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...)

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An escort agency is a company that provides escorts for clients, usually for sexual services. The agency typically arranges a meeting between one of its escorts and the client at the customer's house or hotel room (outcall), or at the escort's residence (incall). Some agencies also provide escorts for longer durations, who may stay with the client or travel along on a holiday or business trip. While the escort agency is paid a fee for this booking and dispatch service, the customer must negotiate any additional fees or arrangements directly with the escort for any other services that are not provided by the agency involved, such as providing sexual services (regardless of the legality of these services). (Full article...)

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Selected images

Image 1Femmes de Maison, painting by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, c. 1893—1895 (from Prostitution)
Image 2Boat based window prostitute in Utrecht (from Prostitution)
Image 3Tart cards in a British phone box advertising call girls, 2005 (from Prostitution)
Image 4The Procuress by Dirck van Baburen (1622) (from Prostitution)
Image 5A 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 6A political cartoon from 1787 jesting about the notion of taxation affecting prostitutes (from Prostitution)
Image 7Prostitution Information Centre in Amsterdam (from Prostitution)
Image 8An Ancient Greek urn depicts a prostitute and her client. (from Sex work)
Image 9A prostitute in Amsterdam's red-light district talks with a potential customer. (from Prostitution)
Image 10An oiran preparing herself for a client, ukiyo-e print by Suzuki Haronubu (1765) (from Prostitution)
Image 11A 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 12Kisaeng women from outcast or slave families. (from Prostitution)
Image 13The red light district in Amsterdam (from Sex work)
Image 14Sex workers demonstrating for better working conditions at the 2009 Marcha Gay in Mexico City (from Sex work)
Image 15A sex worker in Berlin in 2001 (from Sex work)
Image 16Women in an early San Francisco bordello in 1870 (from Prostitution)
Image 17A 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 18Brothel scene; Brunswick Monogrammist, 1537; Gemäldegalerie, Berlin (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 22Prostitutes on display in Yoshiwara during the Meiji Period, Japan (from Prostitution)
Image 23News report about three brothels operating in Albuquerque, New Mexico that were raided by police in 1922 (from Prostitution)
Image 24Fresco from the Pompeii brothel (from Prostitution)
Image 25Prostitute c. 1890. (from Prostitution)
Image 26Statue 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)

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Selected general sex worker

Image 1

Kōji Wakamatsu in 1967
Kōji Wakamatsu (若松孝二, Wakamatsu Kōji, 1 April 1936 – 17 October 2012) was a Japanese film director who directed such pink films as Ecstasy of the Angels (天使の恍惚, Tenshi no Kōkotsu, 1972) and Go, Go, Second Time Virgin (ゆけゆけ二度目の処女, Yuke Yuke Nidome no Shojo, 1969). He also produced Nagisa Ōshima's controversial film In the Realm of the Senses (1976). He has been called "the most important director to emerge in the pink film genre," and one of "Japan's leading directors of the 1960s".

His 2010 film, Caterpillar, was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival. (Full article...)
Image 2

Dough at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo, January 2005

Jon Dough (born Chester "Chet" Joseph Anuszak; November 12, 1962 – August 27, 2006) was an American pornographic actor active between 1985 and 2006. (Full article...)
Image 3
Eri Kikuchi (Japanese: 菊池えり / 菊池エリ, Hepburn: Kikuchi Eri) is a pink film actress and an early Japanese AV idol of the 1980s. (Full article...)
Image 4

Kendra Jade (born April 19, 1977) is an American model, actress, and former adult film star. Jade appeared on the VH1 reality television series Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew and Sober House. During these shows, Jade was treated for sex addiction and alcoholism by Dr. Drew Pinsky. (Full article...)
Image 5

India at the 2002 Adult Entertainment Expo

India (born May 17, 1977) is a former pornographic actress, singer and rapper.

She began working as an adult actress in around 1998 and has since appeared in over 200 videos. For five years she was an exclusive contract girl for the production company Video Team, and she has an exclusive sex toy line, manufactured by California Exotic Novelties. (Full article...)
Image 6
Henry Saari (born 14 January 1964, in Pori, Finland), also known as Henry the Great (Henry Suuri) is a Finnish actor, director and porn star. In 1993, Saari won the title of Mr. Finland and placed 3rd in the Mr. Europe contest. He is known colloquially in Spanish-speaking countries as “El Cinturonero de Finland.”

Saari is best known for the five eponymous Henry the Great movies he directed and starred in between 1998 and 2001. Aside from his pornographic work, Saari had parts in the Hollywood movie History Is Made at Night (1999) and the mainstream Finnish movies Young Gods (2003) and Bunny the Killer Thing (2015). (Full article...)
Image 7
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 8
Elisabeth Eaves is an author and journalist born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia. (Full article...)
Image 9

Vanessa del Rio (born March 31, 1952) is an American retired pornographic actress. (Full article...)
Image 10
Long Dong Silver is a British retired porn star known for his large penis. He was born in 1960 in London, England, as Daniel Arthur Mead. His stage name is a reference to the fictional Treasure Island character Long John Silver. (Full article...)
Image 11

Valentine at a Penthouse talent call in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, December 2004

Stacy Valentine (born Stacy Baker on August 9, 1970) is an American former pornographic actress. She is a member of both the AVN and XRCO Halls of Fame. (Full article...)
Image 12

Hart in 2002

Jane Esther Hamilton (born October 27, 1956) is an American former pornographic actress and current adult film director who performed under the stage name Veronica Hart during the 1980s. She is sometimes credited as Jane Hamilton, V. Hart, Veronica Heart, Victoria Holt, Randee Styles or just Veronica. Hart is a member of the AVN Hall of Fame.
Director Paul Thomas Anderson has called her "the Meryl Streep of porn." (Full article...)
Image 13

Roberts in the early 2000s.

Nina Roberts is a French porn star, actress, author and contemporary artist (video and photo). (Full article...)
Image 14
Rene Bond (October 11, 1950 – June 2, 1996) was an American actress and pornographic actress. Bond began her acting career in softcore exploitation films produced by Harry Novak in the late 1960s before moving on to hardcore films in the early 1970s. She was active in the 1970s Los Angeles pornography scene, appearing in more than 80 films and loops. She was noted for her petite figure and conveyed innocence or naivete in her acting approach. (Full article...)
Image 15

Evans in 2019

Alana Evans is an American pornographic actress. She was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame in 2015 and the XRCO Hall of Fame in 2019. (Full article...)
Image 16

Lapiedra in an interview for 20 minutos, 2008

Lucía Lapiedra (born Miriam Sanchez on 31 January 1981) is a former Spanish pornographic actress, who has been called the Queen of Porn. (Full article...)
Image 17

Adams in 1986

Tracey Adams is an American former pornographic film actress who has also appeared in mainstream films. She is an AVN Hall of Fame founding inductee. (Full article...)
Image 18
Jeanette Dyrkjær (26 November 1963 – 29 July 2011) was a Danish nude model and adult actress. (Full article...)
Image 19

Weigel at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo on January 11, 2003

Teri Weigel (born 1961 or 1962) is an American former pornographic actress and Playboy Playmate. (Full article...)
Image 20
Hotaru Akane (Japanese: 紅音ほたる, Hepburn: Akane Hotaru, 25 October 1983 – 15 August 2016) also known as Anna Akizuki (秋月杏奈, Akizuki Anna) and Hotaru (ほたる) was a Japanese actress, HIV/AIDS activist, and pornographic actress. She was active in many media formats in Japan including mainstream theatrical film, and was a popular blogger. Her adeptness at female ejaculation in adult videos (AV) earned Akane the title, "Shiofuki Queen". She retired from AV work in 2008. (Full article...)
Image 21
Jacques Émile Edmond Insermini (24 October 1927 – 6 June 2024) was a French pornographic actor, stuntman, actor, and motorcyclist. In the 1970s, he primarily worked in erotic and pornographic cinema. (Full article...)
Image 22
Vednita Carter is an American anti-sex trafficking and anti-prostitution activist. Carter is an author and the executive director of Breaking Free, an organization which helps women seeking to leave prostitution. (Full article...)
Image 23

Tanzer in 2009

Philipp Tanzer (born 31 December 1977) is a German men's rights activist and former adult entertainer in gay films, in which he performed under the stage name Logan McCree.

After serving in the German military, Tanzer was part of the leather subculture in Germany. He began working with the adult entertainment company Raging Stallion Studios in the mid-2000s and became popular with both audiences and critics, being named Performer of the Year at the 2009 GayVN Awards and Gay Performer of the Year at the 2010 XBIZ Awards. He was known in the industry for his heavily tattooed body, which he views as an expression of his spiritual beliefs. (Full article...)
Image 24

Fine accepting an AVN Award in 2000

Jeanna Fine (born September 29, 1964) is an American former pornographic actress and erotic dancer. (Full article...)
Image 25

Ames at an AVN Awards show in Las Vegas, 2014

Mercedes Grabowski (August 23, 1994 – December 5, 2017), known professionally as August Ames, was a Canadian pornographic actress. She appeared in more than 100 films, including a non-pornographic film in 2016, and was nominated for several AVN Awards. With a self-disclosed history of sexual abuse and mental illness, Ames died by suicide in 2017 at the age of 23 after a social media backlash following a tweet she posted, due to some perceiving the tweet as homophobic. Her death led to considerable industry attention, as discussion circulated as to the degree of the influence of cancel culture. (Full article...)

Did you know...

... that a Harvey's franchise known for being a hub for sex work was described by one artist as a "legendary Toronto icon"?
... 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 the posthumously released documentary Clean centered on the life of Sandra Pankhurst, a former sex worker, drag queen, and crime scene cleaner?