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Getting Out of Sex Work

• Melissa's Transformation

  • Advanced resident at Phoenix program, balancing full-time job and college classes.

  • Viewed herself as a different person upon graduation, stating:

    • Built a new foundation for life.

    • Achieved independence and self-esteem.

    • Now capable of thinking about her future with dreams and goals.

  • Accomplishments included:

    • Graduating with her GED.

    • Enrolling in business college classes.

    • Securing a job as an assistant manager at a movie theater.

  • Attributes schooling as key to success and sees the program as a significant growth experience.

Overcoming Obstacles

• Female street prostitutes face numerous challenges that make exiting the trade difficult:

  • Personal, social, economic, and legal obstacles.

  • Research indicates some women successful in quitting and maintaining a life away from prostitution.

• Key factors influencing successful transitions:

  • Personal motivations and cognitive changes arising from experiences such as having children or undergoing religious transformations.

  • Importance of context in shaping the exit process—reciprocal relationship between the individual and their environment.

• Model of Leaving Prostitution

  • Focuses on the interplay between organizations and women in three phases:

    • Initial exit.

    • Role distancing.

    • Embracing a new role and identity.

Maintaining New Roles and Identities

• Challenges of maintaining changes after exiting the sex trade:

  • Longitudinal data needed to assess permanency.

  • Transition into conventional roles often accompanied by multiple role exits.

• Findings from study:

  • 60% had worked continuously in trade with no earlier exits.

  • 32.5% made unsuccessful attempts to leave prior to entering PSOs.

• Difficulties in Transition

  • Stigma, fractured relationships, addiction, and criminal records present ongoing challenges.

  • Developing an “ex-role” helps in transitioning while managing inevitable feelings of role hangover.

• Techniques for retaining these new lifestyles:

  • Ongoing relationships with PSO staff and aftercare.

  • Support groups and mentoring others provide additional accountability and strength.

Support Systems

• Connections to PSO Staff

  • Regular meetings, phone calls, and events reinforce therapeutic relationships.

• Graduates like Felicia recount the importance of continuing relationships for maintaining sobriety and providing mentorship.

  • Personal stories of reliance on PSO staff when experiencing cravings or difficult times.

• Therapeutic Support Groups

  • Importance of 12-step programs in sustaining new identities.

  • Individuals report positive outcomes, including stronger commitments to sobriety and recovery initiatives.

Mentoring and Giving Back

• Role of Mentoring

  • Supporting other PSO members as a method of reinforcing personal changes.

  • Acts of service contribute to both the mentor's and mentee's recovery process.

• Graduates participating in mentorship often express personal benefits:

  • Offered guidance and held accountable, aiding their commitment to remaining on paths away from prostitution.

Building Human and Social Capital

• Education and Employment

  • Majorities lacking high school diplomas face barriers to stable employment.

  • PSOs encourage educational attainment as a means to enhance self-esteem and career opportunities.

• Success stories of women who achieved educational goals and secured jobs post-PSO:

  • Includes descriptions of pathways toward legal employment and self-sufficiency.

  • Importance of ongoing support and program encouragement in pursuing further education.

Housing and Stability

• Importance of Housing

  • Secure housing linked to successful transitions—many had histories of homelessness.

  • Phoenix program provides transitional housing, facilitating stability post-graduation.

• Contrasts between programs with robust support services and those lacking adequate follow-up resources.

Future Goals and Personal Interests

• Establishing plans and interests critical for sustaining a conventional identity.

• Women articulate goals upon exiting sex work, transitioning from day-to-day survival to long-term aspirations.

• Activities such as journaling and reading become integral to maintaining new identities.

Discussion of Permanency of Role Exits

• Factors Impeding Recidivism

  • Engaging in programs and building new identities help in resisting return to sex work.

  • Economic, social, or personal circumstances can challenge the sustainability of new roles.

• Continued empirical investigation of transitions necessary to validate outcomes.

Recommendations for Improvement

• Structural Changes

  • Ideas for legislative reform regarding the legality of prostitution and its implications on sex workers' well-being.

• Advocacy for increased funding for PSOs and protective measures for sex workers.

  • Focus on improving relationships between law enforcement and sex workers, creating supportive networks for safety.

• Recognition of PSOs and advocacy organizations as crucial resources for helping individuals exit prostitution and navigate systemic challenges.

Connection to Labeling Theory

• Primary Deviance: Engaging in a deviant act (e.g., shoplifting) usually results in a social response but does not significantly alter an individual’s self-concept or identity since there is minimal to no involvement with the Criminal Justice System (CJS).

• Secondary Deviance: If the deviant behavior continues, leading to repeated involvement with the CJS, the individual is labeled as 'deviant.' This label can reshape their identity and reinforce deviant behavior, creating a cycle of deviance.

Connection to Anomie

• Agnew’s Strain Theory: This theory emphasizes that negative emotions, stemming from failure to achieve culturally accepted goals, can lead to strain. This strain can subsequently motivate criminal behavior as individuals respond to their frustrations and pressures.

Connection to Social Control Theories

• Social Control: It addresses why most individuals abide by laws and don’t commit crimes. Social control mechanisms are thought to restrain individuals from deviant behaviors.

• Factors of Social Control:

  • Formal Social Control: Enforced through laws and regulations of society.

  • Informal Social Control: Enacted through social interactions, such as rumors, gossip, shaming, and banishment.

  • Integration into society (in terms of attachments) reflects how effective these controls are in preventing deviance.

Hirschi’s Bond Theory

• Hirschi proposed that human behavior is influenced by four ways in which individuals can bond to conventional society:

  1. Attachment: Emotional and social ties to others.

  2. Commitment: The pursuit of conventional goals and values.

  3. Involvement: Engagement in conventional activities that limit time for deviance.

  4. Belief: Acceptance of societal norms and laws as valid and worth following.Overall, each theory reflects the complex interplay between individual agency, societal responses, and the structures that govern behavior and deviance.