NCJ Number
210034
Journal
Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Dated: 2005 Pages: 45-64
Date Published
2005
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This exploratory study examined the environmental and personal factors that have influenced a significant number of young Eastern-European women to engage in sex work, specifically in Greek-Cypriot cabarets.
Abstract
Data analysis was conducted in accordance with guidelines for ethnographic fieldwork. Informal interviews and participant observation were conducted to determine the social-psychological dynamics of sex work. Informal interviews with four Eastern-European sex workers focused on the daily personal and work lives of the women. The interviews obtained demographic information and explanations as to why the women entered into sex work. The author, who had been socialized in Greek-Cypriot culture from childhood through young adulthood, had prior informal knowledge about the evolution of cabarets and the plight of sex workers from the late 1980s to the present. The women came from countries involved in post-Soviet Union rapid political changes and economic decline. In such post-communist sociocultural environments, the economic viability and low-skill nature of certain professions such as sex work, coupled with permissive sexual attitudes that remained long after the fall of communist rule, provide a climate where sex work has been an appealing opportunity for Eastern-European women. The interviews revealed, however, that although some of the women were aware of their recruiters' plans to prostitute them abroad, they had little understanding of their prospective labor conditions. Some naively believed their recruiters' promises that they would only work as hostesses, waitresses, or entertainers and would not be asked to sleep with clients. Still, even after their conditions of employment became clear, most of the women were either unable or unwilling to leave their work because of fear of reprisals and economic obligations. 73 references