The New School Graduate Program in International Affairs

12:10 - 1:30pm

Henry Cohen Conference Room, 72 Fifth Ave, 3rd Floor

 
When a client approaches a prostitute, he is rarely thinking about buying school supplies for her children, and she is perhaps just as unlikely to be interested in the sex. Yet these material exchanges are the foundation of the sex economy. Indeed, if there is one unifying factor in the experiences of sex workers, it is money. At the same time, sex work is an enormously risky endeavor, and sex workers must continually negotiate threats to their health, safety and economic security. This talk presents findings from a multi-year study of the commercial sex market in Managua, Nicaragua, including a formal survey of 138 sex workers, 90 hours of observation in various workplaces, and 23 long interviews with sex workers. The research focuses on two questions. First, how do sex workers make decisions about risk, and negotiate appropriate compensation? Second, what impact do working conditions have on the risks sex workers take, and the rewards they can demand? The answers to these questions can inform policy interventions targeted to specific working conditions, as well as broadening conceptualizations of risk in commercial sex.