Understanding Sex Work & Supporting Individuals
Involved in the Sex Trade
Cassandra Avenatti, MSW
Executive Board Member, Sex Workers Outreach Project-Chicago • 
Introduction to SWOP-Chicago
• 
Activity: Values Clarification Survey
•  Introduction to sex work – sex work 101
•  Types of sex work, terminology, who is considered a sex worker
and what types of issues sex workers face
•  Clarifying assumptions and myths about the sex trade
•  The criminalization of sex work & the effect on sex workers
•  Guidelines for working effectively with individuals involved
in the sex trade
•  The Sex Worker Rights Movement
•  Questions & Discussion!
•  Increase awareness of our personal values /biases regarding the
sex trade and sex workers
•  Increase understanding of the sex trade and dispel myths
regarding sex work
–  Distinguish between trafficking and consensual sex work
•  Address the criminalization of sex work and the ways
criminalization affects sex workers
•  Introduce and discuss effective practices for working with
individuals involved in the sex trade
•  Facilitate discussion & encourage questions related to working
effectively with sex workers
SWOP-Chicago is a grassroots
organization dedicated to improving
the lives of current and former sex
workers in the Chicago area, on and
off of the job.
For Workers
•  Swop Hotline
•  The PROS Network
Chicago
•  Trainings (taxes and
budgeting, selfdefense, self-care etc)
•  Legal Advocacy
•  Community-Building &
Peer Support
•  Online resources
For Service Providers
•  Professional Training
•  Online resources
(handouts, video)
•  Membership in The
PROS Network
Chicago
•  What are your responses to the survey?
•  Did it make you think differently about sex trade
work?
–  How so?
•  Feedback: Questions & Discussion
•  Sex work is a commercial exchange of
a sexual service for money or other
benefits like housing, drugs,
transportation or other survival needs.
•  This term is used to refer to a broad
range of transactions and sex workers
are not a homogenous group.
•  Types of workers: Escorts, exotic dancers, dominatrices, phone
sex operators, sensual massage professionals, actors in adult films,
etc
•  Types of work: Indoor, Outdoor, Brothel or Agency, Independent
•  The sex trade is a large and complex industry: There are many
levels of sex work that involve different boundaries, agreements,
promotion and services.
•  Legality: There are varying levels of legality within the sex trade,
and different types of workers experience different challenges and
have unique needs.
• 
There is an indoor and an outdoor (or street) market for prostitution.
• 
Street prostitution accounts for 15-20% of sex work in larger cities
such as Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, in some smaller
cities, it may account for 50%.
• 
Street-based sex workers typically work a ‘stroll’ and often in pairs or
groups.
• 
The internet is a source for employment and community for sex
workers.
• 
Others work for agencies (or pimps) massage parlors, strip clubs,
dungeons, and so on, which recruit and screen clients.
• 
Independent workers create their own marketing, use paid ad malls,
dating websites, and client review boards, to find clients. Independent
workers may screen clients themselves, or they may hire a booker or
assistant.
•  There are a few primary paths that lead folks to sex
work:
o Circumstance
o Choice
o Coercion
• 
These statuses can change, and often do for sex
workers.
•  There are significant financial and personal benefits to
being engaged in sex work, that many individuals
wouldn’t otherwise have.
•  Sex work is not inherently oppressive and sex
workers necessarily victims. Many sex workers feel
empowered and enjoy their work.
•  Individuals enter the sex trade from myriad
socioeconomic, educational and racial/ethnic
backgrounds and do so for many different reasons.
•  Sex workers are not all survivors of childhood abuse
or sexual violence.
•  Not all individuals who engage in work in the sex
trade identify as sex workers.
•  Much of the violence that sex workers, particularly
street-based workers, experience is perpetrated by
institutions and helping professionals (YWEP Study,
2012)
•  Sex workers do not necessarily abuse substances.
•  Pimps and management are not necessarily
exploitative or violent.
•  Sex work are trafficking are not the same, though they
are frequently conflated.
Trafficking:
•  Involves coercive methods
& climate of fear
•  Wages withheld,
identification often taken,
violence used to control
•  Often involves transporting
individuals from their home
to another country or region.
•  Though it receives the bulk
of media attention, sex
trafficking is only one type
of human trafficking.
Consensual Adult Sex Work:
•  Involves a commercial
exchange of sexual services
for compensation
•  Is entered into voluntarily
•  Can be exited voluntarily
(though it can be
challenging)
•  Sex work is criminalized in the US, and sex workers are
targeted by law enforcement.
•  Sex workers who are people of color, and who are trans* and
gender non-conforming experience increased targeting,
violence and incarceration.
•  There has been a great deal of media attention paid to
trafficking cases, and an increase in anti-laws in Illinois.
•  Some aspects of anti-trafficking laws are harmful to consenting
sex workers and this legislation (and the End Demand
movement) often misunderstands the nature of ‘demand’.
•  Individuals that are arrested are mandated into diversion
programs, and once incarcerated, forced to attend ‘Prostitutes
Anonymous’.
•  Institutional and interpersonal violence against sex workers with no
accountability for perpetrators
•  A study found that prostitution is the most dangerous profession for (cis)
women in the United States in terms of homicide. (not including rape)
•  Stigma, criminalization and isolation can lead to internalized shame which
increases the likelihood of making sex workers making risky decisions.
•  Sex workers often decide not to report rape and other violence
•  A message is consistently sent to workers that their lives and safety do not
matter.
•  In the news: Recent Texas case: acquittal of an individual that murdered a
sex worker
Decriminalization
•  Law enforcement does
not target sex workers
or clients
•  Allows sex workers to
conduct their business
without negative legal
consequences
•  Most SWR orgs
support
decriminalization
•  Doesn’t address larger
issues of racism,
sexism transphobia,
poverty
Legalization
•  Sex work regulated by
the government
•  Sex workers required to
register
•  Exploitation still possible
•  Doesn’t address larger
issues of racism, sexism
transphobia, poverty
•  In many states/countries,
prostitution has limited
legal status: Examples:
Australia, Nevada
•  Internalized stigma and shame, isolation, worker burn-out
•  Relationship challenges related to the individual’s sex
worker status
•  Anxiety related to real & perceived occupational risks
(arrest, violence, STIs, being ‘outed’)
•  Trauma as a result of physical and sexual violence and
other crime (robbery)
•  Stress related to unpredictable income, navigating
boundaries and structuring day-to-day work and home life.
•  Lack of access to physical & mental health care
•  Exchanging sexual behavior for money is not
necessarily the result of a mental illness or, in the
absence of contextual factors, the cause of mental
illness.
•  Risks vary across types of sex work, and workers
can decrease the risks of their work. Don’t make
assumptions about individual risk factors.
•  Keep intersectionality in mind. Experiences within
sex work are informed by complicated, interrelated
systems of identity attributes and experiences.
Subjective and objective experiences as a sex
worker vary tremendously between individuals and
•  Allow sex work clients to set goals. Sex trade work may not
be an important part of sex worker’s lives, & may not be the
issue they want to discuss in therapy.
•  Be aware of stigma-neutralization techniques sex workerclients use, and be careful to avoid statements, questions or
recommendations which may undermine these techniques,
unless they are causing obvious and serious harm to the
worker.
•  Understand the pervasive impact of stigma on self-concept,
conceptualization of work, relationships, etc. and discuss the
impact of stigma directly, when appropriate.
•  Be aware of how stigma relates to language sensitivity, and
•  Learn about the biases and approaches of other
referral agencies. If no non-judgmental resources are
available, warn the client of the agency’s approach
and allow them to make their own decision about
utilizing that resource.
•  In supporting an individual who expresses desire to
leave the sex trade, be aware of barriers to exit, and
understand exit as a process.
•  Reflect on how your personal attitudes and
knowledge about sex work may impact assessment
•  Helping sex workers maintain confidence,
relationships, physical and mental health, and
explore other interests helps sex workers while
still in the trade, and ultimately makes it easier
to transition out of the sex trade.
•  Exiting the sex trade is most often a process,
not an instant change. Therapists should allow
workers to set their own goals around exit and
allow clients to reassess goals over time.
•  Therapists and case workers should offer
tangible resources & information to individuals
who express desire to leave the sex trade.
•  Income: Generally, a more planned, gradual transition
which addresses career development and financial
planning, and that may include a concept of "open
retirement," is necessary/useful for sex workers attempting
to generate surplus income for their transition.
•  Employment counseling and training: Many workers
have gaps in their resumes, or no CV at all, and need
support in creating professional materials and gaining skills
and training.
•  For Survival Sex Workers/ Street Workers: There may
be additional needs such as housing, healthcare and
substance use treatment.
•  Sex workers are (and have been)
organizing around the globe for basic rights
and autonomy.
•  International sex worker movements have
experienced success achieving
decriminalization and some have even
created labor unions.
•  Sex workers are building community and
healing themselves and each other by
•  Visit: www.swop-chicago.org for current news, videos and
resources.
•  The PROS Network Chicago is a resource for workers and
providers: www.porsnetworkchicago.org.
•  Check out the Red Umbrella Project www.redumbrellaproject.org
for Sex Worker stories.
•  St. James Infirmary is an amazing clinic run by and for Sex
Workers. Check them out for resources and a great model for care:
http://stjamesinfirmary.org/
•  Feel free to e-mail additional questions or to get involved at:
[email protected]