‘We are naked waitresses who deliver sex’: a phenomenological study of circumstantial sex workers’ lives

Abstract

Historically, research on the commercial sex industry has focused on the industry’s impact on society while overlooking the voices and experiences of sex workers. To explore the lived experience of commercial sex workers, we interviewed ten commercial sex workers about their personal relationships, experience in society, and access to effective clinical treatment. Six themes emerged from our qualitative analysis: (1) financial freedom, entrepreneurship, personal agency and self-exploration, (2) temporal nature of the adult industry, (3) disclosure as a continuously impactful process, (4) compartmentalization as protection, (5) segregation and isolation, and (6) therapeutic experiences and preferences. Participants rejected the absolute victim narrative that is often reflected in media, film, and government-sanctioned actions surrounding the adult industry. Results indicate the need for further research on the relationships of people in the adult industry and provide couple and family therapists with a critical understanding of how authenticity, genuineness, and judgment impact clinical treatment.

Keywords:

• Sex work
• sexual consent
• couple and family therapy
• sex therapy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michael G. Curtis

Michael G. Curtis, M.S. is a graduate student at the University of Georgia in the Human Development and Family Studies Department with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy. His research focuses on intrapersonal and interpersonal outcomes associated with structural marginalization and oppression experienced by individuals of multiple minority statuses. He is an active member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) and a Doctoral Fellow in the AAMFT Minority Fellowship Program.

Carissa D’Aniello

Dr. Carissa D’Aniello is an Assistant Professor at Texas Tech University in the Community, Family and Addiction Sciences Department. Her research focuses on therapy processes, service utilization, and family dynamics. She has published several papers in the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, Contemporary Family Therapy, and American Journal of Family Therapy.

Markie L. C. Twist

Dr. Markie Twist (she/her/they/them) is a Full Professor in the Human Development and Family Studies Department, and Marriage and Family Therapy Program, as well as the Program Coordinator of the Graduate Certificate in Sex Therapy Program at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Dr. Twist is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health in the University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Public Health. Dr. Twist is a licensed marriage and family therapist and mental health counselor, clinical fellow and approved supervisor, and certified sexuality educator and certified sexuality educator supervisor. In 2019, Dr. Twist co-authored the book, The Internet Family: Technology in Couple and Family Relationships and co-edited the book, Eco-Informed Practice: Family Therapy in an Age of Ecological Peril.

Barbara G. Brents

Dr. Barbara G. Brents is a professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She is a co-author of The State of Sex: Tourism, Sex and Sin in the New American Heartland, a comprehensive study of Nevada’s legal brothels—the only legal US brothel industry, and co-author of forthcoming book, Paying for Sex in the Digital Age with Routledge. Dr. Brents’ research focuses on prostitution regulation; political debates around prostitution; the relationship between tourism, consumption, and sexuality; and the emotional and bodily labor of selling sex. Her research has been published in the American Sociological Review, Sexualities, Sociological Perspectives, the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Sexuality Research and Social Policy, the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, and Social Science and Medicine.

Brandon Eddy

Dr. Brandon Eddy is an assistant professor in the Couple and Family Therapy Program in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health in the School of Medicine at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV). Dr. Eddy's research focuses on medical family therapy, specifically the topics of postpartum depression, miscarriage, and autism spectrum disorder. Dr. Eddy is an active member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) and Postpartum Support International (PSI). Dr. Eddy's most recent publication can be found in The Journal of Family Issues and is entitled “Forgotten Fathers: Postpartum Depression in Men.”