An exploration of responses to harm associated with indoor sex work

The association of violence with sex work has been widely documentedwithin research and policy. This Book provides a critique and developmentof such perspectives. Framed from a qualitative approach, it extends currentresearch which has offered limited insight into the realities of how violence isexperienced and responded to by sex workers and agencies involved in theprovision of support to sex workers. In this way, the research developsbeyond a presumption and narrow understanding of violence/harm in sexwork to consider how sex workers and service providers experience, define,and thus construct their responses to harm. Findings from the data indicatevariation amongst participants in their responses to harm associated withsex work, with experiences of violence or supporting violence andrelationships and interactions between sex workers and service providersbeing important factors in how these responses are constructed. Both sexworkers and service providers, however, recognised and understoodassociations of sex work with violence and victimisation, and relatedattempts to encourage individuals to cease or limit involvement in sex work,although this may not apply or be appropriate to all experiences of sex workand sex workers. The Book contends that in order to gain an informedunderstanding of, and develop responses to, harm associated with sexwork, it is important to consider the diversity of existing experiences of sexwork. This should include alternative understandings and experiences ofharm that are not limited to, or focused on, violence within sex work, asinformed by the experiences of different sex workers. In doing so, there isthe 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 somesex workers do not identify with a view of their work as harmful, or wish toexit sex work. Consequently this could aid the provision and development ofservices that respect and offer support where required, for differentexperiences of sex work amongst sex workers.