Immigrant, migrant and racialized sex workers' use of social difference

Abstract

Social difference is an integral part of sex industry. Social difference categories and processes are evident in how one performs sex work, how one markets oneself, and how one positions oneself in the industry. In addition, the sex industry enables workers to construct and use numerous dimensions of various social difference categories. For instance, intersectional analysis of sex work is not limited to interactions between race and class (as just one example), but can involve exploring how multiple racial identities interact with multiple class identities. Immigrant, migrant and racialized sex workers can have multiple class identities which may involve performing a particular class identity at work, selfidentifying with another socio-economic class personally, and negotiating classed assumptions law enforcement and immigration authorities may express. This paper examines the range, meanings and functions of social differences that were employed in sex work.