The OED definition provided in the wiki is not sensible. Are the employees of any store that sells condoms ‘sex workers’? Of course not. I’d say anyone engaged in sex for a living, or providing sexual entertainment could be considered a sex worker. I don’t usually classify strippers that way, but let’s be serious here, strip clubs aren’t in business to support the arts. If you’re not a prostitute but still selling your body for sexual entertainment, even if it’s just to look at, you’re a sex worker. But if it’s not sex, and it’s not for entertainment purposes, you’re not a sex worker in my book. How some nude models and actresses should be categorized is going to be tricky. I probably don’t recall this Winston Churchill quote correctly but I think it was “We already determined you’re a whore, but I’m not paying you more than five pounds.”
Well, a sexual harasser doesn’t usually engage in sex during harassment.
We’re discussing the meaning of a phrase, for which we are taking a straw poll - I was not claiming that my opinion was definitive. It’s just a question of consensus usage, if there is a consensus at all - it honestly sounds like there is not. But I don’t think the exact meaning of some other phrase that contains the same word is really relevant. Language isn’t that consistent or logical. My view is that there’s an obvious reason (social stigma) why people who do not engage in actual sex might not self-identify as sex workers. But perhaps this isn’t something where self-identification trumps broader usage.
From a Neil Gaiman comic, one stripper to another: “*You *might be in the sex industry, but I’m in Showbiz.”
And of course strippers vary a lot. Would this lovely avant garde burlesque show be called “sex work”?
TEASE, If You Please! Burlesque Show
But a girl masturbating with a dildo as her customers masturbate- that could be a sex worker.
WTF? I was not claiming that you claimed your opinion was definitive.
That’s nice. It seems you took my simple comment as a critique of yours. Lighten up.
I was not claiming that you claimed that I claimed my opinion was definitive. I had some further thoughts, and was adding them. It seems you took my simple comments as a critique of yours. Lighten up:)
Your insinuation that I did was heavy enough for me to warrant it as a claim, so neener-neener-neener.
I am bested, I yield.
Put it this way: if someone is introduced as a law enforcement officer, I’m gonna feel cheated if I later find out they’re a mall security guard or IRS agent.
What special tax stipulations are there for sex workers???
That’s perhaps a difference between ‘sex’ and ‘sexual’.
A ‘sexual harasser’ doesn’t typically engage in sex during harassment, but I would argue that a ‘sex harasser’ does.
Similarly, I would argue that a ‘sexual worker’ might include strippers, but a ‘sex worker’ would not.
Of course, as these terms are all ill-defined, this is mere opinion.
As they get older, they can take depreciation on their bodies.
Sextion 179?
I’d say yes, a sex worker is someone whose occupation it is to provide personal services for the purpose of providing sexual gratification to the customer. So prostitutes, strippers, sex cam workers and the like are all sex workers. And the industry they work in is the sex industry.
Ultimately, it’s a matter of how you define the term, and definition are a matter of choice; not everybody will employ the same definition. And of course it has no implications for the actual substance of the occupation; a stripper does what a stripper does, regardless of whether you class them as a sex worker or not.
Come on man! It’s clearly Sextion 69!
It varies greatly by location. Pole dancing with pasties on is marginal. However, the main strip clubs I have been to are in Rhode Island and usually in the VIP room. It is like a small, private hotel room with a couch and bouncer outside the door. It is expensive but that is the only thing some of the 9’s and 10’s will do. They only do their obligatory pole dances on stage to attract the customers that will pay a lot for a private session and it is usually worth it.
I guess you could call them lapdances if you really stretched the definition but it is really a full nudity, full contact sex show that usually has them laying on top of you several times during a 15 minute session. There is now no real sex involved for the most part but there was not that long ago until Rhode Island tightened its laws on such things at least a little. Still, there is no doubt that you are paying $140 - $300 for an experience as close to sex as possible. Different strippers have different rules but they are all very permissive compared to anything that is legally allowed in most states.
Those types of strippers definitely qualify as sex workers and they are gorgeous and amazing at it. I go as a favor to whatever girlfriend I have at the time because it usually keeps me horny for about a month afterwards.
I think a stripper is an entertainer.
I think the woman that gives me a happy ending is a masseuse.
Yes. “Sex worker” is a broad term describing those in certain types of industries. It’s not a euphemism for prostitute.
Prostitutes, ‘exocitc dancers’. ‘adult’ performers are all sex workers.
Sex toy testers are just QC.
What makes an “exotic dancer” a sex worker?