ABSTRACT

Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate how female sex workers perceive and describe meaning when engaging in the non-sanctioned occupation of sex work. Method: In-depth semi-structured interviews were carried out with six sex workers aged 26 to 56 years who were working either part-time or full-time at a brothel or worked “privately & discreetly.” Interpretative phenomenological analysis was applied to develop themes representing the subjective perspectives of the participants. Findings: Mostly, the participants perceived and described their engagement in sex work as holding positive meanings and contributing to their well-being and quality of life. Participants perceived and described the society’s view on sex work as the most challenging part of their engagement in sex work. Six themes emerged from the data: 1) sexual beings, 2) personal development, 3) interpersonal relationships, 4) proud professionals, 5) the public view on sex work and 6) well-being and quality of life. Conclusion: Engagement in sex work was found to be meaningful to the participants as their doing was intrinsically motivated by their being, making them become more knowledgeable, skilled, confident, and empowered and contributed to a sense of belonging. Engagement in sex work was also found to hold negative meaning, as a limited sense of belonging to society was described. Despite this negative aspect, engagement in sex work was deemed to be meaningful and engaging and contributed to their well-being and quality of life. Further research is required to develop knowledge about other sex workers.

摘要

简介：本研究的目的是调查女性性工作者在从事未经批准的性工作职业时如何感知和描述意义。方法：对六名年龄在 26 至 56 岁之间的性工作者进行了深入的半结构化访谈，他们在妓院兼职或全职工作，或者“私下谨慎”工作。解释性现象学分析被应用于发展代表参与者主观观点的主题。发现：大多数情况下，参与者认为并描述他们参与性工作具有积极意义并有助于他们的幸福和生活质量。参与者认为并描述了社会对性工作的看法是他们从事性工作中最具挑战性的部分。从数据中出现了六个主题：1）性生物，2）个人发展，3）人际关系，4）自豪的专业人士，5）公众对性工作的看法和 6）幸福感和生活质量。结论：参与性工作对参与者来说是有意义的，因为他们的行为本质上是由他们的存在所驱动的，这使他们变得更有知识、技能、自信和有能力，并有助于产生一种归属感。还发现从事性工作具有负面意义，因为对社会的归属感有限。尽管有这个负面的方面，参与性工作被认为是有意义的和引人入胜的，并有助于他们的幸福和生活质量。需要进一步研究以发展有关其他性工作者的知识。