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Sex Work and Prostitution

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Sexuality and Gender

Synonyms

Call girls; Commercial sex; Courtesan; Escort; Gigolo; Hooking; Hustler; Lady of the night; Red light area; Rent boy; Sexual services; Streetwalker; Stripping; Working girls

Definition

Sex work and prostitution are terms that are often used interchangeably to refer to the exchange of sexual labor for money, other material items, or access to social resources. These exchanges may be independently generated, facilitated through a third party, or leveraged by industry stakeholders. Sex work and prostitution are as old as human society itself, and although often associated with women and girls, these systems of exchange involve people of all ages, genders, races, abilities, and sexual orientations. Typically considered to occur primarily in marginalized urban spaces or among underprivileged cultural groups, in reality sex work and prostitution take place everywhere: large cities, rural hamlets, suburban cul-de-sacs, institutional spaces (i.e., schools, prisons, hospitals,...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Health Studies, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

    Treena Orchard

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  1. Treena Orchard
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Correspondence to Treena Orchard .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of New England Department of Psychology, Armidale, NSW, Australia

    Amy D. Lykins

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Orchard, T. (2020). Sex Work and Prostitution. In: Lykins, A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sexuality and Gender. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59531-3_15-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59531-3_15-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-59531-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-59531-3

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