Sex work: constructing ‘families’ with community of practice theory

Abstract

This article examines the construction and maintenance of fictive kinships within a street-level sex work community. The analysis is supported by interviews of 14 street-level sex workers regarding everyday language use within their community. Utilizing community of practice theory to demonstrate how peripheral participants of the sex work community are socialized to understand and participate in fictive kinships, a primary finding is that language use within this community operates as a discursive framework which creates a metaphorical family where kin terms are used as an identity-making strategy. The implications of this research suggest that familial structures impact sex workers' sense of agency in relation to other members of the community. Finally, this article discusses the implications for understanding the discourse of a street-level sex worker community in the context of relationship formation and maintenance.

Este artículo examina la construcción y el mantenimiento de parentesco ficticio a nivel callejero dentro de la comunidad trabajadora del sexo. El análisis esta sostenido por entrevistas a 14 trabajadores del sexo de nivel callejero en relación al lenguaje diario que se utiliza en sus comunidades. Utilizando la teoria de Comunidad de Práctica para demostrar que tan periféricos los participantes de la comunidad trabajadora del sexo son socialisando para entender y participar en un parentesco ficticio, uno de los primeros descubrimientos es que el lenguaje utilizado dentro de esta comunidad opera como una armadura discursiva que a su vez crea una familia metafórica en el cual términos congénericos son utilizados como una estrategia de identidad creada. Las implicaciones de esta investigación sugieren que estructuras familiares impactan la sensación de entidad de los trabajadores del sexo con relación a otros miembros de la comunidad. Finalmente, este artículo discute las implicancias para el entendimiento del discurso de una comunidad de trabajadores del sexo callejero en el contexto de formación de relaciones y mantenimientos del mismo.

Keywords:

• fictive kinship
• sex work
• community of practice

Palabras claves:

• parentesco ficticio
• trabajadora del sexo
• Comunidad de Practica

Notes on contributor

Kate W. Read obtained her doctorate in sociolinguistics at Arizona State University. Read spent two years at the University of California, Berkeley as a visiting scholar conducting ethnographic research within the San Francisco sex work community. Currently, Read resides in Mill Valley, California, with her husband and son and continues her research with the sex work community.

Notes

1. For the purpose of this paper, I am defining ‘pimp’ as someone who profits from the earnings of a sex worker. It is important to note that I asked the interviewees to define their relationship with the men that would traditionally fit my description and often the women did not utilize the term pimp. This finding is discussed later in the article.

2. ‘Agency’ is defined here as an individual's ability to act independently of his or her community of practice.

3. It is important to clarify distinctions between ‘kinship’ and ‘fictive kinship’ as used in this article. Some anthropologists argue ‘The concept of fictive kin lost credibility with the advent of symbolic anthropology and the realization that all kinship is in some sense fictional’ (Weston, 1991, p. 105). However, this paper utilizes the term ‘fictive kinship’ or ‘fictive kin’ to signify non-consanguine, non-affinal kin structures found within the sex work community.

4. Arguably, one could assert that being a peripheral member could mean participation in the dominant culture and/or the street-level sex work community because the two are inextricably linked.

5. I have additional data that speaks to terminology such as ‘renegade’ and other terms of ‘disloyalty’ for women who refuse to participate in kin structures which will be included in a forthcoming article.

6. Names have been changed.

7. Men and transgender individuals also populate the street-level sex work community as sex workers; however, this research reflects interviews with only female sex workers.

8. On the fringe of this community are programs, such as DIGNITY House in Arizona, that attempt rehabilitation or unionization and organization of sex workers (Delacoste & Alexander, 1998, pp. 322–352), but it is important to note these programs often do not operate within the actual framework of the street-level community and often represent the interests of the dominant culture.

9. ‘Square’ refers to someone who is not part of the street community, does not participate in drugs, sex work, or any of the various illegal activities that often surround this community. When asked to define a ‘square’ the women would often point to me and we would laugh.

10. There is quite a bit of literature that examines the use of ‘bitch’ in Black urban street culture (e.g., Crenshaw, 1991; Hill Collins, 2004). Yet, ‘bitch’ is often used as a term of respect among the street-level sex work community.

11. It is important to note that it is not legal to marry two people at the same time in Las Vegas, nor is it legal to marry a person of the sex same in Nevada. Regardless, the importance of this statement is that to Fancy, she and her pimp and this other woman made a commitment to each other.