A Labour of Sex? Female and Male Prostitution

Female and male prostitution presents a 'dilemma' for researchers, activists, policy makers, and policing agencies. As a practice, prostitution cannot be eradicated, and yet, unregulated, it presents a moral and ethical challenge for both supporters and antagonists, as well as being perceived as a threat to public health and law and order. In response, Australian jurisdictions have developed complex laws governing where prostitutes are allowed to work. These laws have influenced the way in which prostitution is practised. ... Sexual services performed by prostitutes can range from 'straight forward' penetrative sex to more specialised types of services involving the fulfilment of fantasies or fetishes. The sex industry involves a host of players, including clientele, owners, managers and the staff of commercial establishments, and regulatory agents such as police. In Australia and New Zealand, although male and transgendered people work in the sex industry, the vast majority of prostitutes are female and the vast majority of clients male. As such, gender has been a key issue in attempts to understand prostitution in terms of supply and demand. Why do people 'become' prostitutes? Why do people seek their services? In social scientific terms, these questions are regularly examined in therms of locating the causes of prostitution. As will be shown in this chapter, cultural understandings of gender have informed the way in which prostitution has been organised, understood, and governed.