“We're basically just naked therapists”: Sex work, stigma, and psychological empowerment

The criminalization of sex work continues to stigmatize people who sell sex. Nevertheless, people who sell sex are not a monolith. In this study, we draw from semistructured interviews with 50 active sex workers, most of whom were white and from middle-class backgrounds, to show how they experienced empowerment in their work. We use Zimmerman’s concept of psychological empowerment to unpack how empowerment was both a process and an outcome for the workers. Empowered processes included business acumen, soft skills, and risk management, allowing for empowered outcomes: money and autonomy, self-esteem and pride, and deeper meanings related to helping others. Access to digital platforms played a key role in facilitating this empowerment. The workers in our study were well aware of the prevailing stereotypes and stigma applied to their work, but they mitigated the risks associated with stigma through the use of digital technology to access helpful virtual communities. Although sex workers’ empowerment was largely enabled by their socioeconomic privilege, stigma played a key role in their sense of empowerment.