Sex workers : agents within a stigmatizing structure

The aim of this study is to nuance the stigmatized image through which sex workers are often portrayed in today’s society. To this end, we describe and analyze female sex workers' thoughts on and experiences with sex work. Our analysis of these experiences sheds light on how the agency of sex workers can manifest itself within the structure of the environment they live in. We use Goffman's (2011) theory on stigma and Gidden's (1984) structuration theory as our theoretical framework, and conduct four interviews with female sex workers in Stockholm (Sweden). All participants demonstrated agency inter alia through different strategies but, at the same time, had to adjust to society's structure and the stigma attached to it. However, our study suggests that sex work in itself did not have a negative impact on the participants. Instead, the negative aspects that the participants in some cases had experienced through selling sex were consequences of factors both unrelated and indirectly related to sex work, stigma being one of them