Erotic Enterprises: An Ethnography of Risk and Opportunity for Female Sex Workers in Celtic Tiger Ireland.

This is an ethnographic account of female sexual labour at the height of the Celtic Tiger, when sex like other consumables saw an insatiable increase in demand. Like other industries, the sex industry has relatively privileged and exploitative positions for its workers, and like other service industries, it has been revolutionized by processes of globalization, technological innovation, and an easing in the movement of capital. Much of what is written about sex workers assumes a certain degree of homogeneity, and an over simplistic account of their lives and the choices that are available to them. I explore the meanings and motivations that sex workers ascribe to their interactions with the industry, how women experience the sex industry, how they interact with it and how they experience selling sexual services in their everyday lives. This thesis then links various themes of risk, agency, opportunity, violence, victimhood and illegality within the broader framework of sex work as a form of labour.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

phd

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

National University of Ireland Maynooth

Year dc:date.issued

2011

Author dc:creator

• Heffernan, Emma

Language dc:language

en