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Ask Americans why women become sex workers, and many reply, “They were trafficked.”
That’s certainly possible. According to the United Nations’ International Labor Organization, human traffickers currently victimize an estimated 28 million people worldwide, 23 percent of whom wind up in non-consensual sex work—6 million worldwide, overwhelmingly women.
There are no reliable estimates of sex trafficking in the United States. But in 2023, the National Human Trafficking Hotline received reports of 5,579 U.S. residents being trafficked for sex, the vast majority recent immigrants or teenage women. That figure is undoubtedly an under-estimate. Many trafficked women are held as prisoners and can’t call hotlines. So, how many women are actually trafficked? No one knows.
Meanwhile, California researchers estimate that 1.5 million American women earn some or all of their income as sex workers. Even if beyond all credible estimates, 500,000 women are trafficked, they represent only one-third of the nation’s sex workers. So, at least two-thirds have not been trafficked. They affirmatively choose sex work.
Why Choose a Stigmatized Occupation?
Sex workers are socially marginalized and may risk arrest. Why would women choose such a stigmatized, risky occupation? To answer this question, psychology researchers at Texas Tech University conducted in-depth interviews with women sex workers in Las Vegas, aka Sin City. The lives of sex workers in Las Vegas are different from those of sex workers elsewhere. In Las Vegas, sex work is much more out in the open. The researchers focused on Las Vegas because of that openness. They could connect with sex workers and interview them.
Sex Work Includes Many Occupations
Many Las Vegas sex workers are prostitutes who offer “full-service” sex. But Las Vegas sex work also includes: escorting, burlesque, sexual web camming, strip tease, lap dancing, commercial phone sex, appearing in pornography, sexually suggestive nude modeling, and working in topless clubs. The researchers interviewed 17 U.S.-born women, aged 18 to 60, whose work spanned all those occupations.
Eleven (65 percent) were white, the other six (35 percent) were Black, Hispanic, Asian, and Native. All were high school graduates. Eleven (65 percent) had graduated college. Eight (47 percent) were married, seven (41 percent) were single or divorced, and two (12 percent) were cohabitating. Only one (6 percent) made less than $10,000 a year. The rest made up to $100,000 annually.
Now, 17 subjects is a small sample. However, in studies like this one, based on in-depth interviews, a small number of participants can produce valid results. Peer reviewers judged this study’s methodology sufficiently credible for it to appear in the Journal of Sex Research.
The researchers discovered six reasons why women choose sex work: personal empowerment, freedom, opportunity, work environment, personality fit, and career satisfaction.
Personal Empowerment
Forced sexual slavery, the fate of trafficked women, is the opposite of empowering. But every one of these sex-workers-by-choice said they considered consensual sex work, their kind, personally empowering. They make more money than they would in other jobs, and have control over their lives. The women quit quite a list of other occupations to become sex workers: ballet dancing, bartending, casino dealing, choreography, cosmetology, fashion, finance, hospitality, journalism, musical theater, rehabilitative medicine, and retail.
- “Empowerment means I work for myself. I’m my own boss. I set my own hours and choose my clients.”
- “Sex work has given me more confidence in the rest of my life.”
- “I’m really happy I became a sex worker. I’m financially stable. I’ve learned marketing, money management, and time management. I’ve learned so many things through sex work that I wouldn’t have learned in other jobs I’ve had or could get.”
Freedom
Many of the women cited the personal freedom sex work provides.
- “I’m free to work or not as I wish, and when I work, I’m free to set my own hours.”
- “I grew up poor. Sex work means my child and any others I have will never want for anything. They won’t grow up the way I did.”
- “People have challenged me saying, ‘You’re smart. You’re a college grad. Why are you doing this?’ Because in one night I make more than I used to make in two weeks.”
Opportunity
Many said sex work opened doors for them.
- “I enjoy the perks. I’ve traveled, been given gifts, and made new friends.”
- “My whole life I wanted to be an actress. Porn gave me the opportunity to be one—just not quite the way I imagined.”
- “My life is never boring. For many office workers, their jobs are the same day after day. I never wanted that. I’m grateful that every day [stripping] is different. Every show is different.”
Personality Fit
Many said sex work dovetailed well with their personalities.
- “You need to be a certain type of person to do this work. It’s not for everyone. But it works for me.”
- “I used to dance on cruise ships. They weighed us every week. If you gained weight, you could be fired. It was brutal. Stripping in Las Vegas works much better for me.”
Career Satisfaction
- “I entered the [pornography] industry pretty late. I had grown kids. They’re my biggest cheering section. They support it. They’re not ashamed of it. They brag, ‘My mom’s a porn star.’”
- “In Vegas, many kids grow up with moms who are dancers or strippers. That stripper mom is the same woman in a sweater cheering at her kids’ soccer games.”
- “Honestly, I love it. I love my choice. I love my job [erotic dancing]. I get paid well to do something I love.”
Nevada is the only state that has legalized all forms of consensual sex work. The sky hasn’t fallen. Three prominent human rights organizations—Amnesty International, Anti-Slavery International, and the Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women—all support severe penalties for sex trafficking, but believe that consensual sex work should be decriminalized. Me too.
