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

Procuring, pimping, or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute or other sex worker in the arrangement of a sex act with a customer. A procurer, colloquially called a pimp (if male) or a madam (if female), though the term "pimp" has often been used for female procurers as well) or a brothel keeper, is an agent for prostitutes who collects part of their earnings. The procurer may receive this money in return for advertising services, physical protection, or for providing and possibly monopolizing a location where the prostitute may solicit clients. Like prostitution, the legality of certain actions of a madam or a pimp vary from one region to the next.

Examples of procuring include:

Trafficking a person into a country for the purpose of soliciting sex
Operating a business where prostitution occurs
Transporting a prostitute to the location of their arrangement
Deriving financial gain from the prostitution of another (Full article...)

List of selected articles

Selected images

Image 1News report about three brothels operating in Albuquerque, New Mexico that were raided by police in 1922 (from Prostitution)
Image 2A 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 3
  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 4An Ancient Greek urn depicts a prostitute and her client. (from Sex work)
Image 5Prostitutes on display in Yoshiwara during the Meiji Period, Japan (from Prostitution)
Image 6Kisaeng women from outcast or slave families. (from Prostitution)
Image 7The red light district in Amsterdam (from Sex work)
Image 8Women in an early San Francisco bordello in 1870 (from Prostitution)
Image 9Brothel scene; Brunswick Monogrammist, 1537; Gemäldegalerie, Berlin (from Prostitution)
Image 10The Procuress by Dirck van Baburen (1622) (from Prostitution)
Image 11Stickers affixed to a payphone in São Paulo, 2006 (from Prostitution)
Image 12Statue 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 13A 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 14Boat based window prostitute in Utrecht (from Prostitution)
Image 15A political cartoon from 1787 jesting about the notion of taxation affecting prostitutes (from Prostitution)
Image 16An oiran preparing herself for a client, ukiyo-e print by Suzuki Haronubu (1765) (from Prostitution)
Image 17A 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 18Femmes de Maison, painting by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, c. 1893—1895 (from Prostitution)
Image 19A sex worker in Berlin in 2001 (from Sex work)
Image 20Fresco from the Pompeii brothel (from Prostitution)
Image 21World 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 22A prostitute in Amsterdam's red-light district talks with a potential customer. (from Prostitution)
Image 23Prostitute c. 1890. (from Prostitution)
Image 24Sex workers demonstrating for better working conditions at the 2009 Marcha Gay in Mexico City (from Sex work)
Image 25Tart cards in a British phone box advertising call girls, 2005 (from Prostitution)
Image 26Prostitution Information Centre in Amsterdam (from Prostitution)

Related portals

Selected general sex worker

Image 1
William M. "Sonny" Landham III (February 11, 1941 – August 17, 2017) was an American actor. He portrayed Billy Bear in 48 Hrs. (1982), tracker Billy Sole in Predator (1987), and 'Chink' Weber in Lock Up (1989). (Full article...)
Image 2

Jeremy in 2009

Ronald Jeremy Hyatt (born March 12, 1953) is an American former pornographic actor.

Nicknamed "The Hedgehog", Jeremy was ranked by AVN at No. 1 in their "50 Top Porn Stars of All Time" list. Jeremy has also made a number of non-pornographic media appearances, and director Scott J. Gill filmed a documentary about him and his legacy, Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy, released in 2001. (Full article...)
Image 3

Woods in Debbie Does Dallas (1978)

Bambi Woods (born July 12, 1955) is an American former pornographic actress and exotic dancer best known for her appearance as the title character in the 1978 film Debbie Does Dallas. Her meteoric success in the Golden Age of Porn and later disappearance intrigued adult industry writers and caused interest in her whereabouts, and a myth about her having met a sordid fate several years after her heyday began to be accepted as fact. (Full article...)
Image 4

Veitch at the 2006 Adult Entertainment Expo

Heather Veitch (born on March 7, 1974) is an American Christian missionary who worked previously as a stripper but now seeks to help women working in strip clubs leave the adult entertainment industry. She is the founder of the Christian ministry JC's Girls, based out of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Veitch is a frequent speaker, working with both secular and religious audiences throughout the United States. Her expertise and knowledge in reaching out to women working in strip clubs has been utilized throughout the world by organizations seeking to develop like-minded ministries. (Full article...)
Image 5

Mynx in 2005

Tiffany Mynx is an American former pornographic actress and film director. She is a member of the AVN and XRCO Halls of Fame. (Full article...)
Image 6
Virginie Gervais (born 24 June 1979), also known as Virginie Caprice, is a French glamour model, television personality, and former pornographic actress. (Full article...)
Image 7

Scott Schwartz

Scott Schwartz (born May 12, 1968) is an American actor best known for his roles in the films The Toy (1982), A Christmas Story (1983) and A Christmas Story Christmas (2022), and Kidco (1984). (Full article...)
Image 8

Sydnee Steele (born September 23, 1968) is an American sex therapist, author, free speech activist, and former pornographic actress. She appeared in over 300 pornographic films before her retirement in 2005. (Full article...)
Image 9

Royalle at the 2013 CineKink awards

Candida Royalle (born Candice Marion Vadala; October 15, 1950 – September 7, 2015) was an American producer and director of couples-oriented pornography, pornographic actress, sex educator, and sex-positive feminist. She was a member of the XRCO and the AVN Halls of Fame. (Full article...)
Image 10

Müller in 2024

Melanie "Melli" Müller (born 10 June 1988) is a German reality television personality, schlager singer and former pornographic actress. (Full article...)
Image 11

Saint wins the 2006 Best Newcomer Germany eLine Award.

Leonie Saint (born 23 April 1986), also known with the stage names Leonie Luder or simply Leonie is a German actress, TV presenter and former pornographic actress. (Full article...)
Image 12

Lynn at the Exxxotica Expo, Los Angeles, 2010

Tanya Mercado (born February 15, 1974), known professionally as Gina Lynn, is an American former pornographic actress, model, and stripper. She was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame in 2010 and is the Penthouse magazine Penthouse Pet for April 2012. She is also known for appearing with Eminem in the music video for "Superman". (Full article...)
Image 13

Sibylle Rauch in December 2005

Sibylle Rauch (born 14 June 1960) is a German former film actress, nude model and pornographic actress. (Full article...)
Image 14
Kyōko Aizome (pronunciation) (Japanese: 愛染恭子, Hepburn: Aizome Kyōko, born February 9, 1958) is a Japanese erotic actress, singer, writer, and AV and film director. She has been called "the first hard-core porn actress in Japan". (Full article...)
Image 15

Armstrong attending the XBIZ Awards Show in Santa Monica, California in 2012

Brad Armstrong (born Rod Hopkins; September 23, 1965) is a Canadian pornographic actor, director, producer and screenwriter. He is currently under contract with Wicked Pictures. He has been known as one of the most popular leading men in the sex industry, as well as "The King of Porn" and "The Spielberg of Skin Directors".

Among the films he has directed is Octomom Home Alone (2012). (Full article...)
Image 16

Ian Scott (born 6 February 1973) is a French pornographic actor and director starting from 1996 and is still active. He is also known by the aliases Yannick and Yanick Shaft. He has performed in over 2,200 films. (Full article...)
Image 17
Barbara Dare (born February 27, 1963) is an American former pornographic actress. She was one of the industry's initial contract performers with Essex Video and Vivid Entertainment and is an AVN and XRCO Hall of Fame inductee. (Full article...)
Image 18

Ribas in 2013

Toni Ribas (born 13 June 1975 as Antoni García Cabra) is a Spanish pornographic actor and director. In 2010, he was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame.

Ribas began acting in pornography in 1994. Ribas worked for Brazzers and performed in 78 videos as of 2 November 2018. He performed in about 1,300 videos in his pornographic career. (Full article...)
Image 19
Bodil Bjarta Joensen ([pɔte̝l jœːnsn̩]; 25 September 1944 – 3 January 1985) was a Danish pornographic actress born in the village of Hundige, near Copenhagen. She ran a small entrepreneurial farm and animal husbandry business, and enjoyed celebrity status from her many pornographic films in which she engaged in sex acts with non-human animals.

An individual with a public profile for a time, with her own successful business, she failed to make the transition to more mainstream movies when market sentiment changed and she became impoverished and could no longer care for her animals. She became an alcoholic and died several years later. (Full article...)
Image 20

Shane in 1998

Shane (born December 16, 1969) is an American former pornographic actress, director, and web personality, known for creating the Shane's World series of adult videos after having debuted in the Seymore Butts video series. She is also the founder of an adult film production company of the same name. Shane is a member of the AVN Hall of Fame. (Full article...)
Image 21
Mariko Kawana (Japanese: 川奈まり子, Hepburn: Kawana Mariko) (born November 9, 1967) began the most notable phase of her life as a Japanese model and actress who has appeared in softcore pink film and V-Cinema, and who has also been a hardcore adult video (AV) performer and director. She was one of the earliest AV actresses in the "mature woman" or "madame" (jukujo) category of performers. She is now retired as an actress and has returned to her pre-acting career as a writer. (Full article...)
Image 22

Radcliffe at the Bear Bust '99 event

Jack Radcliffe (born Frank Martini; July 5, 1960) is an American former pornographic film actor. Radcliffe is considered a pornographic icon, and in particular, an icon of gay bear subculture and its physical aesthetics. (Full article...)
Image 23

Ferrari in front of the poster of Mother Courage and Her Children during the making of Camping Cosmos, 1995

Lolo Ferrari (born Ève Valois; 9 February 1963 – 5 March 2000), was a French dancer, actress, and singer billed as "the woman with the largest breast implants in the world".

She entered the international limelight in 1995, appearing in the French Guinness Book of World Records in 1996 and 1999. Her death in 2000 was ruled a suicide. (Full article...)
Image 24

Kendra Jade (born April 19, 1977) is an American model, actress, and former adult film star. Jade appeared on the VH1 reality television series Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew and Sober House. During these shows, Jade was treated for sex addiction and alcoholism by Dr. Drew Pinsky. (Full article...)
Image 25

De La Mora c. 2010

Brittni De La Mora (née Ruiz; born 1 April 1987) is an American pastor, and former pornographic film actress who performed under the name Jenna Presley. Having founded the Love Always Ministries alongside her husband, she has subsequently become an outspoken critic of pornography. (Full article...)

Did you know...

... 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 a Harvey's franchise known for being a hub for sex work was described by one artist as a "legendary Toronto icon"?
... that the posthumously released documentary Clean centered on the life of Sandra Pankhurst, a former sex worker, drag queen, and crime scene cleaner?
... 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?