Migrant and Minority Backgrounds

On a global level, race, ethnicity and religion are not determinative factors in sex workers’ profiles. Black or white, Slavic or Andean, Catholic or Muslim, prostitutes can be found everywhere. Within most cities and regions, however, the population of sex workers has changed tremendously, shifting from a local, homogenous labour force to one more international and heterogeneous. Two types of migration have influenced this long-term evolution. The first derives from gradually increasing mobility due to transport developments, globalization and—in some places—eased border controls. In early modern Amsterdam, for example, the proportion of foreign prostitutes was 30 per cent, and now it is over 70 per cent. ⁹ At the beginning of the twentieth century, nearly all the prostitutes in Lagos were Nigerian, but since the 1990s an increasing number of sex workers hail from other African countries or Asia. ¹⁰ Nevertheless, heterogeneity has not been constantly on the increase because the direction of migration depends upon economic circumstances. For example, the percentage of foreign prostitutes in Amsterdam temporarily increased during the city’s “golden” seventeenth century, when Dutch prosperity and job opportunities attracted people from less well-off regions. When the good times ended, however, their numbers decreased before rising once again as the economy picked back up. ¹¹

The second type of migration encompasses the organized forced relocations that took place in colonial contexts. As such removals were generally undertaken on a large scale, the impact on the make-up of prostitute populations was far more abrupt. For example, many early modern slaves were captured and sold in order to serve as sex workers, and as a result of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, Latin American saloons, lodging houses, and the like were already filled with black prostitutes in the sixteenth century. ¹² While racial heterogeneity marked that region’s sex industry from very early on, black prostitutes seem to have been rather exceptional in eighteenth-century London, ¹³ and racial diversity arrived even later in smaller cities.

While sex workers were not the only people involved in either of these two types of migration, and slaves were not forced into prostitution in all societies, migrants were—and are—overrepresented among prostitute populations. In the United Kingdom of today, the share of migrants among prostitutes is two to three times higher than in the general population: 41 per cent versus 12 per cent throughout the entire country, and 80 per cent as opposed to 42 per cent in London. ¹⁴ Proportions may vary, but the correlation has not; migrants have historically been overrepresented among prostitutes. Momentarily setting aside the slave trade, migrants have been especially numerous in the sex industry for two primary reasons. Firstly, prostitution can be the result of migration. Newcomers to an area are more likely to become prostitutes than locals because of economic hardship. They often find themselves at a disadvantage in the labour market because of discrimination, or simply because they lack the right contacts or educational background. ¹⁵ Yet while the current situation may appear to be exacerbated in this regard purely as a result of the distances involved, the reality is that the way in which societies perceive insiders vs. outsiders has changed alongside migration patterns. In seventeenth-century Europe, for example, people coming from other towns were considered outsiders even if they had resided in the same country.

Secondly, prostitution can be the cause of migration, as the sex trade has always been characterised by a certain degree of mobility. Sex workers tend to migrate more often than other people for various reasons: to keep making a profit, to explore new and promising markets, to escape from stigma or prosecution, and so on. Since they also seek prosperity, the direction they travel usually does not differ from that of other migrants, although they tend to opt more often for destinations with a male surplus. In particular, two migration flows involving sex workers have attracted the attention of commentators and scholars: the so-called “white slave trade” during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the contemporary movements of sex workers from both ex-colonies and the former Soviet Union. The interest in these particular migrants derives from the alleged involvement of human traffickers and coercion. This topic is discussed elsewhere in this volume, but it should be stated here that organised migration is a complex phenomenon, involving both the coerced and the willing. ¹⁶ Furthermore, not all prostitute migration is the result of trafficking. However, the focus of this chapter is the consequence of any type of mobility: increasing heterogeneity among prostitute populations. Having said that, migration is not the only factor at play here.

The descendants of migrants or minorities can face the same difficulties and discrimination that their ancestors did. Indeed, the largest discrepancies between general and prostitute populations can be found in regions characterised by high levels of xenophobia. In Latin America, for example, the Spanish and Portuguese coerced black and indigenous women into prostitution. ¹⁷ After slavery was formally abolished, these groups remained overrepresented among sex workers because former slaves had few professional options outside of domestic service or prostitution. ¹⁸ Similarly, black people in the United States were excluded from a wide range of professions until the 1960s, and this clearly had repercussions on the prostitute population—at least, in the twentieth century. In the nineteenth century, black women were underrepresented in the North American sex industry because white men, who made up the majority of clients, preferred white women. ¹⁹ By 1917, however, 22 per cent of New York’s prostitutes were African American, although blacks only made up 3 per cent of the city’s total population. ²⁰ Much smaller divergences are usually expected when official segregation is absent; yet, whenever minorities face discrimination in the job market or grow up in environments with few social-economic prospects, they still are more likely to turn to prostitution than members of the dominant society. In present-day Chicago, the proportion of black women among arrested prostitutes is 74 per cent, even though black people only constitute 36 per cent of the total population. While this discrepancy does reflect a real difference, what it mainly tells us is that black sex workers tend to be streetwalkers, the sector most likely to draw the attention of the authorities. Meanwhile, Asian women typically work in massage parlours, Latinas in clubs and bars, and Caucasians in escort services—the less visible sides of the sex industry. ²¹ This stratification along racial lines only confirms that minorities in the United States still face inequality at all levels of society, despite the election of the country’s first black president.

However, such segregation in sex work is not unique to the United States, and examples can be found everywhere, although it isn’t always the local population that has the advantage. ²² In colonial Hanoi, regulations regarding prostitution made distinctions between various groups. Japanese prostitutes were seen as both more elegant and healthier than their local colleagues and therefore they could charge tenfold what the Vietnamese sex workers made. The most luxurious and expensive, however, were European prostitutes. ²³ Such formal hierarchies may have disappeared over the course of the twentieth century, but as the Chicago example demonstrates, informal pecking orders continue to exist. And at present, the position of various ethnic groups largely depends upon the local situation. For example, Rio de Janeiro was once characterized by extreme racial segregation, but prostitutes now describe themselves as blond, brown, or mulatta rather than black or white. ²⁴ In present-day Moscow, however, Russians usually inhabit the upper echelons of the sex industry, whereas the lowest are mostly comprised of women from other regions of the former Soviet Union. While the former work in hotels, the latter—the bomzhi—solicit customers in railway stations and truck stops. ²⁵

Before concluding this section on sex workers’ backgrounds, it is necessary to emphasise that locals are never entirely absent from the prostitute population. While they may be less numerous, they are always present, especially in smaller, poorer locales. As mentioned above, 41 per cent of the u.k.’s sex workers are foreigners, but this means that 59 per cent—the majority, in fact—are not. However, local women are more likely to work in the more discrete sectors of the trade, while migrants tend to be more visible, strongly reinforcing the belief that all sex workers are foreigners. In turn, this has had a huge impact on public opinion, which incorrectly characterizes prostitution as an “outsider profession” even though local women sell most of the sex. At the same time, however, the overrepresentation of migrants and minorities in the industry, as well as its stratification along those lines, do confirm that marginalized groups are more likely to take the lowest-ranked places in any social hierarchy.

Educational Levels

In the past, prostitutes were primarily drawn from the illiterate masses, but their educational levels have evolved. As schooling for girls became more widespread, sex workers became substantially better educated than their predecessors. In short, their range of educational levels came to reflect that of their contemporaries. The question now facing us is whether people with a lower than average level of schooling are overrepresented in sex work. Unfortunately, this is difficult to determine, particularly in relation to the past. For example, in nineteenth-century Havana, prostitutes were illiterate, while few sex workers in Istanbul ever attended school until well into the twentieth century. ²⁶ Yet, these findings may not indicate any divergence from the general population; education for girls was limited or sometimes even prohibited in Havana, while in Istanbul, less than 10 per cent of women were literate in 1935. ²⁷

In some places, the data suggests that the lowest educated women were overrepresented among prostitutes, at least to a small degree. In nineteenth-century Bruges, for example, 49 per cent of prostitutes were unable to write their own names, while only 41 per cent of the total female population was illiterate, and similar figures are available for Florence. ²⁸ Meanwhile, in contemporary western Europe, prostitutes do have lower than average levels of education—at least if the examples of Amsterdam and Flanders are anything to go by. ²⁹ However, this has not been the case everywhere. According to Raelene Frances, apart from migrants from regions with little access to education, neither nineteenth-century nor contemporary sex workers in Sydney or Perth are distinct from the general population in terms of their education, which became compulsory during the 1870s. ³⁰ Similar circumstances prevail elsewhere. In present-day Bolivia, 32 per cent of sex workers have had at least a few years of primary education, whereas in the cities at least 50 per cent went to secondary school—numbers that are no different from those of other females. ³¹ The same is true of Cuba, where education is free. ³²

Where the possession of a degree is an important factor in finding a decent paying job—like in present-day Flanders and Amsterdam—the majority of sex workers may be people lacking the right skills and qualifications for other employment. In Calcutta, research shows that sex workers do not have enough schooling to find work that pays above the minimum wage. ³³ Yet as we have seen, education and opportunity are not always closely connected. In the past, there were very few schooling opportunities for European women in general and so prostitutes were hardly a distinct group in educational terms. Elsewhere, the possession of a degree does not guarantee good employment, such as in Cuba where the populace has greater access to higher education. ³⁴ Nigeria is particularly interesting in this respect: in the 1970s most prostitutes were uneducated women, but now they have various educational backgrounds, university schooling included. Education was available in the 1970s, and at that time having an education meant excellent job prospects; however, since the economic crisis of the 1980s, there are fewer opportunities for educated women. High-end sex work appears to be attractive under these circumstances because it opens up new opportunities, such as migration to more economically promising regions of the world, like Europe or the United States. ³⁵

Yet despite this general pattern, educated sex workers are not only present in societies with fewer employment prospects for women with schooling. The educational levels of sex workers everywhere reflect the range of schooling available to females, and the prostitute population of every society—past and present—has consisted of women with both high and low levels of education. The famous courtesans of early modern Italy and France, for example, made impressive achievements; they could read, write, converse on varied subjects, and many could also play an instrument. ³⁶ Similarly, present-day escorts are highly educated women. As already indicated, the exceptions are more numerous in some societies than in others, but wherever prostitution offers a way to make a living above subsistence level, prostitution by educated women is prevalent. In fact, prostitution can also be a means to obtain an education. In countries with high tuition fees such as Australia and the United Kingdom, many students engage in sex work in order to finance their education. ³⁷

However, while all levels of education may be found among prostitutes, educated women have the advantage in the sector’s hierarchy, just as they do in other sectors. Like many minorities, low-educated prostitutes are overrepresented in the most visible parts of the sector, and are therefore the most likely to appear in the sources. Those with more education work at the high-end of the sex industry, as escorts or in clubs. In contemporary Shanghai, where prostitution is extremely stratified, the top three levels consist only of educated women. ³⁸ Their schooling is hugely important to these women as their status allows them to charge higher prices, often because they are able to offer their customers more than just sex. However, income is not the only thing that distinguishes high- from low-educated sex workers. The hierarchies within prostitution sectors are complicated webs with many interwoven factors. In Lagos, there is correlation between a prostitute’s level of education and the health risks she faces. Women with more education are in a better position to refuse clients or certain demands, such as requests for intercourse without a condom, and therefore run less risk of becoming infected with venereal diseases. ³⁹ The underlying difference between both groups, however, is fairly simple: highly educated women more often opt for prostitution to create an income surplus, whereas less educated women are more often engaged in survival prostitution—once again highlighting the importance of the professional alternatives available to sex workers.

Professional Experiences

Migrants, minorities and—in some societies—uneducated women are more likely to become prostitutes, and it has been claimed that this can be explained by a lack of job opportunities. Although it is clear that prostitution rates increase when there is a rise of poverty and unemployment, ⁴⁰ the data available do not allow for group-specific analyses of the ease or difficulty in finding or keeping a job. However, it is possible to study sex workers’ former or concurrent professions, which in turn informs us as to their professional options and how they have evolved in general. Particular occupations such as waitressing, entertaining, beer brewing, and domestic service repeatedly turn up in this context, and it is often believed that they either lead to prostitution or lend themselves to it. ⁴¹ However, perception is sometimes quite hard to distinguish from reality, as illustrated by the example of domestic servants.

Despite the persistent belief that servants are especially “at risk” of becoming prostitutes because they live far from home, are exposed to the pleasures and dangers of city life, and are vulnerable to sexual advances and abuse by their employers, the available data for early modern Europe shows that they were no more numerous among prostitutes than they were among the general population. ⁴² The number of servants amongst prostitutes only decreased around 1900, when the tradition of going into service declined and new professions appeared. ⁴³ The reason why contemporaries thought that domestic servants were especially “at risk” is probably because when they did enter the profession, they worked in the more visible branches of the sector. When a servant lost her position she also lost her shelter, and a brothel provided both full-time work and lodging. Women working piece rate in the textile or clothing industries, on the other hand, were more likely to use part-time prostitution as a way of supplementing their meagre earnings. ⁴⁴ It may be that similar systems of labour organisation can clarify the emphasis on the “vulnerability” of servants elsewhere. However, the most significant aspect of domestic service is that it is still one of the most important sources of employment for women in patriarchal societies, and where they are overrepresented among prostitutes this reflects their limited opportunities, not their employment as servants.

With regards to the evolutions and regional variations in sex workers’ former and concurrent professions, they can generally be explained by fluctuations and differences in regional labour markets. In colonial Africa, for instance, black women had few options apart from brewing beer and prostitution, and so they often combined both professions. ⁴⁵ In early modern and nineteenth-century Europe, prostitutes were textile workers, seamstresses, or domestic servants, just like other women. ⁴⁶ A similar employment pattern can be found in many other regions of the same period. In nineteenth-century Mexico, for instance, prostitutes under questioning most often stated that they were seamstresses and servants. ⁴⁷ Today, however, sex workers’ professional horizons have expanded just as they have for other women. For example, prostitutes in present-day Flanders are employed in beauty parlours, nail and tanning salons, or they are cleaners, nurses, saleswomen, labourers or office workers. ⁴⁸ However, in some developing nations and patriarchal societies, employment options for women have remained limited; in Turkey, for example, only 22 per cent of women work outside the home, as opposed to 70 per cent of the men. In such regions, there is not as much variety in sex workers’ professional backgrounds. In Calcutta, for instance, prostitutes are offered domestic work or menial labour to “save” them from sex work. ⁴⁹

Yet the enormous differences in labour markets make it difficult to compare sex workers’ professional alternatives across time and between countries. Many urban studies argue that women choose to become prostitutes because the alternatives are limited and low-paid, and their opportunities are inferior to those of men. ⁵⁰ This statement is certainly correct for much of the periods under consideration, and is still true in countries characterised by strongly gendered labour markets. Domestic service, textile work, and street hustling all fit the above job description, and in many societies there are simply no other options for women. Regarding eighteenth-century England, Vern Bullough stated that “prostitution was one of the few ways a woman could make it on her own”, and this is definitely the case elsewhere and elsewhen too. ⁵¹

The situation in present-day Europe seems to be entirely different because women generally have many other options in the labour market, and so prostitutes have varied backgrounds although those lacking opportunities are still overrepresented. General transformations in society and the fact that the majority of people in Europe no longer struggle merely to survive mean that the distinction between them and the majority of prostitutes is growing. In other words, it seems that individual profile characteristics become more important. Yet this does not mean that individual characteristics are utterly unimportant in patriarchal labour markets elsewhere. There probably are differences, but the data allow for little differentiation. For example, general maids are presumably less well paid than kitchen maids and nursemaids, and differences in spinning skills can also determine earnings.

Nevertheless, the underlying reason for engaging in prostitution remains unchanged: it provides an income, and people do it to earn money. The range of other professional options for women is dependent upon both their social profiles and society, but when prostitution offers a higher income than the available alternatives, women enter the profession whether they are confronted with limited options or not. Former slaves in Havana could earn more by selling sex in dark alleys than by working as domestic servants, just like office workers bring in more money by escorting than in their nine to five job. Indeed, the relatively higher earnings to be made via prostitution are mentioned in nearly all urban studies on the subject, and the importance of this factor can hardly be exaggerated. ⁵² Several have found that sex work is not just a profession for those experiencing difficulty in surviving, but rather is a way of reaching or maintaining a certain standard of living. ⁵³ Simply put, sex workers are opting for a job that generally pays more than the available alternatives, or are using it to supplement their current income, whether part-time or more occasionally.

In fact, coupling prostitution with another form of labour appears to be quite a common feature of the sector. ⁵⁴ In the early modern period, utilizing several income strategies was central to the economic lives of the lower classes in what Olwen Hufton has famously called “the economy of makeshifts”. In the industrial era, however, labour grew more professionalised and combining several occupations became less common. Moreover, there seems to have been a growing demand for the separation of “honest” and “dishonest” trades and people. In nineteenth-century France, registered prostitutes were not allowed to practise a second profession, and in Australia, it became increasingly difficult to hold a “respectable” job alongside prostitution. ⁵⁵ Yet, in many other areas, combining sex work with another profession remained common. ⁵⁶ Sometimes it depends upon the sector. In present-day Flanders, part-time sex workers are employed in the least visible, high-end part of the industry, namely as escorts, while the more stigmatized window prostitutes mostly work full-time. ⁵⁷ In Nigeria, students work part-time as high-end prostitutes, while full-time prostitution is not exceptional in the country’s slums. ⁵⁸ High rates of full-time sex work may correspond with high rates of survival prostitution, even today.

Of course, combining sex work with another profession is only possible when it is practical. Early modern, part-time prostitutes were more likely to be streetwalkers than brothel workers because soliciting was easier to do in between other activities. ⁵⁹ Need also makes a difference; if prostitution is used to supplement a meagre income in hard times, then the primary job must allow for this. For this reason, domestic servants very rarely work as prostitutes on the side. More typically, prostitution has been combined with home-based textile work, street hustling, laundering, brewing beer in colonial Africa, and working at jobs in the beauty and entertainment industry. ⁶⁰ Like domestic service, these jobs are often linked with prostitution, but this time there is some basis for it. On the one hand, the work allows women to associate with potential clients. Laundresses who wash for soldiers, for example, can take advantage of the contact involved, just like waitresses and dancers. On the other hand, these jobs are easy to combine with prostitution and they are low-skilled and not highly esteemed, which means that they are feasible options for migrants, low-educated women, and others from the working classes. Black women in colonial Johannesburg and Lagos, for example, had few options other than beer brewing, a skill they had learned at home, and one that brought in three to four times the amount they could make by washing, ironing, or factory work. ⁶¹ Part-time prostitution allowed them to earn even more.

Age

Popular historical accounts of prostitution usually depict the occupation in dreadful terms, with everlasting effects on girls entering the profession no matter how briefly. One eighteenth-century commentator, for example, describes how “a young creature perhaps is debauch’d at fifteen, soon abandoned, quickly common, as quickly diseas’d and as quickly loathsome and detested.” ⁶² Little has changed since then. Many people are still convinced that prostitutes are young, and only remain in the sector for a short period. Generally speaking, they are correct. Young adults between the ages of 15 and 35 have always made up the majority of sex workers, and a large proportion of those are between 20 and 25 years of age. ⁶³ Obviously, the nature of the profession, which relies on a constant demand for attractive youths, explains this continuity. Yet a more detailed analysis shows that this general picture simplifies complex realities.

In actuality, prostitutes’ ages have considerably risen over time. The long-term data available for Bruges, for example, clearly illustrates this as the mean age of sex workers rose from 24 in the eighteenth century to 26 in the nineteenth, and is now 34. ⁶⁴ While this increase appears to have taken place everywhere, it is usually not as great. In developing countries in particular, prostitutes’ ages remain substantially lower, and as a consequence of migration large differences can also be noted within European populations. Prostitutes’ ages are lowest in places characterised by large immigration levels, simply because foreign sex workers tend to be much younger than their local colleagues. In contemporary London, for instance, the mean age is only 26. ⁶⁵ Nevertheless, the increase does appear to be steady, both at entering and leaving the profession. I will first discuss starting ages, with particular attention to child prostitution, before turning to quitting ages and the length of prostitutes’ careers.

Exact data showing long-term trends in sex workers’ starting ages are rare. For Flanders, we know that the age of entering the profession increased from about 21 in the nineteenth century to about 27 today, but other concrete examples are unavailable. ⁶⁶ Still, partial evidence shows that ages also have increased over time elsewhere. Such is the case in Nigeria, although the current starting age is only estimated at between 13 and 15. ⁶⁷ This pervasive increase in sex workers’ ages can be explained by evolving definitions of childhood and adulthood—as reflected in normative measures—and in economic and demographic changes. In Bolivia, for example, prostitution under the age of 17 was forbidden in 1906, and in New York the age of consent was raised from 10 to 16 in 1889, and to 18 in 1895. ⁶⁸ In early modern Europe, there was no official age at which prostitution was allowed, but youngsters were supposed to begin earning a living much earlier than today. Girls were paid as adult labourers starting in their mid-teens, while today working life only starts in their twenties. ⁶⁹ Lastly, the increase in the marriage age in Nigeria also shows that childhood has been extended, and emancipation and activism have also caused an increase in the age of the country’s sex workers. ⁷⁰

This evolution also puts a different complexion on the notion of “child prostitution”. The international child rights community currently defines this as sex work engaged in by those under the age of 18; ⁷¹ however, some societies consider people adults before this age, and it is clear that the definition is both modern and Eurocentric. ⁷² In other parts of the world, such as the aforementioned Nigeria, underage sex workers remain numerous. Thailand, however, is probably the most notorious country in this respect. In 2007, researchers estimated that underage sex workers constituted 40 per cent of the prostitute population. ⁷³ Such extreme proportions can be explained by a ready “supply” of young women with limited educational opportunities and an earlier start to working life. However, a stronger demand for younger girls may also account for it, and indeed, such sexual preferences seem to be culturally determined to a certain extent. In Asia, for example, an inclination for young girls is present in the historical record as well as current practice. ⁷⁴ In some countries, this demand has been affected as a result of the widespread belief that sex with virgins is a cure for diseases such as aids. ⁷⁵ Finally, sex tourists looking to engage in activities that their own societies deem unacceptable help to stimulate this part of the trade.

Nevertheless, the belief that western paedophiles have made child prostitution a booming business is something of an exaggeration. Firstly, there are vast numbers of local customers. Secondly, the majority of sex tourists and locals are not actually looking for “children”. Most of the young sex workers are between the ages of 13 and 18, which means that they are post-pubescent. ⁷⁶ Paedosexuals looking for pre-pubescent children do so outside of the standard prostitution scene, and while abuses do take place, they are the exception, not the rule. ⁷⁷ This situation is similar to that of Europe in previous centuries. Despite popular nineteenth-century narratives claiming, among other things, that London was the capital of child prostitution and “five pound virgins”, extremely young sex workers, were rare. ⁷⁸ Indeed, there are only a few recorded examples of 10 to 12 year-old prostitutes in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in the metropolises of Amsterdam, Paris, and London, as well as in Australia, and there is some evidence to suggest they worked in specialised brothels catering to paedophiles. ⁷⁹ Furthermore, present-day research into the reasons that men visit child prostitutes shows that the majority of the customers do not have deviant sexual preferences concerning age. Rather, it just so happens that sex workers simply tend to be very young in some places. ⁸⁰

Authorities trying to stop such practices currently misdirect their efforts by concentrating on foreigners, and as such, are not successful in shutting down this part of the sex trade. Locals continue to fuel demand, and the sex tourists move on to other countries and other markets with less oversight. ⁸¹ A different, more structural approach is required. Attempts at driving back child prostitution should focus on putting an end to child labour in general and extending childhood, thus diminishing both supply and demand. Quite logically, underage prostitution occurs the least in those societies where working life starts after the age of 18; moreover, a lengthy childhood is linked to strong societal condemnation of child prostitution. Because of this, the occurrence of child prostitution has decreased in western Europe and other countries, although it continues to exist everywhere in greater secrecy. ⁸²

Cultural differences not only play a part in determining when prostitutes enter the profession, but when they leave it as well. Although exact figures for quitting ages are not available, the proportions of older prostitutes can give us an idea. In early modern Europe, less than one fifth of the prostitutes were above 30, and very few were over 40. ⁸³ Today, the situation is completely different: 64 per cent of the sex workers in Flanders are 30 or older, and 25 per cent are 40 or older. ⁸⁴ Lack of longitudinal data means that it is difficult to determine whether similar changes have occurred elsewhere; yet, it is clear that there are fewer older sex workers in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. In Buenos Aires, Lagos, Cairo, and Thailand, the percentages of sex workers 30 years or older respectively amounts to 10, 11, 21 and 22 per cent. ⁸⁵

Presumably, the stopping age is rising because of increases in life expectancy. People are increasingly ageing, and under much better circumstances. Sex workers are physically capable of remaining in the sector for extended periods, and their clients are able to call on their services for longer. It is probable that the demand for older women has grown because of this, and indeed, some sex workers age along with their regular customers. Youth—or at least the appearance of it—remains an important factor in attracting clients, but better living conditions, medical care, cosmetics, hygiene, and plastic surgery have decreased the effects of ageing. This evolution seems largely restricted to western nations, perhaps because of the differences in living standards, or perhaps for other reasons as yet unexplained. In developing countries such as Bolivia, Mexico, and Brazil, it is nearly impossible to make a living as a sex worker after a certain age, say 35. Prostitutes in these countries usually either quit, or migrate to Europe where they continue working in the sex industry. ⁸⁶

Closely connected to the issue of quitting ages is whether prostitution is a life-cycle event or a life-long career. As mentioned earlier, it usually is seen as a temporary profession. William Sanger, a physician who studied the profiles of New York prostitutes in the middle of the nineteenth century, believed that prostitutes had a career of about four years and died shortly afterwards. ⁸⁷ Sanger was correct about one thing: prostitutes’ careers are usually short. Averages and estimates run from two to seven years, yet such figures are not very useful since the length of careers is highly varied. ⁸⁸ Some sex workers stop after a few weeks while others continue for many years. Careers are lengthier in places and times where older prostitutes can still make a living, such as present-day Europe; but even so, life-long careers are exceptional. Only 4 per cent of the sex workers in Flanders remain in the profession for over 20 years. ⁸⁹ And those rare examples who stay active until retirement tend to attract much attention. When the Brussels sex worker Sonia Verstappen, for example, quit in 2011 at the age of 59 after a career spanning 35 years, it was covered in the national media. ⁹⁰ Her working life stands in sharp contrast to those of most of her colleagues. In Bolivia, for example, 40 to 60 per cent of the sex workers in brothels indicate that they have been active in the industry less than one year. ⁹¹

Not much is known regarding what prostitutes do after leaving the profession. ⁹² Despite Sanger’s convictions, few die shortly afterwards, but whether they continue to live on the margins of society or settle in an ordinary life is hard to find out. Tony Henderson and Judith Walkowitz have discussed the possibility that prostitution in eighteenth and nineteenth-century England was a life-course event preceding marriage. ⁹³ And for some cities and regions, this has been confirmed. Sex workers who later married have been found in eighteenth-century Bruges, nineteenth-century St. Petersburg and Australia, twentieth-century Hanoi, and present-day Nigeria. ⁹⁴ While the likelihood of marriage cannot be measured statistically, we may presume that the chances of it occurring are related to societal norms regarding prostitution. For example, marriage was common among the Hausa sex workers in colonial Nigeria because prostitution was not considered a criminal activity. ⁹⁵

Family Situations

Familial circumstances can play an important part in the decision to become a prostitute. Broadly speaking, two categories of family-related reasons can be delineated: a lack of people to derive support from—perhaps the most stereotypical reason—and the need to provide for other members of the family. The fact that these are, in a certain sense, opposite reasons demonstrates that the motives for entering the profession are both highly diverse and individually determined. Women on their own include those who have to make ends meet alone without a male provider and girls without parents or other family members to take care of them, whether financially and emotionally. Women who are providing for relatives include mothers, married women living in poverty, and daughters and sisters working in what may be labelled a “family economy”. Amongst the latter there are both women who are in control of their business, and women who are dependent upon a family member who acts as an intermediary. ⁹⁶ Single mothers are unique in that they combine traits from both groups. They are responsible not only for their own wellbeing, but that of another, and have no other person to fall back on. This classification system is, of course, highly artificial, but it is helpful in understanding the family-related reasons for becoming a prostitute. Both categories of sex workers may be found anywhere and at any time, but societal changes have led to some general evolutions in which some situations predominate.

Sex workers can be found among women who are single, those in relationships, the wed, and the widowed, but lone women have always outnumbered women in relationships. Over time, however, the number of single sex workers has decreased. This evolution appears to be the most distinct in Europe, or at least it is more easily demonstrated in that region. In eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Europe, the proportion of unmarried women among prostitutes amounted to between 81 and 91 per cent, and the number of widows accounted for 2 to 5 per cent. ⁹⁷ The situation now is rather different. In Stockholm during the 1970s, 30 per cent of the women working in illegal brothel houses were wed as were 20 per cent of the streetwalkers. In present-day Flanders, 58 per cent of sex workers are in a relationship. ⁹⁸ This shift may indicate that prostitution is more socially accepted nowadays, although it is easier to provide support for other reasons, such as the change in the average age of prostitutes. Prior to the twentieth century in western Europe, people tended to marry late, and were in fact too old to make a living as a prostitute. ⁹⁹ Widows were rare in the prostitution sector for the same reason. Today, this is no longer the case. People enter into committed relationships earlier on, and sex workers tend to enter the profession later.

A second explanation lies in the breakdown of patriarchism and the introduction of modern social welfare systems throughout Europe—both evolutions that make it easier for women to live on their own. Moreover, the subordinate position of women in the past often made it impossible for married women to work as prostitutes because the profession contradicted marital norms. ¹⁰⁰ Of course, sexual fidelity remains an important requisite in most romantic relationships to this day. However, legislation in western Europe no longer seeks to establish an inferior legal position for married women. Furthermore, adultery is no longer subject to punishment, nor is it forbidden for married women to register as sex workers.

In several countries outside of western Europe, the decrease of single prostitutes is less pronounced, perhaps even absent. Although the marriage age has traditionally been lower outside of western Europe, this continuity can primarily be explained via unequal gender-relations. However, the proportions of the different marital groups did change as a new category arose: divorced women. While separations were either impossible to obtain or very rare in earlier times, they now are common in many countries. In present-day Istanbul, for example, 66 per cent of sex workers are single and 26 per cent are divorced. ¹⁰¹ Patriarchal traditions still play an important part in Turkish society. As mentioned previously, women lack employment opportunities, but marital practises also highlight their subordinate position. Even now, many teenage girls are forced into marriages from which it is difficult to escape. If they should leave their husband, they cannot return to their parents because they have disgraced their family. Many of these women turn to prostitution, either voluntarily or because they are sold into it. Indeed, women in this situation account for 70 per cent of Istanbul’s formerly wed prostitutes. ¹⁰²

The Turkish example not only demonstrates the awkward economic position of many single women, but it also shows that sex workers are sometimes women fleeing bad relationships and facing a lack of familial support. Both characteristics can be found among the prostitutes covered in many of the urban studies. ¹⁰³ Although it is impossible to quantify how important such factors are, several authors argue that broken homes are more important in explaining why women opt for prostitution than either ethnicity or class. ¹⁰⁴ In historical studies, such interpretations usually pertain to runaways, pregnant girls thrown out of their homes and, in particular, orphans who lost one or both parents. ¹⁰⁵ In the nineteenth century, more than half of the prostitutes who lived in the New York House of Refuge, a youth detention centre, had parents who were either deceased or who had left home, and similar figures are available for London. ¹⁰⁶ The most disquieting numbers for this era can be seen in the figures for St. Petersburg, where less than 4 per cent of prostitutes’ parents were both alive. ¹⁰⁷

However, the figures are less ominous elsewhere. ¹⁰⁸ Furthermore, because life expectancy was low, it was not extraordinary to lose a parent at a young age. While this may help explain why some women became prostitutes, it does not appear to be a particularly determinative factor. Moreover, now that life expectancy has increased, it has even less explanatory power. Other disruptions in the family unit, however, are very influential. Domestic violence, parental abandonment, drug abuse, alcoholism, and sexual abuse are recurring factors in the lives of sex workers, and in some places, like Chicago, they seem to be decisive. ¹⁰⁹ All the same, these elements are not common among all prostitutes. In her research on Amsterdam, Marion Pluskota points out that the family backgrounds of indigenous and migrant sex workers are quite diverse, stating that Dutch women tend to come from homes marred by violence and abuse and see prostitution as a “last resort”, whereas newcomers are more often driven by economic opportunity. ¹¹⁰

Indeed, while the lack of a loving family is certainly important in some cases, it is not possible to generalise on this issue. There are numerous examples of sex workers who are in close contact with their families. Many mothers, for instance, leave their children with their parents while earning money as a prostitute. ¹¹¹ So it is not the case that all sex workers suffer from a lack of supportive familial ties. In fact, many women—as stated at the beginning of this section—opt for prostitution solely to help maintain their family, and not all of them are single mothers having difficulty in providing for their children. ¹¹² In colonial Cairo, for example, it was not unusual for a married woman to work as a prostitute if her husband did not earn enough money. ¹¹³ Similarly, in present-day Australia, Asian sex workers send a portion of their income to their family back home. ¹¹⁴ In these cases, weak family ties are not the deciding factor, rather economic circumstances are. Although families who live far away do not always know how their daughters are earning this money, others certainly do. Indeed, prostitution is sometimes part of the family’s subsistence strategy. Aboriginal women in Australia who worked in the sex industry were part of extensive familial networks, and they contributed to the survival of an entire group. ¹¹⁵ Of course, much depends on the society’s views regarding prostitution. While families in early modern Europe often imprisoned their prostitute daughters for “immoral behaviour”, families in Asia and Africa helped them to organise their business. In present-day Shanghai, women often enter the profession in order to provide a living for their families, husbands, and children. ¹¹⁶ In the nineteenth century, poor white Australian families employed the same strategy, but attitudes changed and the authorities increasingly began combating this from the end of the century onwards. ¹¹⁷

Conclusion

The social profiles of sex workers have changed considerably over the course of the last four hundred years. While some stereotypical groups have been overrepresented among prostitute populations across all eras and areas, there have been changes with regard to the importance of various factors. Prostitute populations have become more heterogeneous in terms of their origin, race, age, family situation, educational level, and professional background—albeit at different paces. However, all such developments can be linked to general evolutions in societies, which means that prostitutes’ profiles have changed very little in a relative sense. Indeed, continuity is far more important than rapid change when explaining shifts over time. For example, migrants did not suddenly appear in the western European sex trade after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Rather, they were always present, and always overrepresented in the prostitute population. What actually changed over time are the distances covered. Similarly, prostitutes’ ages have altered in tandem with developments in society at large, most notably lengthier childhoods and a later start to working life.

The central factor in explaining why women turn to prostitution is what, if any, other professional alternatives are available to them, and this in turn is dependent upon other factors. People may face poor job prospects because of certain aspects of their profiles. Migrants, minorities, people lacking educational qualifications—factors that are often related with one another—are more likely to experience difficulties in finding employment. At the same time, an individual’s desire or need to participate in the labour market is dependent upon their age and family circumstances. In theory, people are only supposed to start working when they reach adulthood and it is desirable or necessary. The importance of either set of factors is dependent on the society in question. In patriarchal countries with few employment possibilities for women in general, a lone woman has fewer opportunities than a single woman living in a society characterised by greater gender equality and economic prosperity. Women who turn to prostitution in the latter are more likely to belong to a distinct group for whom the opportunities are limited because of their minority status or inadequate education. However, having said this it is important to emphasise that sex workers’ profiles are varied in every society, regardless of type.

While it is definitely true that certain people have limited options for survival, the high degree of diversity among sex workers clearly shows that prostitution cannot be reduced to a profession of the destitute, or one which people passively end up in. In fact, people who are not members of so-called “vulnerable” groups might be more numerous in the sector than anticipated because of their invisibility. As discussed here, the sex industry is highly stratified, and individuals with better prospects take the places at the top of the hierarchy more often than those with limited possibilities. These women have chosen to use their bodies to create a financial surplus, and they are thought to face fewer dangers than the prostitutes working at the lower end of the market. It seems easier for people to accept that these women actively chose their profession, and harder to view them as passive victims. However, their underlying reasons are not necessarily different from the masses employed at the industry’s margins. Although some women are forced into prostitution against their will one way or another, this is certainly not the case for all sex workers, let alone the majority. Most prostitutes are driven by opportunity, and the fact that most have fewer opportunities than their contemporaries does not change that. Simply put, prostitution can be emancipatory. It can be a positive choice, rather than just a negative one. Profile characteristics do not explain why people use their bodies to earn an income, but they do explain why certain people end up in the most visible and least rewarding sectors of the profession. This is interesting in its own right, given that the sex industry’s high level of stratification forces researchers to avoid generalisations. Instead of relying upon simple stereotypes, we must instead continue to explore the large degree of diversity among prostitutes.