Papers
No. 3 (2024)
Sex work is at home. Research insights between geographies of housing and prostitution
Abstract
To inquire the spaces of sex work is not merely to locate where prostitution occurs, but primarily to investigate the intricate dynamics that emerge at the intersection of geography and sex work. Where to begin, then? from home. Contrarily to what commonly perceived, sex workers do not live constantly in high heels and miniskirts. Rather, they engage in a variety of housing arrangements – they rent, buy, dwell, squat, face eviction, and establish solidarity networks. Thus, sex work serves as a lens through which critically examinining housing systems and their inherent constraints. Drawing upon an analysis of academic and non- academic literature, this article proposes to read them with a focus on the house and home. By placing the home at the forefront, the article proposes a research agenda aimed at recognizing the experiences of sex workers as significative to analyze and disrupt the structural dynamics that dictate access to urban spaces, homespaces in particular.
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