ABSTRACT
Survey data obtained from 119 women who were prostituting in escort agencies and on the street in Phoenix, Arizona provide insight into women's emotional experiences of turning tricks. Results indicate that women experience a range of negative emotions while performing sex acts with customers including feelings of sadness, worth-lessness, anger, anxiety, and shame. Far less frequently, emotional experiences of turning tricks were described as involving feelings of excitement and desirability. In addition to experiencing acts of prostitution as overwhelmingly emotionally unpleasant, if not traumatic, women feel more negatively about themselves after entering prostitution and would strongly prefer to leave prostitution for a different occupation with similar earnings. Findings from this study suggest that while some women may enter prostitution to support a drug or alcohol habit, they also use these substances once in prostitution to detach emotionally and to cope with fears of being hurt in prostitution. Practical implications of these findings for therapists, social workers, and substance abuse counselors are discussed.
