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

Prostitution in Australia is governed by state and territory laws, which vary considerably, although none ban prostitution outright.

Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia operate under an abolitionism framework, where the selling of sex itself is not illegal, but activities such as keeping brothels and pimping are illegal.
Queensland operates under a legalization framework, where sex work is legal, but brothels must be licensed and can face criminal penalties for operating without a license. Private sex work is legal if the sex worker is working alone. A bill was introduced into the Parliament of Queensland on 15 February 2024 to decriminalise most criminal penalties relating to sex work, such as the requirement for brothels to be licensed or for sex workers outside of licensed brothels to have to work alone.
The Northern Territory, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria operate under a decriminalisation framework, where most criminal penalties associated with sex work have been removed and brothels or prostitutes are not required to be licensed, however all jurisdictions still have some remaining regulations in regards to where prostitutes or brothels can operate, or on other activities such as advertising.

There is no evidence of pre-colonial prostitution amongst Indigenous Australians, however sexual practices more consistent with the modern understanding of polygamy were common, such as the exchange of women to demonstrate friendship. Colonial-era prostitution was controlled via legislation such as the colonial versions of the Contagious Diseases Acts, passed in Victoria and Queensland. Although colonies such as South Australia chose not to pass any CD Act, seeing it as "infringement on the rights of women and official condoning of immorality". After Federation, criminal law was left in the hands of the states, which by and large did not make selling of sex itself illegal, although many acts associated with it such as solicitation, brothel keeping, and leasing accommodations were made illegal. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

Selected images

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

Related portals

Selected general sex worker

Image 1

Hart at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in 2008

Carmen Hart (born March 12, 1984) is an American former pornographic actress and exotic dancer from North Carolina. (Full article...)
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Randy West in 2009

Randy West (born Andrew Jay Abrams; October 12, 1947) is a retired American pornographic actor. (Full article...)
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Tristan Taormino in 2013

Tristan Taormino (born May 9, 1971) is an American feminist author, columnist, sex educator, activist, editor, speaker, radio host, and pornographic film director. She is most recently known for her book Opening Up: A Guide to Creating and Sustaining Open Relationships, which is often recommended as a starter guide to polyamory and non-monogamy. (Full article...)
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Michael Lucas (born Andrei Lvovich Treivas (Russian: Андрей Львович Трейвас), 1972) is a Russian-American-Israeli businessman, performer, founder, and CEO of Lucas Entertainment, Manhattan's largest gay adult film company.

The New Republic dubbed Lucas "Gay Porn's Neocon Kingpin". He contends that his film Michael Lucas' La Dolce Vita is the most expensive gay porn film ever made, with a budget of $250,000 and multiple celebrity cameos. In 2009, Lucas was inducted into the GayVN Hall of Fame, noted for "his stature as an A-list director and performer". (Full article...)
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Lane in 2009

Sunny Lane is an American pornographic actress and nude model. She is a member of the NightMoves, AVN, and XRCO Halls of Fame. (Full article...)
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Carol Connors is an American former pornographic actress. She starred in about 20 adult movies between 1971 and 1981. Married to fellow former porn star Jack Birch, she is the mother of actress Thora Birch. (Full article...)
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Michael Skrzypcak (September 24, 1954 – February 19, 1988) best known by his stage name Eric Stryker, was an American gay pornographic performer and model. He was known for his handsome blond features and his muscular physique. He also performed as Noel Kemp for Colt Studio, Mike Kelly, Mike Saunders and, Michael John Saunders.

In 1984, shortly after his lover died from AIDS, Stryker was diagnosed with HIV. His response was to focus his activities away from the life of a porn star and become an activist for AIDS awareness. Stryker continued his studies in architecture at Woodbury University and his regular workouts. As he put it, "I live for the day." He worked with the AIDS Couples Group and lectured around the country for the AIDS Project Los Angeles. In 1987, he appeared in the documentary It Starts with A, his last film appearance. In his last public appearance, his body showing the effects of Kaposi's sarcoma, he marched in the Christopher Street West parade in Los Angeles in a tank top and shorts, becoming one of the early persons with the disease to publicly display its symptoms. On February 19, 1988, he died of AIDS at Sherman Oaks Community Hospital. He was 33. (Full article...)
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Hardy in 2011

Amanda Hardy, known professionally as Shyla Stylez (September 23, 1982 — November 9, 2017) was a Canadian-born American pornographic actress from Armstrong, British Columbia. (Full article...)
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Silvera in 2007

Joey Silvera (born December 20, 1951) is an American pornographic film director and former actor.

He has been involved in the pornographic industry since the early 1970s. A native of upstate New York, he first started performing in San Francisco in 1974, and went on to appear in more than 1,000 videos. In the early 1990s, Silvera went on to direct videos for his own company. His movies were first distributed by Devil's Film, and he later was invited to join John Stagliano's Evil Angel. (Full article...)
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Ryan Idol (born August 10, 1966) is an American gay pornographic film actor who performed in the 1990s and later onstage in mainstream theater. He has French, Irish, and Native American ancestry. Idol describes himself as "the creation of Marc Anthony Donais". (Full article...)
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Mark Shannon (born Manlio Cersosimo; 8 December 1939 – 11 May 2018), sometimes also billed as Mark Shanon or Mark Channon, was an Italian pornographic actor active mainly from 1979 to 1988 and cast - often as protagonist - in more than 30 Italian adult films, many of which were produced, lensed and directed by Joe D'Amato. He was the first Italian male protagonist in Italian cinema performing non-simulated sex on screen and has been called the first Italian "pornodivo". (Full article...)
Image 12
Darren James (born Darren Keith Edwards; February 25, 1964) is an American former pornographic actor and director. He gained notoriety after he contracted HIV and infected three pornographic actresses in 2004. (Full article...)
Image 13

Manning at Aqua Lounge, Beverly Hills, California, February 2010

Nick Manning (born May 28, 1967) is an American pornographic actor and director. He has made several mainstream appearances, including Crank: High Voltage, Hogan Knows Best, and Sons of Anarchy. Manning portrayed a strip club owner in the 2011 independent film Cherry Bomb, his first non-pornographic lead role. In 2014, he was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame. (Full article...)
Image 14
Jean Mode (born 1922) is an American former burlesque star and erotic dancer. (Full article...)
Image 15

Seka at the 2007 AVN Awards

Seka (born Dorothiea Ivonniea Hundley, April 15, 1954) also known as Dorothea Hundley Patton, is an entrepreneur and retired American pornographic actress who performed full-time from 1977 to 1982, and on a limited basis in the mid-1990s and early 2000s. She was known as the Platinum Princess of Porn. In 2013, she released her autobiography about her life and career, titled Inside Seka. (Full article...)
Image 16

Fernando in 2006

Don Fernando (born April 12, 1948) is a director and actor of pornographic films. He started in the pornography business in 1977 and performed for 39 consecutive years; the longest tenure for any male pornographic film actor in the world, until his retirement in 2016 at which time, he started a successful wedding video/documentary business based in Honolulu. Because of his high libido and sexual endurance during his performances in adult film and video productions on 3 continents, he was known in the United States and Europe as "Mr. Reliable", and in Japan as "Superman of Video Sex". As a director, he specialized in performing with Asian females, and thus earned the moniker "Asianman". He won the Best Supporting Actor Award twice (1995 and in 2005) during the Festival de Cine Erotica-Barcelona Fernando was inducted into the X-Rated Critics Organization Hall of Fame in 1997. In 1998 he started directing and still continued acting. In 1999 he opened his personal website named Don Fernando's Asian X Club, featuring Asian and Eurasian females - many of which performed exclusively in front of his cameras. He was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame during the 2004 AVN Awards. (Full article...)
Image 17
Valérie Tasso is a French writer, lecturer, research worker, and sex therapist, currently living in Barcelona, Spain. She has several university degrees (Economical Sciences, Foreign Applied languages), and in 2006, she graduated in Sex Therapy from The Institute of Sexology (IN.CI.SEX El Instituto de Sexología,) in Madrid.

In 1999, she worked as a prostitute for six months, out of curiosity. In 2003, she wrote her sexual experiences in the book Insatiable – The sexual adventures of a French Girl in Spain. This first book has been an international best-seller, and is the basis of the script for the film Diary of a Nymphomaniac directed by Christian Molina. She has written three more books. (Full article...)
Image 18

Ireland at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2008

Kylie Ireland (born May 26, 1970) is an American pornographic actress, film director, producer, publicist, and satellite radio show host. She is an inductee into the AVN, XRCO, and NightMoves Halls of Fame. (Full article...)
Image 19
An Nanba (Japanese: 南波杏, Hepburn: Nanba An) also known as Ann Nanba is a former Japanese adult video (AV) actress who had a long and prolific career in the adult entertainment industry. At the beginning of 2009, the DMM and Amazon sites both listed more than 250 DVDs available under her name. She retired from AV work in 2008. (Full article...)
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Tyler in 2001

Nikki Tyler (born December 4, 1972, in Berkeley, California) is a former pornographic actress best known for her work in the 1990s and for her selection as the December 1995 Penthouse Pet of the Month. (Full article...)
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Brown at the AVN Awards on January 19, 2013

CoCo Brown is an American rapper, DJ and former pornographic actress. (Full article...)
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Whitney Wright (born September 20, 1991) is an American pornographic actress. (Full article...)
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Jon Vincent (also known as Dave Phillips and John St. Vincent) (17 December 1962 – 3 May 2000) was an American pornographic actor who appeared in gay and bisexual pornography. (Full article...)
Image 24
Onai Malik, born Onaza Malik in 1990 or 1991, known professionally as Nadia Ali, is a Pakistani-born American former pornographic actress, who worked as an adult actress from 2015 to 2016. (Full article...)
Image 25
Lilliane Catherine Diomi (born June 1, 2001), known professionally as ppcocaine (previously known as trapbunniebubbles), is an American social media personality and rapper. She is perhaps best known for her song "3 Musketeers" that gained popularity on the video-sharing platform TikTok. (Full article...)

Did you know...

... 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?
... that a Harvey's franchise known for being a hub for sex work was described by one artist as a "legendary Toronto icon"?