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...)

Selected article - show another

A sex show is a form of live performance that features one or more performers engaging in some form of sexual activity on stage for the entertainment or sexual gratification of spectators. Performers are paid either by the spectators or by the organisers of the show. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

Selected images

Image 1News report about three brothels operating in Albuquerque, New Mexico that were raided by police in 1922 (from Prostitution)
Image 2Stickers affixed to a payphone in São Paulo, 2006 (from Prostitution)
Image 3An Ancient Greek urn depicts a prostitute and her client. (from Sex work)
Image 4A street prostitute talking to a potential customer in Turin, Italy, 2005 (from Prostitution)
Image 5A political cartoon from 1787 jesting about the notion of taxation affecting prostitutes (from Prostitution)
Image 6Prostitution Information Centre in Amsterdam (from Prostitution)
Image 7Fresco from the Pompeii brothel (from Prostitution)
Image 8Sex workers demonstrating for better working conditions at the 2009 Marcha Gay in Mexico City (from Sex work)
Image 9World 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 10A 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 11Brothel scene; Brunswick Monogrammist, 1537; Gemäldegalerie, Berlin (from Prostitution)
Image 12A 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 13The red light district in Amsterdam (from Sex work)
Image 14The Procuress by Dirck van Baburen (1622) (from Prostitution)
Image 15A prostitute in Amsterdam's red-light district talks with a potential customer. (from Prostitution)
Image 16De Wallen red-light district in Amsterdam (from Prostitution)
Image 17Kisaeng women from outcast or slave families. (from Prostitution)
Image 18Prostitutes on display in Yoshiwara during the Meiji Period, Japan (from Prostitution)
Image 19Statue 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)
Image 20Women in an early San Francisco bordello in 1870 (from Prostitution)
Image 21World map of pornography (18+) laws
  Pornography legal
  Pornography legal under some restrictions
  Pornography illegal
  Data unavailable
(from Sex work)
Image 22Tart cards in a British phone box advertising the services of call girls (from Prostitution)
Image 23A liberated Chinese girl who had been forced in to sexual slavery by the Japanese military sits on a stretcher and speaks to a British military serviceman. (from Prostitution)
Image 24An oiran preparing herself for a client, ukiyo-e print by Suzuki Haronubu (1765) (from Prostitution)
Image 25
  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 26A sex worker in Berlin in 2001 (from Sex work)
Image 27Prostitute c. 1890. (from Prostitution)

Related portals

Selected general sex worker

Image 1

Katja K, also known as Katja Kean and Sussi la Cour Dollenz (born 7 February 1968 in Denmark as Sussi la Cour), is a Danish and international former pornographic actress, businesswoman, sitcom actress, singer, columnist, author, and media personality. Sussi La Cour studied experience leadership (Danish oplevelsesledelse) at Roskilde Universitetscenter (RUC) in Denmark. She married Constance co-star Marco Dollenz whose last name she took in 2016. She later divorced her husband She owned an underwear company, Katja K Underwear, for women with an edge, which she ran for five years. Author Henrik List wrote a biography (based on interviews with her) titled Katja KXXX – Stjerne I Syndens By (ISBN 9788779730533). These days she works as a project manager for an upscale boutique hotel in France.(year 2024) (Full article...)
Image 2

Andrews attending Bloomingdale's 150th Anniversary event in 2022

Jessie Andrews is an American designer, producer, model, DJ, and former adult film actress. and was eventually awarded for her performance in Portrait of a Call Girl. She also received several Best New Starlet awards.

In 2012, Andrews launched her own jewelry line Bagatiba (bagātība being Latvian for opulence). She has modeled for clothing companies including American Apparel. She writes a sex advice column for Galore Magazine. (Full article...)
Image 3
Sharon Kane (born Sharon Louise Cain; February 24, 1956) is a former American bondage model and pornographic actress. She has appeared in many adult magazines and pornographic films, in both dominant and submissive roles.

After leaving her home state of Ohio to move to San Francisco, she began working at porn director Alex De Renzy's theater before making her feature film debut in his film Pretty Peaches. (Full article...)
Image 4
Emma Jane Evelyn Benton-Hughes (born 1964) known as Eve Vorley is an English football club director and former glamour model, pornographic actress and film director. She is the former partner of West Ham United owner, David Sullivan. Vorley was appointed to the board of West Ham United in January 2021. (Full article...)
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María de la Caridad Norberta Pacheco Sánchez (6 June 1879 – 1 March 1960), better known by her nickname Caridad la Negra, was a Spanish prostitute and madam, renowned for her activity during the last years of the Restoration and her protection of people and property during the Spanish Civil War. (Full article...)
Image 6

Banderas attending the XBIZ Awards at Avalon, Hollywood, California, February 2010

Edgard Fabián Etchenique Picardo (born 13 October 1967), known professionally as Marco Banderas, is a Spanish pornographic actor of Uruguayan origin. (Full article...)
Image 7

Stevens attending the AVN Awards show at the Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada in 2010

Tabitha Stevens (born February 16, 1970) is an American pornographic actress. In 2007 she was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame. (Full article...)
Image 8

Rika Hoshimi in 2019
Rika Hoshimi (Japanese: 星美りか, Hepburn: Hoshimi Rika) is a Japanese former AV idol, gravure model and actress. (Full article...)
Image 9
Projekt Melody, or more commonly known as Melody (Japanese: メロディー) for short, is a 3D anime-styled live streamer, or VTuber, and pornographic actress. She first appeared when her Twitter account opened in July 2019, and she has live streamed on Chaturbate and Twitch since early 2020. During her first three days of Chaturbate streaming, Melody's Twitter followers rose from 700 to over 20,000, and her sudden rise in popularity had mixed reactions. In late 2020, Melody became a founding member of VShojo, one of the first VTuber talent agencies based in the Western world. She describes herself as an artificial intelligence, although she is performed by a real person. (Full article...)
Image 10

Roxx in 2007

Lara Roxx (born June 5, 1982) is a Canadian former pornographic actress who, in March 2004, became the first of three known individuals in four years to contract HIV while making a U.S. pornographic video. (Full article...)
Image 11
Scott O'Hara (October 16, 1961 – February 18, 1998) was an American pornographic performer, author, poet, editor and publisher. He rose to prominence during the mid-1980s for his work in such gay adult films as Winner Takes All, Below The Belt and In Your Wildest Dreams. O'Hara wrote four books: SeXplorers: The Guide to Doing It on the Road, Do It Yourself Piston Polishing (for Non-Mechanics), Autopornography: A Memoir of Life in the Lust Lane, and Rarely Pure and Never Simple: Selected Essays of Scott O'Hara, and edited and published the quarterly men's sex journal Steam and the cultural magazine Wilde. (Full article...)
Image 12
Marlene Willoughby is an American former adult film actress and model who also made occasional appearances in mainstream film, television and theatre. (Full article...)
Image 13

Zdrok at the Big Apple Convention in Manhattan, June 8, 2008

Victoria Nika Zdrok (Ukrainian: Вікторія Здрок; born 3 March 1973) is a Ukrainian-American pornographic actress, author, and model. She is Playboy's Playmate for October 1994. In June 2002 she became Penthouse magazine's Pet of the Month, later being chosen as their 2004 Penthouse Pet of the Year. Zdrok is also a non-practicing attorney, a clinical psychologist and sex therapist. (Full article...)
Image 14

Max Hardcore at the AVN Expo in Las Vegas, 2015

Paul F. Little (August 10, 1956 – March 27, 2023) was an American pornographic actor, producer, and director better known by his stage name Max Hardcore. He rose to prominence in 1992 with the film series The Anal Adventures of Max Hardcore, which in 1994 was awarded the X-Rated Critics Organization's award for Best Amateur or Pro-Am series. Former AVN writer, Gerrie Lim, has classified Hardcore's works as gonzo pornography and "testing the limits of acceptability". He was a member of the X-Rated Critics Organization's Hall of Fame. He spent two and a half years in prison (2009–2011), convicted in a trial for obscenity. (Full article...)
Image 15

Tyson in 2005

Tiger Tyson is an American actor in gay pornographic films. (Full article...)
Image 16

Hollander in 2008

Xaviera Hollander (born 15 June 1943) is a Dutch former call girl, madam and author. She is best known for her best-selling memoir The Happy Hooker: My Own Story. (Full article...)
Image 17

Banks in 2016

Briana Banks (born 21 May 1978) is a German-American pornographic actress and model. She was the Penthouse Pet of the Month for June 2001. She is a member of the AVN Hall of Fame and XRCO Hall of Fame. (Full article...)
Image 18

Dillon at the 2013 Adult Entertainment Expo

Ashley Stamm-Northup (née Levis), professionally known as Danica Dillon is an American pornographic actress who debuted in 2009 and then went on to appear in mainstream (non-adult) roles in cable television movies. Dillon is also a featured dancer at men's clubs and is a featured guest on radio and podcast shows. (Full article...)
Image 19

François Sagat at the Folsom Street Fair in 2009

François Sagat (born 5 June 1979) is a French male gay pornographic film actor, model and director. (Full article...)
Image 20
Terri Hall (born Terri Marie Hall; January 25, 1953 – June 5, 2007) was an American erotic actress in adult films from 1974 to 1984, during the Golden Age of Porn (1969–1984). Notable films include: Alice In Wonderland (1976), The Opening of Misty Beethoven (1975), The Story of Joanna (1975), Through the Looking Glass (1976) and The World of Henry Paris (1981). Hall worked with several notable adult film directors, including Gerard Damiano, Radley Metzger (aka "Henry Paris") and Bill Osco. She was a former ballet dancer and, as well, served as a model for photographers, such as Robert Mapplethorpe, and artists, such as Sir Alex Schloss and Gloria Schloss. Hall was featured in several US magazines, including Playboy and Sir!. Her work as a model has been displayed at the Whitney Museum of American Art. (Full article...)
Image 21

Stoya at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in 2014

Stoya is an American pornographic actress, actress, model, and writer. (Full article...)
Image 22
Emese Sáfrány (born 6 August 1988), known by her stage name Aleska Diamond, is a Hungarian acrobat, instructor, former pornographic actress, and former call girl. She won the AVN Award for female foreign performer of the year in 2012 and 2013. (Full article...)
Image 23

Yoshikawa in 2017
Aimi Yoshikawa (Japanese: 吉川あいみ, Hepburn: Yoshikawa Aimi) (born 20 March 1994) is a Japanese gravure idol, actress, and retired AV idol. Active between 2012 and 2018, she starred in over 200 adult films during her career and was known for her short height and large breasts. (Full article...)
Image 24

Chong in 2000

Grace Quek (Chinese: 郭盈恩; pinyin: Guō Yíng'ēn), known professionally as Annabel Chong, is a Singaporean former pornographic actress who became famous after starring in an adult film that was promoted as the World's Biggest Gang Bang. The film was commercially successful and started a trend of "record-breaking" gang bang pornography. Four years later, Quek was the subject of the documentary Sex: The Annabel Chong Story, in which she was interviewed about her pornography career. She retired from the adult industry completely in 2003 to work in software engineering. (Full article...)
Image 25

Michaels in Los Angeles, California in 2011

Sean Michaels (born February 20, 1958) is an American pornographic actor, model, director and former trade union leader. In 2002, AVN ranked him 14th on their list of The Top 50 Porn Stars of All Time. Michaels has also been inducted into the AVN, NightMoves, and XRCO Halls of Fame. (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 the posthumously released documentary Clean centered on the life of Sandra Pankhurst, a former sex worker, drag queen, and crime scene cleaner?