Individual Sex Worker Perspectives on the Influence of Gender, Wealth, and Power in Their Work

This paper addresses the subjective experiences and personal stories of sex workers in the United States. To address this topic, I first discuss the organization and structure of this type of work and then discuss how it is related to gender norms, a culture of moral panic, and institutionalized sexism. All of this discussion is framed using feminist debates about the possible exploitative/liberatory aspects of sex work. After establishing the broader arguments, I transition into an analysis of qualitative studies that include sex workers’ own narratives about how they experience power, consent, and exploitation in the context of their work and their lives.