from Prostitution)
Image 18Boat based window prostitute in Utrecht (from Prostitution)
Image 19Prostitutes on display in Yoshiwara during the Meiji Period, Japan (from Prostitution)
Image 20A prostitute in Amsterdam's red-light district talks with a potential customer. (from Prostitution)
Image 21Prostitute c. 1890. (from Prostitution)
Image 22Sex workers demonstrating for better working conditions at the 2009 Marcha Gay in Mexico City (from Sex work)
Image 23The red light district in Amsterdam (from Sex work)
Image 24A detail from plate 1 of William Hogarth's (1697–1764) The Harlot's Progress, showing brothel-keeper Elizabeth Needham, on the right, procuring a young woman who has just arrived in London (from Prostitution)
Image 25A liberated Chinese girl who had been forced in to sexual slavery by the Japanese military sits on a stretcher and speaks to a Royal Air Force officer. (from Prostitution)
Image 26An Ancient Greek urn depicts a prostitute and her client. (from Sex work)

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Selected general sex worker

Image 1

Thaïs of Athens with Torch (1781)
by Joshua Reynolds

Thaïs (/ˈθaɪs/; Greek: Θαΐς; fl. 4th century BCE) was a Greek hetaira who accompanied Alexander the Great on his military campaigns. Likely from Athens, she is most famous for having instigated the burning of Persepolis, the capital city of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, after it was conquered by Alexander's army in 330 BCE. At the time, Thaïs was the lover of Ptolemy I Soter, who was one of Alexander's close companions and generals. It has been suggested that she may also have been Alexander's lover on the basis of a statement by the Greek rhetorician Athenaeus, who writes that Alexander liked to "keep Thaïs about him" without directly classifying the nature of their relationship as intimate; this may simply have meant that he enjoyed her company, as she is said to have been very witty and entertaining. Athenaeus also states that after Alexander's death in 323 BCE, Thaïs married Ptolemy and bore three of his children. (Full article...)
Image 2

Portrait by Simon Pietersz Verelst

Eleanor Gwyn (2 February 1650 – 14 November 1687; also spelled Gwynn, Gwynne) was an English stage actress and celebrity figure of the Restoration period. Praised by Samuel Pepys for her comic performances as one of the first actresses on the English stage, she became best known for being a long-time mistress of King Charles II of England (c. April 1668 – 6 February 1685).

Called "pretty, witty Nell" by Pepys, she has been regarded as a living embodiment of the spirit of Restoration England, and has come to be considered a folk heroine, with a story echoing the rags-to-royalty tale of Cinderella. Gwyn had two sons by King Charles: Charles Beauclerk (1670–1726) and James Beauclerk (1671–1680). Charles Beauclerk was created Earl of Burford and Duke of St. Albans; Murray de Vere Beauclerk, 14th Duke of St. Albans is her descendant, and the current holder of the duchy. (Full article...)
Image 3

Smith in 2005

Vickie Lynn Marshall (born Hogan, November 28, 1967 – February 8, 2007), known professionally as Anna Nicole Smith, was an American model, actress, and television personality. Smith started her career as a Playboy magazine centerfold in May 1992 and won the title of 1993 Playmate of the Year. She later modeled for fashion companies, including Guess, H&M, Lane Bryant, Conair, and Heatherette.

Smith dropped out of high school in 1984, married in 1985, and divorced in 1993. In 1994, her highly publicized second marriage to 89-year-old billionaire J. Howard Marshall resulted in speculation that she married him for his money, which she denied. Following Marshall's death in 1995, Smith began a lengthy legal battle over a share of his estate. Her cases reached the Supreme Court of the United States: Marshall v. Marshall on a question of federal jurisdiction and Stern v. Marshall on a question of bankruptcy court authority. Smith died in February 2007 in Hollywood, Florida, of a combined drug intoxication. (Full article...)
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Hwang Jini or Hwang Jin-yi (Korean: 황진이; 1506–1567), also known by her kisaeng name Myeongwol ("bright moon", 명월), was one of the most famous kisaeng of the Joseon period. She lived during the reign of King Jungjong. She was noted for her exceptional beauty, charming quick wit, extraordinary intellect, and her assertive and independent nature. She has become an almost myth-like figure in modern Korea, inspiring novels, operas, films, and television series.

A crater on Venus, Hwangcini, is named after her. (Full article...)
Image 5
Bernie Barker (July 31, 1940 – March 21, 2007) was recognized in July 2003 by Guinness World Records as the world's oldest male stripper. The former nuclear power plant worker and insurance salesman had taken up erotic dancing in 2000 at the age of 60 to keep in shape after surgery for the prostate cancer that would eventually cause his death. Over his stripping career, Barker titled in 42 stripper contests. He appeared on the first season of America's Got Talent in 2006.

Barker's quest to place in Guinness began in 1978 with an unsuccessful bid to claim a record in swimming.
He died after finally losing his battle with prostate cancer on March 21, 2007. (Full article...)
Image 6

Julia Bulette (c. 1832 – January 19/20, 1867) was an English-born American prostitute in Virginia City, Nevada, a boomtown serving the Comstock Lode silver mine. She was murdered in 1867, and a French drifter named John Millain was quickly convicted and hanged for the crime. Subsequent legends surrounding Julia's life and status as a sex worker and a madam have grown over time and become a part of Virginia City's folklore. (Full article...)
Image 7
Charlotte Rose is an English sex worker, dominatrix, sexual trainer and political candidate from Nottingham, who lives in London. In 2013 she won the award of "Sex Worker of the Year" at the Sexual Freedom Awards where she is now a resident judge. In 2014 she took up politics, campaigning for sexual freedom as an independent candidate in the Clacton and Rochester and Strood by-elections. (Full article...)
Image 8

Promotional photograph of Charmion, c. 1897

Laverie Vallee (née Cooper; July 18, 1875 – February 6, 1949), best known by her stage name Charmion, was an American vaudeville trapeze artist and strongwoman. One of her risqué trapeze acts was captured on film in 1901 by Thomas Edison. (Full article...)
Image 9

Molly Luft at the 10th Venus Berlin, October 2006

Molly Luft (19 March 1944 – 24 November 2010) was a German prostitute, noted for her obesity and lurid make-up. (Full article...)
Image 10

Depiction from a contemporary portrait mosaic in the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna

Theodora (/ˌθiːəˈdɔːrə/; Greek: Θεοδώρα; c. 490/500 – 28 June 548) was a Byzantine empress and wife of emperor Justinian I. She was from humble origins and became empress when her husband became emperor in 527. She was one of his chief advisers. Theodora is recognized as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Oriental Orthodox Church, and commemorated on 14 November. (Full article...)
Image 11

Lee in 1956

Gypsy Rose Lee (born Rose Louise Hovick, January 8, 1911 – April 26, 1970) was an American burlesque entertainer, stripper, actress, author, playwright and vedette, famous for her striptease act. Her 1957 memoir, Gypsy: A Memoir, was adapted into the 1959 stage musical Gypsy. (Full article...)
Image 12

Tatum in 2017

Channing Matthew Tatum (born April 26, 1980) is an American actor and producer. He made his film debut in the drama Coach Carter (2005), and had his breakthrough with the sports comedy film She's the Man (2006) and the dance film Step Up (2006). He rose to prominence for playing Duke in the action films G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) and G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013), the title role in the comedy-drama films Magic Mike (2012), Magic Mike XXL (2015) and Magic Mike's Last Dance (2023), and an undercover cop in the action-comedy films 21 Jump Street (2012) and 22 Jump Street (2014).

Tatum's other films include The Vow (2012), White House Down (2013), Foxcatcher (2014), The Hateful Eight (2015), Hail, Caesar! (2016), Logan Lucky (2017), and The Lost City (2022). He has produced several of his films, including the road film Dog (2022), which he also starred in and co-directed. He was named People's "Sexiest Man Alive" in 2012 and one of Time's 100 most influential people in the world in 2022. (Full article...)
Image 13
Phyllis Dixey (10 February 1914 – 2 June 1964) was an English singer, actress, dancer and impresario. Her earlier career was as a singer in variety shows in Britain. During World War II, she joined ENSA and entertained the British forces. She sang, recited and posed in naked tableaux which were very popular. (Full article...)
Image 14

Film Quarterly (FQ), published by University of California Press, is a journal devoted to the study of film, television, and visual media. When FQ was launched in 1945 (then called Hollywood Quarterly), it was considered "the first serious film journal in the United States, with those most interested in the subject at the helm."

In addition to providing scholarly analysis of international, Hollywood, and independent cinema, FQ (according to its website) "also revisits film classics; examines television, digital, and online media; covers film festivals; reviews recent books; and on occasion addresses installations, video games, and emergent technologies." Over the decades, the journal's contributors have included many distinguished film artists, critics, historians and theorists. (Full article...)
Image 15
Carol Ann Doda (August 29, 1937 – November 9, 2015) was an American topless dancer based in San Francisco, California, who was active from the 1960s through the 1980s. She was the first public topless dancer in the United States.

In 1964, Doda made international news, first by dancing topless at the city's Condor Club, then by reportedly enlarging her breasts from size 34B to 44DD through silicone injections. Notably, this reported transition would have been impossible. Possibly, Doda enlarged her breasts to measure 44 inches around the bust, and the 44DD assertion resulted from journalists misunderstanding how bra sizing works. A year later, she was arrested along with the owners of the Condor Club, but all three of them were cleared of charges. Her breasts became known as Doda's "twin 44s" and "the new Twin Peaks of San Francisco". (Full article...)
Image 16

Urach in 2016

Andressa de Faveri Urach (born 11 October 1987) is a Brazilian reality television personality, best known for being a contestant on the sixth season of A Fazenda, the Brazilian version of The Farm. (Full article...)
Image 17
Elisabeth Eaves is an author and journalist born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia. (Full article...)
Image 18
Vednita Carter is an American anti-sex trafficking and anti-prostitution activist. Carter is an author and the executive director of Breaking Free, an organization which helps women seeking to leave prostitution. (Full article...)
Image 19

Mata Hari, c. 1910

Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod (née Zelle, Dutch: [mɑrɣaːˈreːtaː ɣeːrˈtrœydaː ˈzɛlə]; 7 August 1876 – 15 October 1917), better known by the stage name Mata Hari (/ˈmɑːtə ˈhɑːri/ MAH-tə HAR-ee, Dutch: [ˈmaːtaː ˈɦaːri]; Indonesian for 'sun', lit. 'eye of the day'), was a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy for Germany during World War I. She was executed by firing squad in France. The idea of a beautiful exotic dancer using her powers of seduction as a spy made her name synonymous with the femme fatale. Her story has inspired books, films, and other works.

It has been said that she was convicted and condemned because the French Army needed a scapegoat, and that the files used to secure her conviction contained falsifications. Some have even stated that Mata Hari could not have been a spy and was innocent. (Full article...)
Image 20

Blaze Starr in 1974

Blaze Starr (born Fannie Belle Fleming; April 10, 1932 – June 15, 2015) was an American stripper and burlesque star. Her vivacious presence and inventive use of stage props earned her the nickname "The Hottest Blaze in Burlesque". She was also known for her affair with Louisiana Governor Earl Kemp Long. Based on her memoir Blaze Starr! My Life as Told to Huey Perry (published in 1974), the 1989 film Blaze told the story of that affair starring Paul Newman as Long and Lolita Davidovich as Starr, with Starr herself acting in a cameo role and as a consultant. (Full article...)
Image 21

Chippendales dancers in Las Vegas with fans

Chippendales is a touring dance troupe best known for its male striptease performances and for its dancers' distinctive upper body costume of a bow tie, collar, and shirt cuffs worn on an otherwise bare torso with jeans and undergarment.

Established in 1979, Chippendales was the first all-male stripping troupe to make a business performing for mostly female audiences. The company produces Broadway-style burlesque shows worldwide and licenses its intellectual property for select consumer products ranging from apparel and accessories to slot machines. The Chippendales perform at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. (Full article...)
Image 22
Marble portrait herm identified by an inscription as Aspasia, possibly copied from her grave.

Aspasia (/æˈspeɪʒ(i)ə, -ziə, -ʃə/; Ancient Greek: Ἀσπασία Greek: [aspasíaː]; c. 470 – after 428 BC) was a metic woman in Classical Athens. Born in Miletus, she moved to Athens and began a relationship with the statesman Pericles, with whom she had a son named Pericles the Younger. According to the traditional historical narrative, she worked as a courtesan and was tried for asebeia (impiety), though modern scholars have questioned the factual basis for either of these claims, which both derive from ancient comedy. Though Aspasia is one of the best-attested women from the Greco-Roman world, and the most important woman in the history of fifth-century Athens, almost nothing is certain about her life.

Aspasia was portrayed in Old Comedy as a prostitute and madam, and in ancient philosophy as a teacher and rhetorician. She has continued to be a subject of both visual and literary artists until the present. From the twentieth century, she has been portrayed as both a sexualised and sexually liberated woman, and as a feminist role model fighting for women's rights in ancient Athens. (Full article...)
Image 23

Jameson at the XBIZ Awards 2014

Jenna Marie Massoli (born April 9, 1974), known professionally as Jenna Jameson (/ˈdʒeɪmɪsən/), is an American businesswoman, writer, television personality, and former pornographic film actress. She has been named the world's most famous adult entertainment performer and "The Queen of Porn".

Jameson started acting in erotic videos in 1993 after having worked as a stripper and glamour model. By 1996, she had won the "Top Newcomer" award from each of the three major adult movie organizations. She has since won more than 35 adult-video awards, and has been inducted into the X-Rated Critics Organization (XRCO) and Adult Video News (AVN) Halls of Fame. (Full article...)
Image 24
Isabella de Luna (died 1564) was an Italian (originally Spanish) courtesan of Renaissance-era Rome. She was known as amusing company, having a kind heart but also a foul tongue. She was an accomplished musician. Amongst her patrons were members of the nobility and cardinals. (Full article...)
Image 25
Valérie Tasso is a French writer, lecturer, research worker, and sex therapist, currently living in Barcelona, Spain. She has several university degrees (Economical Sciences, Foreign Applied languages), and in 2006, she graduated in Sex Therapy from The Institute of Sexology (IN.CI.SEX El Instituto de Sexología,) in Madrid.

In 1999, she worked as a prostitute for six months, out of curiosity. In 2003, she wrote her sexual experiences in the book Insatiable – The sexual adventures of a French Girl in Spain. This first book has been an international best-seller, and is the basis of the script for the film Diary of a Nymphomaniac directed by Christian Molina. She has written three more books. (Full article...)

Did you know...

... that Indonesian politician Sanusi's parents discouraged him from becoming a government employee, because his salary would be paid partly from taxes on alcohol and prostitution?
... that Lea Ackermann, a German nun of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa, fought against forced prostitution and sex tourism in East Africa?
... that An Amorous History of the Silver Screen has been read as a biographic metafilm, paralleling its lead's rise from prostitution into film stardom?
... that the posthumously released documentary Clean centered on the life of Sandra Pankhurst, a former sex worker, drag queen, and crime scene cleaner?
... that a Harvey's franchise known for being a hub for sex work was described by one artist as a "legendary Toronto icon"?