“In My Head, I Didn’t Feel Like I Had Done Anything Wrong”: Women’s Experiences Prostituting Women and Girls

Abstract

In this paper, readers are introduced to the stories of Sarah, Ashley, and Chanelle, who represent different racial categorizations, class backgrounds, entryways into sex work, and histories of sexual victimization. These three women were each convicted as sex offenders because of their involvement in the prostitution of women or girls. This paper demonstrates that these women did not view their actions as sex offenses because their perceptions of themselves, men, women, sexuality, and prostitution were profoundly influenced by interconnecting experiences in their life histories. Child sexual abuse, economic needs, and abusive interpersonal relationships all impacted how these women viewed themselves and their actions. This paper briefly reviews the historically divisive and ultimately detrimental debate between feminists who frame all prostitution as sexual violence and feminists who advocate for full legalization of sex work. Sarah, Ashley, and Chanelle’s stories illustrate the complexities that exist within the lives of women who become involved in prostitution due to a variety of circumstances and social inequalities. Sarah, Ashley, and Chanelle were not completely hapless victims disenfranchised by their pimps, nor were they fully agentive sexual entrepreneurs unfairly targeted by the state. These women made a series of decisions based on their needs for survival, their personal economic desires, and their beliefs about men, women, and sexuality. This paper provides ample room for the women’s voices, and documents their explanations for why and how they became involved in prostitution, as well as the prostitution of other women and girls.

Citation

Irvine, M. (2016), "“In My Head, I Didn’t Feel Like I Had Done Anything Wrong”: Women’s Experiences Prostituting Women and Girls", Special Issue: Problematizing Prostitution: Critical Research and Scholarship (Studies in Law, Politics, and Society, Vol. 71), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 19-42. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1059-433720160000071002