IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socres/v29y2024i1p154-170.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Examining Professionalisation as a Strategy for Sex Worker Empowerment and Mobilisation

Author

Listed:
  • Nadine Gloss

    (Global Network of Sex Work Projects, Scotland)

Abstract

In this article, I examine the concept of professionalisation in sex work as a strategy shaped by political activism that aims to empower and mobilise sex workers to fight for labour rights. Using a participant-based action research approach, I investigated one sex worker professionalisation programme in Germany to better understand how the design, training and goals of the programme reflected ideas and priorities from the Association for Erotic and Sexual Service Providers, a nationwide sex worker rights organisation in Germany. Through my analysis, I found that the programme for professionalisation was mainly oriented around criticism against the new German Prostitute Protection Act (2017), framing data protection as a sex worker rights issue, and encouraging critical resistance to authorities enforcing the Act. Based on these themes, I offer two new perspectives on the aims of the programme in relation to empowering and destigmatising sex workers. First, the tools of resistance offered through the programme as a way of empowering sex workers were confounded by sex workers’ individual situations that limited their ability to practice resistance. Second, the politics of funding for the programme, guided by the goal of ensuring sex workers are less of a public health risk, may interfere with the broader goal of destigmatising sex work.

Suggested Citation

  • Nadine Gloss, 2024. "Examining Professionalisation as a Strategy for Sex Worker Empowerment and Mobilisation," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 29(1), pages 154-170, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:29:y:2024:i:1:p:154-170
    DOI: 10.1177/13607804231170520
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13607804231170520
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/13607804231170520?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:29:y:2024:i:1:p:154-170. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.