Portal:Sex work

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Introduction

Sex work is "the exchange of sexual services, performances, or products for material compensation. It includes activities of direct physical contact between buyers and sellers as well as indirect sexual stimulation". Sex work only refers to voluntary sexual transactions; thus, the term does not refer to human trafficking and other coerced or nonconsensual sexual transactions such as child prostitution. The transaction must take place between consenting adults of the legal age and mental capacity to consent and must take place without any methods of coercion, other than payment. The term emphasizes the labor and economic implications of this type of work. Furthermore, some prefer the use of the term because it grants more agency to the sellers of these services. (Full article...)

Selected article - show another

Legality of brothel prostitution in Nevada by county
  Prostitution permitted, at least one active brothel

  Prostitution permitted, no active brothels

  Prostitution prohibited

Nevada is the only U.S. state where prostitution is legally permitted in some form. Prostitution is legal in 10 of Nevada's 17 counties, although only six allow it in every municipality. Six counties have at least one active brothel, which mainly operate in isolated, rural areas. The state's most populated counties, Clark (which contains Las Vegas) and Washoe (which contains Reno), are among those that do not permit prostitution. It is also illegal in Nevada's capital, Carson City, an independent city.

The vast majority of prostitution in Nevada takes place illegally in the metropolitan areas of Las Vegas and Reno. About 66 times more money is spent by customers on illegal prostitution in Nevada than in the regulated brothels. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

Selected images

Image 1Prostitution Information Centre in Amsterdam (from Prostitution)
Image 2Kisaeng women from outcast or slave families. (from Prostitution)
Image 3An Ancient Greek urn depicts a prostitute and her client. (from Sex work)
Image 4Tart cards in a British phone box advertising call girls, 2005 (from Prostitution)
Image 5Prostitutes on display in Yoshiwara during the Meiji Period, Japan (from Prostitution)
Image 6The Procuress by Dirck van Baburen (1622) (from Prostitution)
Image 7Brothel scene; Brunswick Monogrammist, 1537; Gemäldegalerie, Berlin (from Prostitution)
Image 8Boat based window prostitute in Utrecht (from Prostitution)
Image 9Femmes de Maison, painting by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, c. 1893—1895 (from Prostitution)
Image 10An oiran preparing herself for a client, ukiyo-e print by Suzuki Haronubu (1765) (from Prostitution)
Image 11A prostitute and her customer illustrated on an ancient Greek wine cup; the act of prostitution is indicated by the coin purse above the figures. (from Prostitution)
Image 12News report about three brothels operating in Albuquerque, New Mexico that were raided by police in 1922 (from Prostitution)
Image 13Sex workers demonstrating for better working conditions at the 2009 Marcha Gay in Mexico City (from Sex work)
Image 14A liberated Chinese girl who had been forced in to sexual slavery by the Japanese military sits on a stretcher and speaks to a Royal Air Force officer. (from Prostitution)
Image 15A sex worker in Berlin in 2001 (from Sex work)
Image 16Fresco from the Pompeii brothel (from Prostitution)
Image 17The red light district in Amsterdam (from Sex work)
Image 18Prostitute c. 1890. (from Prostitution)
Image 19World map of prostitution laws
  Decriminalization – No criminal penalties for prostitution
  Legalization (regulation) – Prostitution legal and regulated
  Abolitionism – Prostitution is legal, but organized activities such as brothels and pimping are illegal; prostitution is not regulated
  Neo-abolitionism (Nordic model) – Illegal to buy sex and for 3rd party involvement, legal to sell sex
  Prohibitionism – Prostitution illegal in all aspects (selling and buying)
  Legality varies with local laws
(from Sex work)
Image 20Stickers affixed to a payphone in São Paulo, 2006 (from Prostitution)
Image 21
  Legalization – prostitution legal and regulated
  Decriminalization – No criminal penalties for prostitution
  Abolitionism – prostitution is legal, but organized activities such as brothels and pimping are illegal; prostitution is not regulated
  Neo-abolitionism – illegal to buy sex and for 3rd party involvement, legal to sell sex
  Prohibitionism – prostitution illegal
  Legality varies with local laws
(from Prostitution)
Image 22Statue to honor the sex workers of the world. Installed March 2007 in Amsterdam, Oudekerksplein, in front of the Oude Kerk, in Amsterdam's red-light district De Wallen. Titled Belle, the inscription to the piece says "Respect sex workers all over the world." (from Prostitution)
Image 23A political cartoon from 1787 jesting about the notion of taxation affecting prostitutes (from Prostitution)
Image 24Women in an early San Francisco bordello in 1870 (from Prostitution)
Image 25A detail from plate 1 of William Hogarth's (1697–1764) The Harlot's Progress, showing brothel-keeper Elizabeth Needham, on the right, procuring a young woman who has just arrived in London (from Prostitution)
Image 26A prostitute in Amsterdam's red-light district talks with a potential customer. (from Prostitution)

Related portals

Selected general sex worker

Image 1
Yua Aida (Japanese: あいだゆあ, Hepburn: Aida Yua) is a former Japanese model and AV idol. (Full article...)
Image 2

Rin Aoki, a launch event for Dasdas AV movies in 2007
Rin Aoki (Japanese: 青木りん, Hepburn: Aoki Rin, born February 28, 1985) is a Japanese gravure model, AV idol and erotic dancer. She began as a gravure idol and later moved to hardcore video work where she became an award-winning AV idol. (Full article...)
Image 3

Satan's Angel at the Burlesque Hall of Fame in 2009

Angel Cecelia Helene Walker (September 18, 1944 – April 11, 2019) was an American exotic dancer specializing in stripping and burlesque under her stage name Satan's Angel. (Full article...)
Image 4

Diamond in 2005

Júlia Koroknai (born 11 April 1981), known by her stage name Mya Diamond, is a Hungarian erotic model and former pornographic actress. In 2006 she won the Ninfa Award for best actress. (Full article...)
Image 5
Mick Yanai at 2008 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo

Micky Yanai (Japanese: ミッキー柳井, b. 1959) is a well-known Japanese male porn actor. (Full article...)
Image 6

O'Neil at the 2011 AVN Awards

April O'Neil (born April 7, 1987) is an American pornographic actress.

Originally from Phoenix, Arizona, O'Neil started her pornographic film career in 2008 after moving to Los Angeles and meeting another actress at a party. She adopted her stage name in homage to April O'Neil, one of the primary characters in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In 2013, she was one of the sixteen actresses profiled in Deborah Anderson's documentary film Aroused. She identifies as bisexual. LA Weekly ranked her tenth on their list of "10 Innovative Porn Stars Who Could Be the Next Sasha Grey" in 2013. (Full article...)
Image 7

Adams at the 2003 Adult Entertainment Expo

Sunrise Adams is an American author and pornographic actress. (Full article...)
Image 8

Banks in 2016

Briana Banks (born 21 May 1978) is a German pornographic actress and model. She was the Penthouse Pet of the Month for June 2001. She is a member of the AVN Hall of Fame and XRCO Hall of Fame. (Full article...)
Image 9
Gangubai Harjeevandas (1928 – 8 September 1977), better known as Gangubai Kothewali or Gangubai Kathiawadi, was an Indian social activist, sex worker and madam of a brothel in the Kamathipura area of Mumbai during the 1960s. Gangubai worked for the rights of sex workers and for the well-being of orphans. She gradually ended up operating her own brothel and is known to also have lobbied for the rights of commercial sex workers. (Full article...)
Image 10
John Anthony Bailey (born June 4, 1947 – died November 13, 1994), also known as Jack Baker, was an American actor. (Full article...)
Image 11

Hollander in 2008

Xaviera Hollander (born 15 June 1943) is a Dutch former call girl, madam and author. She is best known for her best-selling memoir The Happy Hooker: My Own Story. (Full article...)
Image 12

Patrícia Kimberly in 2010

Patrícia Kimberly (born 6 January 1984) is a Brazilian sex worker. (Full article...)
Image 13

Frota in 2018

Alexandre Frota de Andrade (born October 14, 1963) is a Brazilian politician and a former model and porn star. A former member of the Social Liberal Party (PSL), Frota was elected Federal Deputy by the state of São Paulo in the 2018 general elections. (Full article...)
Image 14

Hunter at the 2001 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo

Heather Keisha Hunter (born October 1, 1969), nicknamed Double H, is an American rapper, painter, author, and pornographic actress. She is a member of the AVN, Urban X, and XRCO Halls of Fame. (Full article...)
Image 15

Wane in 2008

Taylor Wane is a British actress, model, and former pornographic film performer. She was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame in 2005 and the XRCO Hall of Fame in 2014 as well as Legends Hall of Fame. (Full article...)
Image 16

Flores at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in 2009

April Flores, also known as Fatty Delicious, or Fatty D, is an American pornographic actress and director, writer, photographer, makeup artist, and plus-size model. (Full article...)
Image 17
Mariko Kawana (Japanese: 川奈まり子, Hepburn: Kawana Mariko) (born November 9, 1967) began the most notable phase of her life as a Japanese model and actress who has appeared in softcore pink film and V-Cinema, and who has also been a hardcore adult video (AV) performer and director. She was one of the earliest AV actresses in the "mature woman" or "madame" (jukujo) category of performers. She is now retired as an actress and has returned to her pre-acting career as a writer. (Full article...)
Image 18

Chapman on her wedding day in 1869

Annie Chapman (born Eliza Ann Smith; 25 September 1840 – 8 September 1888) was the second canonical victim of the notorious unidentified serial killer Jack the Ripper, who killed and mutilated a minimum of five women in the Whitechapel and Spitalfields districts of London from late August to early November 1888.

Although previous murders linked to Jack the Ripper (then known as the "Whitechapel murderer") had received considerable press and public attention, the murder of Annie Chapman generated a state of panic in the East End of London, with police under increasing pressure to apprehend the culprit. (Full article...)
Image 19
Lulu Devine (born Cynthia Stathopoulos on November 17, 1955, in Boston, Massachusetts) is a former American big-bust feature dancer, model, and pornographic video actress. Lulu turned to dance as a feature dancer during the late 1980s, and by 1990 began a pornographic video career. Lulu is also the older sister of fellow big-bust feature dancer and porn actress Toppsy Curvey. (Full article...)
Image 20
Stasia Micula (December 3, 1950 – April 22, 2020), known professionally as Samantha Fox, was an American pornographic film and B movie actress. She started working in 1978, working in film for almost a decade. During her film career, Fox starred in over 100 films, including Roommates, A Night to Dismember and The Devil in Miss Jones 2. (Full article...)
Image 21

Ken in 2019

Ken Shimizu (Japanese: 清水健) is a Japanese pornographic film actor. He is credited with having sex with over 10,000 women in the course of making 10,000 films. (Full article...)
Image 22
War Machine (born Jonathan Paul Koppenhaver; November 30, 1981) is an American former professional mixed martial artist.

Koppenhaver had a 14–5 overall record in MMA fighting in various MMA promotions, including Bellator MMA and the UFC. He competed in the welterweight division. He was a fighter on The Ultimate Fighter: Team Hughes vs. Team Serra as part of Team Serra and also competed for Bellator MMA, Tachi Palace Fights, BAMMA, and the Xtreme Fighting Championships. He also appeared in several pornographic films. (Full article...)
Image 23
Darby Lloyd Rains (born in 1948) is a former adult film actress who was prolific during the golden age of pornography. She is a member of the XRCO Hall of Fame as a "film pioneer". (Full article...)
Image 24

Baker in 1940

Freda Josephine Baker (née McDonald; June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975), naturalized as Joséphine Baker, was an American-born French dancer, singer, and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in France. She was the first black woman to star in a major motion picture, the 1927 French silent film Siren of the Tropics, directed by Mario Nalpas and Henri Étiévant.

During her early career, Baker was among the most celebrated performers to headline the revues of the Folies Bergère in Paris. Her performance in its 1927 revue Un vent de folie caused a sensation in the city. Her costume, consisting only of a short skirt of artificial bananas and a beaded necklace, became an iconic image and a symbol both of the Jazz Age and the Roaring Twenties. Baker was celebrated by artists and intellectuals of the era, who variously dubbed her the "Black Venus", the "Black Pearl", the "Bronze Venus", and the "Creole Goddess". Born in St. Louis, Missouri, she renounced her U.S. citizenship and became a French national after her marriage to French industrialist Jean Lion in 1937. She raised her children in France. (Full article...)
Image 25

Photograph of St. James by filmmaker George Csicsery

Margaret Jean "Margo" St. James (September 12, 1937 – January 11, 2021) was an American sex worker and sex-positive feminist. In San Francisco, she founded COYOTE (Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics), an organization advocating decriminalization of prostitution, and co-founded the St. James Infirmary Clinic, a medical and social service organization serving sex workers in the Tenderloin. (Full article...)

Did you know...

... that Lea Ackermann, a German nun of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa, fought against forced prostitution and sex tourism in East Africa?
... that Indonesian politician Sanusi's parents discouraged him from becoming a government employee, because his salary would be paid partly from taxes on alcohol and prostitution?
... that a Harvey's franchise known for being a hub for sex work was described by one artist as a "legendary Toronto icon"?
... that the posthumously released documentary Clean centered on the life of Sandra Pankhurst, a former sex worker, drag queen, and crime scene cleaner?