The association of violence with sex work has been widely documented
within research and policy. This Book provides a critique and development
of such perspectives. Framed from a qualitative approach, it extends current
research which has offered limited insight into the realities of how violence is
experienced and responded to by sex workers and agencies involved in the
provision of support to sex workers. In this way, the research develops
beyond a presumption and narrow understanding of violence/harm in sex
work to consider how sex workers and service providers experience, define,
and thus construct their responses to harm. Findings from the data indicate
variation amongst participants in their responses to harm associated with
sex work, with experiences of violence or supporting violence and
relationships and interactions between sex workers and service providers
being important factors in how these responses are constructed. Both sex
workers and service providers, however, recognised and understood
associations of sex work with violence and victimisation, and related
attempts to encourage individuals to cease or limit involvement in sex work,
although this may not apply or be appropriate to all experiences of sex work
and sex workers. The Book contends that in order to gain an informed
understanding of, and develop responses to, harm associated with sex
work, it is important to consider the diversity of existing experiences of sex
work. This should include alternative understandings and experiences of
harm that are not limited to, or focused on, violence within sex work, as
informed by the experiences of different sex workers. In doing so, there is
the potential to better understand and accommodate a range of sex workers'
experiences, needs and interests in ways that do not impact on sex workers'
safety, or contribute to continued stigmatisation or exclusion, where some
sex workers do not identify with a view of their work as harmful, or wish to
exit sex work. Consequently this could aid the provision and development of
services that respect and offer support where required, for different
experiences of sex work amongst sex workers.
