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Full-Text Articles in Social Work
Seeing The Shadow Women: The Hidden Victims Of Prostitution, Donna M. Hughes
Seeing The Shadow Women: The Hidden Victims Of Prostitution, Donna M. Hughes
Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence
A group of hidden victims of prostitution has been brought to light by Ingeborg Kraus, a trauma therapist in Germany, and Andrea Heinz, a woman with experience in the sex trade in Canada. Dignity has published four articles by these two writers in the last year. Their nascent body of work is uncovering important new information and perspectives on prostitution. Through their own experience and interviews with wives of sex buyers and women with sex trade experience they show us a more holistic view of the harm of prostitution. They write about the wives and families of men who are …
A Mule For The Patriarchy: Waking Up To The Harm Of Prostitution To Wives And Families, Andrea Heinz
A Mule For The Patriarchy: Waking Up To The Harm Of Prostitution To Wives And Families, Andrea Heinz
Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence
I exited from commercial sexual exploitation eight years ago. Here, I share my reflections on how my actions directly impacted other women. I describe how my participation in the sex trade adversely affected the wives and girlfriends of sex buyers. I posit that sex sellers negatively impact these vicarious victims by subscribing to and endorsing “sex work” ideology. I assert that the collective good of all women is diminished by viewing sexual services as a market commodity. I stress that the collective good of all women is enhanced by assuming responsibility and compassion for one another.
"My Head Was Like A Washing Machine On Spin": (Improving) Women’S Experiences Of Accessing Support, Jo Neale, Kathryn Hodges
"My Head Was Like A Washing Machine On Spin": (Improving) Women’S Experiences Of Accessing Support, Jo Neale, Kathryn Hodges
Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence
This paper draws on data collected as part of two larger studies to set out the differences, according to women seeking support, between the feminist responses of the specialist women’s sector and the issues-led responses of other agencies. The first study examined the processes by which women enter, endure, and exit relationships with abusive men. The second study explored the barriers to help-seeking for those accessing a service for women involved in prostitution. Taking a feminist poststructuralist approach, the authors point to the gendered nature, both of the experiences that propel women toward help-seeking and of the responses they receive …
Women Exiting Prostitution: Reports Of Coercive Control In Intimate Relationships, Tammy Schultz, Aimee A. Callender, Sally Schwer Canning, Jacey Collins
Women Exiting Prostitution: Reports Of Coercive Control In Intimate Relationships, Tammy Schultz, Aimee A. Callender, Sally Schwer Canning, Jacey Collins
Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence
There is burgeoning research on intimate partner violence (IPV) experiences among women globally. However, there is a dearth of research on IPV experiences among marginalized populations in Western countries. Over the past decade, IPV research has shifted from a focus only on physical and sexual violence to include coercive control experiences. These include a continuum of nonviolent behaviors centered on maintaining dominance over one’s partner. However, the empirical literature on examining coercive control among women in prostitution within non-commercial intimate partners is lacking. In this study, we analyzed interviews with 17 women exiting prostitution and examined reported IPV sexual, physical, …
On Exiting From Commercial Sexual Exploitation: Insights From Sex Trade Experienced Persons, Andrea Heinz
On Exiting From Commercial Sexual Exploitation: Insights From Sex Trade Experienced Persons, Andrea Heinz
Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence
As a woman who exited after seven years in licensed commercial sexual exploitation in Canada, I share my reflections on my experience, which led to the development of the Insights from Sex Trade Experienced Persons (InSTEP) Model. The model was constructed based on interviews with “service providers” in the sex trade. Twelve exited women share their experiences inclusively. InSTEP is geared toward a population of quasi-autonomous providers who have alternate economic options. Three levels are introduced in the InSTEP model to describe the continuum of agency among service providers; Level 1: trafficked/controlled; Level 2: quasi-autonomous; Level 3: autonomous. The InSTEP …
Loss Of Self In Dissociation In Prostitution; Recovery Of Self In Connection To Horses: A Survivor's Journey, Sandra Norak
Loss Of Self In Dissociation In Prostitution; Recovery Of Self In Connection To Horses: A Survivor's Journey, Sandra Norak
Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence
This narrative is about dissociation in the lives of women who have been exploited through prostitution. When we speak about prostitution, we do not speak often enough about the dissociation needed for women and girls to survive sexual exploitation. The author challenges the wisdom of governments such as Germany that legalize prostitution, treating it as a “job” and ignoring the violence and subsequent dissociation in women. The author describes her personal journey, explaining how women are traumatized even after the first commercial sex act, which is a sexual assault. They dissociate which makes their lives bearable, but they fail to …
Shadow Women: Wives Betrayed By Sex Buyers, Ingeborg Kraus
Shadow Women: Wives Betrayed By Sex Buyers, Ingeborg Kraus
Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence
Shadow women are women whose husbands betray them by using prostituted women. Until now, there has been almost no attention paid to the harm to the wives or partners of men who use prostituted women. In this interview, Dr. Ingeborg Kraus talks to the former wife of a sex buyer. She describes the impact of her husband’s betrayal on her and her family. This type of harm needs to be taken seriously and more research done on it.
Never Again! Surviving Liberalized Prostitution In Germany, Sandra Norak, Ingeborg Kraus
Never Again! Surviving Liberalized Prostitution In Germany, Sandra Norak, Ingeborg Kraus
Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence
This article, co-authored by a six-year survivor of the sex trade industry in Germany (Sandra Norak) and a psychologist and trauma therapist (Ingeborg Kraus), provides perspectives on the difficulty of withstanding the coercion of traffickers and the difficulties of exiting prostitution in a country in which prostitution has been legalized, normalized and made “a job like any other.” This normalization persuades survivors to believe their traffickers that it is a legitimate occupation and encourages them to endure the violence. Liberalization also has prevented the development of needed trauma services to those seeking to exit the sex trade industry.