LabourForceFilter: Sex-industry participation rate?
May 12, 2006 6:50 PM Subscribe
What are the comparative participation rates of workers in sex-related industries country to country?
I am wondering how many people are front-line performers/participants in the "adult" industries -- be it strip clubs, adult videos, prostitution, etc. Also curious if there are any statistics out there that say this figure (as a % of the total labour force) varies significantly from country to country.
I am wondering how many people are front-line performers/participants in the "adult" industries -- be it strip clubs, adult videos, prostitution, etc. Also curious if there are any statistics out there that say this figure (as a % of the total labour force) varies significantly from country to country.
Porpoise, I don't think the question was about what percentage of sex workers were male, but what percentage of the labor force is in the sex industry.
My guesses based on my own research on sex tourism and trafficking would be the Dominican Republic followed by Thailand. There would be a number of factors at play here, including aggregate demand, tourism issues, lack of a safety net, regressive gender ideologies. Thailand clearly wins on numbers (although China is going to surpass it soon) simply because of incredible demand factors. Between 80 and 87 percent of Thai men have been to a prostitute, most Thai men had their first sexual experience with a prostitute, up to 50 percent of single men had visited a prostitute in the past year (and 40 percent of married men) and there are between 3 and 5 million regular customers of commercial sex.
Yet for sheer overall percentage of the labor force, I think DR would win. Sex tourism plays an incredible important role in both of these economies and the lack of capabilities has led an increasing number of women into what may as well be called the export-oriented sex sector. While smaller than Thailand, DR resembles Thailand before the E. Asian miracle and is just significantly more underdeveloped, undercapitalized, and has an incredible informal sector.
Japan would place surprisingly high on this list if you count migrant women who work in snack bars, probably the highe st of OECD countries (Korea is catching up in trafficking in Thai and Filipina women however).
posted by allen.spaulding at 1:51 AM on May 13, 2006
My guesses based on my own research on sex tourism and trafficking would be the Dominican Republic followed by Thailand. There would be a number of factors at play here, including aggregate demand, tourism issues, lack of a safety net, regressive gender ideologies. Thailand clearly wins on numbers (although China is going to surpass it soon) simply because of incredible demand factors. Between 80 and 87 percent of Thai men have been to a prostitute, most Thai men had their first sexual experience with a prostitute, up to 50 percent of single men had visited a prostitute in the past year (and 40 percent of married men) and there are between 3 and 5 million regular customers of commercial sex.
Yet for sheer overall percentage of the labor force, I think DR would win. Sex tourism plays an incredible important role in both of these economies and the lack of capabilities has led an increasing number of women into what may as well be called the export-oriented sex sector. While smaller than Thailand, DR resembles Thailand before the E. Asian miracle and is just significantly more underdeveloped, undercapitalized, and has an incredible informal sector.
Japan would place surprisingly high on this list if you count migrant women who work in snack bars, probably the highe st of OECD countries (Korea is catching up in trafficking in Thai and Filipina women however).
posted by allen.spaulding at 1:51 AM on May 13, 2006
It should clearly be noted that statistical information would be inconsistant and fairly unreliable to compare on a country-to-country basis. I'd start with the ILO (or the IOM if you're interested in issues of trafficking, which needs to be included in any discussion of sex work).
posted by allen.spaulding at 1:52 AM on May 13, 2006
posted by allen.spaulding at 1:52 AM on May 13, 2006
Whilst I agree with allen.spaulding that figures are bound to be unreliable, I feel they're more useful than anecdotal speculation.
In accordance with the earlier definition of prostitution, I estimate that about 1,000 female prostitutes worked in Sydney each week in 1986.2 This is a mere 0.06 per cent of an approximate female population of 1,680,000 for Sydney (Australian Bureau of Statistics 1984) or about I in I 00 women (sic) aged between 15 and 45.
Prostitution : a work-based occupation
According to the (South Korean) government’s estimate, around 330,000 women are engaged in the sex trade, while civic groups put the number at a minimum of 1.5 million.
(The population of South Korea is approx 48 million.)
LostNomad blog quoting the the Korea Herald
The National Task Force on Prostitution suggests that over one million people in the US have worked as prostitutes in the United States, or about 1% of American women.
(The population of the USA is approx 295 million)
Prostitution in The United States - The Statistics
Potterat et al. estimated the annual prevalence of full-time equivalent prostitutes in the United States to be 23 per 100,000 population based on a capture–recapture study of prostitutes found in Colorado Springs, CO, police and sexually transmitted diseases clinic records between 1970 and 1988.
Prostitution and the sex discrepancy in reported number of sexual partners
China public security officials estimate there are up to three million prostitutes in China.
(The population of China is approx 1300 million)
HIV/AIDS Policy Issues
Again, these numbers for prostitution are compiled in vastly different ways, some ignoring males or underplaying different sectors of the market. Caveat lector.
posted by Busy Old Fool at 2:04 AM on May 13, 2006
In accordance with the earlier definition of prostitution, I estimate that about 1,000 female prostitutes worked in Sydney each week in 1986.2 This is a mere 0.06 per cent of an approximate female population of 1,680,000 for Sydney (Australian Bureau of Statistics 1984) or about I in I 00 women (sic) aged between 15 and 45.
Prostitution : a work-based occupation
According to the (South Korean) government’s estimate, around 330,000 women are engaged in the sex trade, while civic groups put the number at a minimum of 1.5 million.
(The population of South Korea is approx 48 million.)
LostNomad blog quoting the the Korea Herald
The National Task Force on Prostitution suggests that over one million people in the US have worked as prostitutes in the United States, or about 1% of American women.
(The population of the USA is approx 295 million)
Prostitution in The United States - The Statistics
Potterat et al. estimated the annual prevalence of full-time equivalent prostitutes in the United States to be 23 per 100,000 population based on a capture–recapture study of prostitutes found in Colorado Springs, CO, police and sexually transmitted diseases clinic records between 1970 and 1988.
Prostitution and the sex discrepancy in reported number of sexual partners
China public security officials estimate there are up to three million prostitutes in China.
(The population of China is approx 1300 million)
HIV/AIDS Policy Issues
Again, these numbers for prostitution are compiled in vastly different ways, some ignoring males or underplaying different sectors of the market. Caveat lector.
posted by Busy Old Fool at 2:04 AM on May 13, 2006
I think all statistics in this area are going to be flawed, due to the numbers of women who are illegally brought into (particularly western) countries to work as sex workers (often against their will). That proportion of sex workers will always be unquantified in any statistics, and may be very high in some countries.
posted by goo at 3:03 AM on May 13, 2006
posted by goo at 3:03 AM on May 13, 2006
Japan would place surprisingly high on this list if you count migrant women who work in snack bars
Can you elaborate on that? Surely every country would rate highly for sex workers if we counted people who worked in snack bars? What kind of snacks are we talking about?
Also, what are the terms of the original question as regards people who work in ancillary jobs -- if a city has hundreds of strip clubs, do the people behind the bar count? The people who take out the trash and mop the floors? The service which does their laundry?
I read once that 50% of the people in Bangkok were involved in the sex trade at those peripheral levels but of course that doesn't mean that half the population strips or has sex for money, just that if you closed down those establishements, half the population would be out of a job.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 3:07 AM on May 13, 2006
Can you elaborate on that? Surely every country would rate highly for sex workers if we counted people who worked in snack bars? What kind of snacks are we talking about?
Also, what are the terms of the original question as regards people who work in ancillary jobs -- if a city has hundreds of strip clubs, do the people behind the bar count? The people who take out the trash and mop the floors? The service which does their laundry?
I read once that 50% of the people in Bangkok were involved in the sex trade at those peripheral levels but of course that doesn't mean that half the population strips or has sex for money, just that if you closed down those establishements, half the population would be out of a job.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 3:07 AM on May 13, 2006
goo - That's why I mentioned trafficking (which is my own research focus).
AmbroseChapel - I take it you are asking what a snack bar is in Japan. While there is a large variety of snack bars, the dating snacks (baishun) is the site of a significant percentage of both prostitution and trafficking. Here's a brief synopsis from Human Rights Watch's Owed Justice: Thai Women Trafficked into Debt Bondage in Japan
AmbroseChapel - I take it you are asking what a snack bar is in Japan. While there is a large variety of snack bars, the dating snacks (baishun) is the site of a significant percentage of both prostitution and trafficking. Here's a brief synopsis from Human Rights Watch's Owed Justice: Thai Women Trafficked into Debt Bondage in Japan
"Dating" snack bars typically employ anywhere from five to twenty women as "hostesses" and a female manager, who is called "mama" or "mama-san." Both the hostesses and the mamas are most commonly from Thailand, the Philippines, or Korea, although there are also women from other countries, including Japan. When a man enters the bar, he is immediately greeted by the mama, who comes to his table and asks what he wants to drink and what kind of woman he would like. If the customer is aregular, the mama will know without having to ask. Clients can choose a hostess for either two hours or a whole night, and they may take her out of the snack if they wish. Typically, a hostess is taken by her client to a nearby hotel, and the client is then responsible for paying for the hotel room and for returning the woman to the snack or the apartment where she lives, depnding on the time."posted by allen.spaulding at 3:16 AM on May 13, 2006
AmbroseChapel: Also, what are the terms of the original question as regards people who work in ancillary jobs -- if a city has hundreds of strip clubs, do the people behind the bar count? The people who take out the trash and mop the floors? The service which does their laundry?
The original question clearly asked for rates of 'front-line performers/participants.' I think we can safely say that doesn't mean bartenders or cleaners, but those providing the sexual services.
Goo: I think all statistics in this area are going to be flawed, due to the numbers of women who are illegally brought into (particularly western) countries to work as sex workers.
True (and acknowledged in the two answers above yours), but a combination of estimates of legal sex workers and data from the likes of allen.spaulding on trafficking will give modernnomad the best answer possible.
posted by Busy Old Fool at 4:22 AM on May 13, 2006
The original question clearly asked for rates of 'front-line performers/participants.' I think we can safely say that doesn't mean bartenders or cleaners, but those providing the sexual services.
Goo: I think all statistics in this area are going to be flawed, due to the numbers of women who are illegally brought into (particularly western) countries to work as sex workers.
True (and acknowledged in the two answers above yours), but a combination of estimates of legal sex workers and data from the likes of allen.spaulding on trafficking will give modernnomad the best answer possible.
posted by Busy Old Fool at 4:22 AM on May 13, 2006
The original question clearly asked for rates of 'front-line performers/participants.'
Sorry. Somehow I missed that.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 1:05 PM on May 13, 2006
Sorry. Somehow I missed that.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 1:05 PM on May 13, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by porpoise at 12:16 AM on May 13, 2006