Human Sexuality

Chapter 15

Pornography & Sex Work

Selling sex and selling fantasy — what the research really says about two of the most stigmatized corners of human sexuality.

Chapter banner for Pornography and Sex Work.

People have traded sex for money, goods, and shelter for as long as there have been records to describe it. Sex work has commonly been called the “oldest profession.” People have also been making sexual imagery for thousands of years. Some of our earliest cave paintings and sculptures are of voluptuous, nude figures. Whether these were “fertility idols” or simply forms of early pornography is up for debate.

In this chapter we look at both sex work and pornography. These are loaded topics. People on one side might condemn porn and sex work as sinful, filthy, and detrimental to society. Those on the other side celebrate the artistry and sheer force of life found in both. Throughout this chapter, I’ll do my best to keep to the data. Whatever your views on sex work, my hope is that you’ll learn more about its prevalence, its effects, and the human beings involved.

15.1 Pornography: What It Is and How It Is Made

Pornographyi (porn) is media created to cause sexual arousal. It can take almost any form: photography, video, writing, drawing, painting, sculpture. A closely related word is eroticai, which usually refers to sexual material that also aims for artistic or literary value. Erotica tells a story and tries to evoke feelings other than simply lust. The line between the two is blurry and mostly a matter of opinion. Erotica has hit the mainstream, with the novel Fifty Shades of Grey selling more than 100,000,000 copies and marketed as a mainstream book.

Multiple Choice

A novel contains explicit sex scenes but also tells a story and explores the characters’ feelings. This material would most likely be called:

Aobscenity

Bpornography

Cerotica

Dsex work

Porn vs. “Obscenity”

For most of U.S. history, the real legal question was not “is this porn?” but “is this obscene?” Obscenityi is classified as sexual material so offensive that it falls outside the free-speech protection of the First Amendment. This line has been nearly impossible to define since its inception, and it’s only gotten murkier over time.

Close-up of a smartphone screen showing a red app icon labeled PORN beside other app icons. — Figure 15.1. Pornography is now only a tap away. For most of U.S. history, though, the central legal question was less about access than about whether material crossed the line into “obscenity.”

Early on, the Comstock Act of 1873 criminalized sending “obscene” material through the mail. This law was also used to arrest anyone who sent information out about contraception or homosexuality (Comstock Act, 1873). In a famous 1964 case, Justice Potter Stewart admitted he could not precisely define hard-core pornography but added, “I know it when I see it” (Jacobellis v. Ohio, 1964). That line is often quoted precisely because it captures how slippery the category is.

The Supreme Court finally settled on a working standard in Miller v. California (1973). Under what became known as the Miller testi, material can be treated as obscene only if all three of the following are true (Miller v. California, 1973):

An average person, applying community standardsi, would find that it appeals mainly to a shameful or morbid interest in sex.
It depicts sexual conduct in a patently offensive way.
It lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

Of course, this hardly makes things any clearer. What is considered “shameful or morbid” in one culture wouldn’t be considered as such in another. Within some early puritan societies, it was considered indecent to kiss with tongues (Jankowiak et al., 2015). And who is to say what has literary, artistic, or political value? The book Lolita is seen by some as an unredeemable book about the seduction and sexual abuse of an underage girl. Others call it one of the greatest stories ever written due to Nabokov’s extraordinary prose and its psychologically complex characters.

In today’s world, most pornography made by and for consenting adults is legal in the United States, protected as free speech. Only narrow categories fall outside that protection, such as sexual depictions of a minor.

Multiple Choice

Why is the “community standards” part of the Miller test hard to apply today?

AIdeas about what is offensive differ from one community to another.

BThe test applies only to material that is sent through the mail.

CThe test requires proof that a viewer was harmed by the material.

DThe test was written before photography was widely available.

How Big Is Porn, and Who Watches It?

Pornography is one of the most consumed products on the internet. Estimates of its revenue vary widely because the industry takes so many forms, but U.S. porn revenue has been reported in the range of $12 billion a year (CNBC.com, 2015). This has been increasingly driven by advertising rather than direct sales.

Bar chart of adult entertainment market size rising from 71.63 billion in 2025 to 109.83 billion in 2030. — Figure 15.2. Estimates vary widely, but the adult-entertainment industry is enormous and still growing — increasingly driven by advertising and subscriptions rather than direct sales.

A sample of nearly 1,400 U.S. adults (ages 18–73) found that 91.5% of men and 60.2% of women reported consuming pornography or erotica in the past month (Solano et al., 2020). Lifetime figures for the same sample were 98.9% of men and 91.9% of women. In other words, virtually everyone views porn in some form at some point in their life, and for most people it’s a regular occurrence. Porn use usually begins before adulthood, with a large study of U.S. teens finding that 73% had watched porn by the time they were 17 (Herbenick et al., 2020). Around 15% of respondents reported they had seen porn by age 10.

The way porn reaches people has changed constantly with technology. The magazine Playboy, founded in 1953, was selling about 7 million copies a month by the early 1970s. It was “soft-core,” showing nudity but not explicit sex. Later magazines, like Hustler and Penthouse, went hard-core, showing full penetration. The 1980s saw an explosion of porn video reaching homes across the U.S., with the widespread adoption of VHS. In fact, pornography is often cited as one of the reasons why VHS technology took off so rapidly (Alilunas, 2016).

Then the internet changed everything, making endless, free pornography available instantly. Sites such as Pornhub made streaming the norm. Webcammingi sites, such as OnlyFans, have blurred the line between porn and sex work, with subscribers seeing sex live-streamed from people who can take requests live. Many porn creators sell photos and videos directly to their audience, some of them even selling their used underwear (Morris, 2020). Many traditional sex workers have moved to these platforms because they can work from home, on their own schedule, and keep more of what they earn (Rabouin, 2016).

Figure 15.3. Subscription and webcam platforms such as OnlyFans have blurred the line between pornography and sex work, letting creators sell directly to their audience.

Multiple Choice

Which change best describes how technology has reshaped pornography over time?

AHome video mostly gave way to a return of print magazines.

BFree streaming and webcam sites replaced magazines and tapes.

CLarge studios gained more control as the internet expanded.

DLegal limits pushed most production back into printed form.

Fun Fact: Porn acting is not the dream job it looks like. Wouldn’t it be amazing to work in porn? Getting to have sex with lots of hot people and getting paid for it! Behind the polished videos, though, most performers rate their job as highly stressful and often dissatisfying (Grudzen et al., 2011). Studies and industry reporting point to pay that often works out below minimum wage per hour once unpaid time is counted (Morris, 2016). Sexually transmitted infections are a common job hazard, with porn actors being 20 times more likely to contract STIs than those in the general public (Goldstein et al., 2011; Javanbakht et al., 2017; Rodriguez-Hart et al., 2012). There is also still heavy social stigma against porn actors, even though it is a legal job (Griffith et al., 2013). Many porn actors also report open exploitation in the industry, such as not being paid after a shoot or being pressured into acts they’re not comfortable with (Donevan et al., 2025). Behind the seductive images are real people who are often paid and treated poorly for their work.

15.2 The Effects of Pornography

In 2016, the Utah legislature became the first in the country to formally declare pornography a public-health hazard (S.C.R. 9, 2016), and anti-porn writers such as Gail Dines argue that mainstream porn warps how people think about sex, intimacy, and gender (Dines, 2011). However, many researchers argue that the “porn causes harm” story rests more on moral discomfort than on solid data. What’s more, it’s clear that porn also has real, measurable benefits for many. So, what’s the truth about how porn affects people?

Man in dim blue light with wrists chained to a glowing computer monitor, illustrating compulsive screen use. — Figure 15.4. Popular culture tends to picture porn use as an inescapable compulsion — but for the large majority of viewers, the reality is far more ordinary.

Is Porn Use “Problematic”?

Most people who use porn use it in ordinary, untroubled ways. One widely cited study sorted online porn users into three profiles (Vaillancourt-Morel et al., 2017):

Recreational users, who use it occasionally and report no distress and generally good sexual well-being. This group constitutes around 75% of users.
A distressed, non-compulsive group, who use porn relatively little but feel bad about it. These individuals are typically highly religious and see porn as sinful, but still view it occasionally.
A compulsive group, who view porn much more than average, often daily. This group made up less than 10% of the sample and were primarily men who displayed mental-health issues, such as depression and anxiety.

Infographic titled 9 Signs of Porn Addiction with a numbered list and a cartoon figure on a bed holding a phone. — Figure 15.5. Checklists of “porn addiction” signs circulate widely online, but the research suggests such patterns describe only a small minority of users.

Research shows that porn is non-problematic for the vast majority of viewers, but there is a small yet significant number of people who display problematic pornography usei (PPU). The psychological community has not classified this as a formal addiction, as there isn’t clear evidence it affects the brain in the way other addictions do (Ley et al., 2014). People who display PPU tend to use porn as an escape from other problems in their lives (Poulsen et al., 2013). In other words, it’s not that porn causes problems for people in and of itself, but, for some, it can be tied with impulsive-use disorders more broadly (similar to gambling or online gaming).

Two rows of brain MRI scans with colored activation overlays comparing healthy volunteers and compulsive pornography users. — Figure 15.6. Headlines often claim that porn “lights up” the brain the way drugs and alcohol do, pointing to imaging studies in which pornographic cues trigger reward-related brain activity in compulsive users, similar to the activity seen in substance addiction.

Fun Fact: The best predictor of feeling “addicted” to porn is not how much you watch. Across several studies, the strongest predictor of calling oneself a “porn addict” is high religiosity and moral disapproval of porn, not the actual amount viewed (Grubbs et al., 2015). When researchers had an open call for “people who are addicted to pornography” as part of an ongoing study, most of the applicants they received were men who watched less porn than average. Many of these men viewed watching any amount of porn as problematic and a sign of addiction. Researchers call this pattern moral incongruence — the distress comes from doing something that conflicts with one’s values, not necessarily from the behavior being clinically out of control.

Cartoon of a drooling man staring at a laptop showing an adult site, wearing a shirt labeled PORN GEEK. — Figure 15.7. The leering “porn addict” is a cultural stereotype. In practice, the people most likely to label themselves addicted are often those who simply believe any porn use is wrong.

Multiple Choice

Kyle watches less porn than most men his age, yet he calls himself a porn addict. This pattern is best explained by:

Amoral incongruence between his behavior and his values

Btolerance built up over years of very heavy porn use

Ca compulsive disorder that clearly shows up in the brain

Dlow sexual satisfaction with his current romantic partner

When people are asked why they watch porn, the most commonly cited reason (for both women and men) is simply to become aroused and masturbate (Solano et al., 2020). As discussed earlier in this book, masturbation is a normal and healthy behavior. Other commonly cited reasons for watching porn include learning about sexual techniques and adding variety to one’s own sex life. On the whole, the vast majority of people who view porn do so for healthy reasons (Hald & Malamuth, 2008).

Porn may be particularly advantageous for couples. Research shows that couples who watch pornography together tend to have more satisfying sex lives (Maddox et al., 2009). When couples watch porn together, they tend to communicate more about sex, sharing their interests, preferences, and values (Kohut et al., 2018). This leads to greater openness and closeness between sexual partners. When two partners have different levels of sexual desire, porn can offer one partner a consensual outlet without pressuring the other (Rodrigues et al., 2021; Perry, 2017). When porn is used to increase communication and satisfaction in a relationship, it can have significant, positive benefits.

A couple in bed looking at a laptop screen together. — Figure 15.8. Couples who view pornography together tend to communicate more about sex, which is linked to greater openness and satisfaction in the relationship.

Pornography Is Fiction, Not Fact

Porn is produced. It is staged, scripted, cast, lit, and edited, just the same as any other film. And yet, many people (especially young men) view porn as a realistic view of sex. This can lead to misunderstandings about how sex works in the real world. For example, here are some things you rarely see in porn (Bridges et al., 2010; Willis et al., 2020):

Romance and verbal affection
Clear consent before engaging in sex
Negotiation about what type of sex to have, where, and for how long
Verbal instructions during sex, such as how to maximize pleasure (“A little to the left. Oh ya, right there!”)
Checking in with a partner (“How do you like that? Does that feel good?”)
Using condoms or other forms of contraceptives

Real-life sex should regularly feature consent, communication, and contraceptives, but these aspects (apparently) don’t make for a highly viewed porn video. This isn’t problematic in itself, but it does present issues for people who take porn as a documentary source for how sex should be.

Behind-the-scenes of a film shoot; a woman in a white slip stands while a camera operator films a draped reclining person. — Figure 15.9. Pornography is a produced medium — scripted, cast, lit, and edited, just like any other film. Treating it as a documentary of how real sex works is a recipe for unrealistic expectations.

Multiple Choice

Each of the following is rarely shown in mainstream porn EXCEPT:

Apartners saying what feels good during sex

Bclear consent before any sex begins

Ccondoms or other forms of birth control

Dcamera angles chosen to flatter the body

For some men, viewing porn does result in less sexual satisfaction, both for themselves and their partners. A study by Kuan and colleagues (2022) found that men who rate viewing porn “often” or “very often” tend to rate their own sex as less satisfying than men who view porn “sometimes” or “regularly” (Kuan et al., 2022). What’s more, the sexual partners of men who viewed porn very often also rated their sex as less satisfying. Interestingly, this trend wasn’t found with women. In fact, women who reported viewing porn “often” or “very often” actually reported greater sexual satisfaction. These reverse trends show that porn doesn’t necessarily make real-life sex worse, but it can affect our expectations around sex (for better or for worse).

A study of young men, ages 18–24, found that 20% of them viewed porn as “realistic” and “most helpful” when it came to learning about sex. These men were more likely to perform more violent sex acts, such as slapping, gagging, and choking partners during sex. They also reported being less aroused by women with average breasts. When describing a woman who was raped, these men were more likely to blame the victim — agreeing with statements like, “She shouldn’t have put herself in that situation,” and “What she was wearing contributed to the incident.”

In short, when porn is viewed and used as a fantasy, it tends to have no harmful effects. But when porn is viewed as realistic and something to be imitated, it can lead to less satisfying sex and more misogynistic attitudes about women. This points to a larger point about porn, as well as any form of media. If it leads to unrealistic expectations about the world, media exposure can cause real problems. The solution likely isn’t to eliminate porn, but to educate people about it.

Growing Up With Porn

It’s becoming more common for children to see porn at earlier and earlier ages. Around 15% of young adults now report first seeing porn on the internet before the age of 10 (Herbenick et al., 2020). Given that free porn is only a click away, it is more important than ever to educate young people about porn.

Young man lying in the dark, face illuminated by the glow of a smartphone he is looking at. — Figure 15.10. With free porn a click away, young people now encounter sexual media earlier than ever — which is why many educators argue for teaching them how to interpret it.

A fair number of teens report using porn as a stand-in for sex education (Leonhardt et al., 2018). That is worrying, given all the ways already discussed in which porn doesn’t portray sex realistically. This is why many sexual-health educators promote porn literacyi. This involves teaching young people that porn is staged fantasy, that performers’ bodies are not typical, and that real sex involves communication, consent, and protection. The goal is not to shame young people who view porn, but to give them a framework for how to understand it.

It’s not yet well established whether early exposure to porn significantly affects people’s later sex lives or relationships (Pathmendra et al., 2023). It has been found that teens who use porn consistently are more likely to have permissive attitudes toward sex, but it’s unclear whether porn causes these attitudes or if it’s the other way around (Pathmendra et al., 2023; Koletić, 2017). Large-scale studies find that the vast majority of teens who view porn show no negative effects in their sexual function or relationship satisfaction (Dwulit & Rzymski, 2019). In fact, 1 in 4 students reported beneficial effects from viewing porn, such as being more sexually satisfied and having an easier time reaching climax during masturbation. But the age of onset may matter here. Young people who began viewing porn before the age of 12 were significantly more likely to report being dissatisfied with real-life sex and their relationships. It’s likely that children can be hurt by porn if they are exposed to it too early and without proper education.

Does Porn Cause Violence Against Women?

It’s no secret that porn often portrays violence toward women. A content analysis of highly viewed porn videos found that 88% of the scenes portrayed physical aggression toward women (e.g., spanking, gagging, slapping) and 49% contained verbal aggression (Bridges et al., 2010). Larger analyses of free streaming sites found outright violence against women in 35–45% of scenes, including physical acts of violence (e.g., choking) and seemingly non-consensual sex (Fritz et al., 2020; Shor & Seida, 2019).

Photograph depicting an aggressive sexual scene, illustrating depictions of aggression toward women in pornography. — Figure 15.11. Content analyses find aggression toward women — spanking, gagging, slapping, choking — in a large share of popular pornography. (Image blurred by default.)

Across studies, men who consume more porn do, as a group, show somewhat higher acceptance of violence against women (Hald et al., 2010; Skorska et al., 2018). But “as a group” hides a crucial detail. The link is strong only for a narrow subset of men: those who watch a great deal of porn and already hold hostile attitudes toward women (Kingston et al., 2009). In one lab experiment, men who watched violent porn were afterward more willing to behave aggressively toward a woman and more accepting of violence against women — but this effect held for only about 7% of participants (Hald & Malamuth, 2015). This small fraction of men displayed high levels of hostility toward women before watching violent porn. In other words, porn does not appear to turn ordinary men into aggressors. Men already inclined toward hostility may seek out violent porn, further increasing their hostility over time.

Porn, in and of itself, doesn’t appear to lead people to become more violent against women. A large study of over 1,000 college students found that frequent porn viewers were no more likely to accept violence against women and were not more likely to misconstrue or confuse rape as consensual sex (Dawson et al., 2020). In fact, porn has likely led to less real-world violence against women.

At a population level, when porn becomes more available in a given country or region, sex crimes tend to decrease. Several studies of countries that liberalized access to porn, including Denmark, Japan, and the Czech Republic, found that reported sex crimes dropped after porn was made more available (Diamond, 2009; Diamond et al., 2011). This is especially true for sex crimes involving children. This could be because porn can provide a “safe outlet” for some people who would otherwise be sexually dissatisfied and thus victimize others for their own satisfaction.

Multiple Choice

The link between porn use and accepting violence toward women is strongest among men who:

Astarted viewing porn during their early teenage years

Bview a great deal of porn and already dislike women

Cview porn mainly with a long-term romantic partner

Dbelieve that porn should be illegal for everyone

15.3 Sex Work and Sex Workers

Sex worki is the exchange of sexual activities or performances for money or goods; the broader industry is the sex tradei. The older word is prostitutioni, but many researchers and advocates prefer sex work because it treats the activity as labor and carries less stigma. People enter sex work for many reasons, but the main one is the same reason people take most jobs: money (Footer et al., 2020; Nichols & Nichols, 2017).

Clothed woman in red jacket and short skirt taking cash from a hand reaching out of a car window on a street. — Figure 15.12. People enter sex work for many reasons, but surveys consistently find the primary one is the same reason people take most jobs: money.

What Sex Work Really Looks Like

The popular image of sex work is a woman on a street corner. In reality, that is the smallest slice. Most paid sex today is arranged privately, online, or between acquaintances, not on the street. Sex work is a common form of income for many people. It’s difficult to accurately measure how many people engage in sex work, given that it’s illegal and secretive. Based on a mix of self-report and criminal records, it’s estimated that well over 1 million Americans are currently engaging in sex work at any given time (Dank et al., 2014).

Clothed person seated in a chair holding a sign that reads SEX WORK IS WORK in a home setting. — Figure 15.13. Many workers and advocates prefer the term “sex work” over “prostitution” because it frames the activity as labor and carries less stigma.

Large national surveys find that around 5% of Americans report engaging in sex work during adolescence or as young adults, with these being predominantly cis and trans women (Ulloa et al., 2016). College students are even more likely to engage in sex work, with around 10% of women college students “using their bodies” to pay for college tuition or cover emergency costs (Petter, 2018). For most sex workers, it’s a temporary gig. In one Canadian study that tracked online listings for sex workers, the average sex worker only listed their services for around 6 months (Kennedy, 2024). In most cases, sex workers only worked for 1 month out of the year.

Bar chart showing weapons, drugs, and sex as percentage share of the cash economy across seven U.S. cities. — Figure 15.14. The commercial sex economy is substantial but hard to measure. This estimate compares the cash-economy share of sex, drugs, and weapons across several U.S. cities.

While it’s true that most sex workers are women, it’s becoming more common to see male sex workers enter the trade. A content analysis of over 25,000 sex-work ads found that 72% of sex workers identified as women, while 28% identified as men (Kingston & Smith, 2020). A majority of men in the sex trade sell their bodies to other men (Logan, 2010). Trans women are especially likely to enter the sex trade, with around 13% of trans women selling their bodies at some point, nearly three times the rate of cisgender women (Sawicki et al., 2019). Many trans women begin sex work as a way to make money in a world that rejects them for other jobs (Fitzgerald et al., 2015; Nuttbrock, 2018). Trans women also face more danger in the sex trade, with clients sometimes becoming violent if they find out they’re having sex with a trans woman (Turner et al., 2021).

When it comes to male clientele (commonly known as Johnsi), 1 in 8 U.S. men (around 13%) report having paid for sex at least once in their lives (Della Giusta et al., 2009). Men make up the vast majority of people who pay for sex, with far less than 1% of women reporting ever having paid for sex. This gender dynamic is as old as the sex trade itself. The famous Roman poet Ovid, writing around 20 BCE, put it this way: Woman alone glories in spoils stripped from a man, alone rents out her nights, alone comes up for hire, and sells what pleases them both and both were after, setting a price on her own enjoyment (lines 27–34). Throughout history, women have been the primary sellers of sex, and men the buyers.

Nighttime street scene of a woman's legs in high heels standing beside a man's legs next to a parked car. — Figure 15.15. About 1 in 8 U.S. men report having paid for sex at least once. Research finds buyers are not a single type — and that a minority pose real danger to workers.

Studies find that Johns often fall into one of two categories (Joseph & Black, 2012). One is the “consumer” type, who simply enjoys a variety of different types of sex with different types of partners. This constitutes the majority of men who pay for sex. The other type is termed the “fragile” man, someone who is uncomfortable around women, often from experiencing past rejections. They typically view themselves as unworthy of love or incapable of obtaining a regular sex partner. It is this “fragile” group that tends to be more dangerous to workers. For them, buying sex is often bound up with a wish to feel power and control over women, which can sometimes result in mistreatment.

Multiple Choice

Why is the street-corner image of sex work misleading?

AStreet work is illegal, while other kinds of sex work are legal.

BStreet workers usually earn far more than other sex workers.

CStreet work draws most arrests but almost none of the injuries.

DStreet work is the smallest slice of a mostly private trade.

Types of Sex Work

There are a number of ways that people sell sex, from street corners to massage parlors. These can vary greatly in the type of clientele, price per service, and the degree of safety for workers.

Streetwalkersi — sex workers who find clients on the street — are the lowest-paid and by far the most endangered. They have to quickly establish trust and negotiate with clients and then direct the sexual encounter to a car or cheap hotel room, all while avoiding police (Burnes et al., 2018). Every time a streetwalker gets into a stranger’s car, she risks being robbed, beaten, raped, or killed (Raphael & Shapiro, 2004). Streetwalkers are around 20 times more likely to be murdered, compared to the typical woman (Salfati, 2009).

Woman's legs in a short red dress and heels leaning against a pole on a lit city street at night. — Figure 15.16. Street-based work is the smallest share of the sex trade but absorbs the largest share of the danger, arrests, and stigma.

Street-based workers have the least ability to insist on condoms, so their risk of sexually transmitted infection is also highest (Love, 2015). Because criminalization means they often cannot safely go to the police, they are also easy targets for exploitation — sometimes by the police themselves (Footer et al., 2016). Street work is the smallest share of sex work overall, but it absorbs a large share of the danger, arrests, and stigma (Barwulor et al., 2021; Jones, 2015). Most often, people turn to street-based sex work because of homelessness, a drug addiction, or a past criminal record (Duff et al., 2011; Lankenau et al., 2005; Larroulet et al., 2022). This makes streetwalkers especially vulnerable to victimization, crime, and health problems.

Streetwalkers sometimes work for pimpsi, who are typically men who offer protection for sex workers for a price. So-called protection can come at a high price, with pimps often taking the majority of pay earned by sex workers. In a series of interviews with pimps across 8 U.S. cities, nearly all of them described themselves as “business managers,” rather than enforcers (Dank et al., 2014). Most of them handled advertising, travel, hotel stays, and appearances for their workers. At the same time, most also reported using force, fraud, or coercion to control their “ladies.” Pimps are also often in charge of recruiting new girls for the trade. A study from the Urban Institute found that pimps often roped in women from gang-affiliated families to do sex work (Thompson, 2014).

Brothels sit higher on the safety ladder. A brotheli is a house where sex is sold, historically run by a madami — a woman who manages the workers and takes a share of the earnings (Howard, 2021). Where brothels are legal and regulated, they operate like any other business, with security, house rules, and clear limits on what activities occur and what protection is used. That structure makes indoor work considerably safer than the street, which is exactly why the few legal brothels in Nevada rarely see the violence and disease associated with street work.

Amsterdam red-light district at night with women in lingerie in red-lit windows and a man walking by. — Figure 15.17. In places such as the Netherlands, where sex work is legal and regulated, indoor venues operate openly — with security and house rules that make the work far safer than the street.

Massage parlorsi that offer sexual services sit in an odd middle space in the American sex trade. They look like ordinary storefronts, often operating in strip malls and office parks, and advertise “body massages.” Most often, the people working there are immigrant women from China and Korea. Chin and colleagues interviewed 116 Chinese and Korean women who provided sexual services in parlors in New York City and Los Angeles County (Chin & Takahashi, 2019, 2023). Most said they had not been forced into the work, but few described it as a free choice either. About a third said they did the work out of necessity, a smaller share said they preferred it, and roughly half said both things were true. Many had limited English, no legal immigration status, and children to support, which left them choosing among nail salons, restaurants, or massage work. Massage work often paid the best. Working at a massage parlor still carries real danger. A substantial portion of the women reported being sexually assaulted by a customer in the past year. Fear of deportation kept most of them from going to the police (see also Young, 2021).

Neon window sign showing hands massaging a back, glowing at night. — Figure 15.18. Massage parlors that offer sexual services occupy a legally and socially uncertain middle space, often staffed by immigrant women with few other options.

Escort services are the main form of sex work in the United States today. Escortsi, sometimes called call girlsi, advertise online and travel to a client, or receive the client at a chosen location. This model gives the worker much more control. She can set prices and limits in advance, screen clients, and pick the setting — all of which improve safety and lower the chance of arrest. Escorts tend to earn more and face less violence than street workers. Many build a base of regular clients, which makes the work steadier and safer. Online sex work has become so popular, in part, because it’s easy and cheap to get started. It simply involves taking pictures and paying for an online ad on a website. A survey of over 100 escorts found that this was one of the primary draws of sex work. It was much easier to start an online sex-work business than to get into another line of work, and the pay was typically higher than what other jobs would provide (Macon & Tai, 2022).

Screenshot of an online escort-ad directory with a category sidebar and a grid of listing thumbnails. — Figure 15.19. Escort work — advertised online and arranged privately — is the main form of sex work in the U.S. today, largely because it lets workers screen clients and set terms in advance. (Image blurred by default.)

In recent years, it’s become harder for people to engage in sex work online. In 2018, Congress passed a law usually called FOSTA-SESTA. It amended a law that had shielded websites from legal responsibility for what their users posted. The stated goal was to fight sex trafficking by making platforms liable if they hosted ads for commercial sex. Websites reacted fast, banning anything that looked like sex work. That included the tools workers had built to keep themselves safe, such as client-screening services and shared lists of dangerous clients. A sex-worker-led survey found that the law cut into people’s income and their ability to advertise while increasing their exposure to violence (Blunt & Wolf, 2020; see also Cunningham & Shah, 2018). About 20% of respondents lost access to harm-reduction resources they had been using. Like so many laws passed to punish sex work, it simply worked to drive the trade deeper underground. Many websites that now host escort listings are overseas, which has actually made it more difficult to investigate sex trafficking (U.S. Government Accountability Office, 2021).

Clothed woman at a webcam streaming setup with ring lights, cameras, and a monitor showing a cam site. — Figure 15.20. Camming and subscription sites let workers earn from home on their own schedule, one reason many have moved online — though recent laws have made online sex work harder and pushed much of it overseas.

Exotic dancingi, or stripping, is the most common legal, face-to-face form of sex work. Dancers make most of their money from tips and private dances. While the club setting offers some protection, the job carries its own stigma and risks, including harassment and stalking by clients. Research finds that many dancers manage this by drawing a firm line between their stage persona and their real self, and by developing strategies to read and defuse dangerous situations (Thompson et al., 2003; Bahri, 2019).

Men holding drinks watch a female exotic dancer performing at a dimly lit nightclub. — Figure 15.21. Exotic dancing is the most common legal, face-to-face form of sex work; dancers earn mainly through tips and private dances.

Multiple Choice

What best explains why indoor sex work tends to be safer than street work?

AIndoor workers are far more likely to be working for a pimp.

BIndoor clients must show identification before any meeting.

CIndoor workers can screen clients and set terms in advance.

DIndoor work attracts clients who pay much less per visit.

Fun Fact: Sex work used to be legal — and tied to women’s rights. Before 1900, prostitution was largely tolerated and often legal across much of the United States (Butler, 1985). Frontier sex workers often headed organizations that pushed for women’s rights, seeking the right to vote, own property, and ensure education for girls (Gilfoyle, 1992). It was only in the early twentieth century, as social-reform and temperance movements gathered force, that prostitution was broadly outlawed. This inevitably pushed sex work underground, which led to the industry becoming much more dangerous (Pliley, 2014).

Vintage engraving of men in top hats and women in dresses drinking and socializing in a concert saloon. — Figure 15.22. A nineteenth-century concert saloon. Before 1900, sex work was largely tolerated across much of the United States; it was outlawed only as social-reform movements gained force.

15.4 Sex Work and the Law

In the United States, a person can legally be paid to have sex on camera in front of strangers — that is making pornography and is protected as free speech — but the same person cannot legally be paid to have sex with a client in private. Selling the image of sex is legal; selling the act is not. Why?

Legal vs. Illegal Sex Work

The split is mostly a matter of legal history. Pornography won First Amendment protection through decades of court fights. Prostitution never got that shield. It has been treated solely as a vice that needs to be suppressed. Underneath the legal difference sits a moral one — the old idea that sex outside a committed relationship is wrong, and that paid sex is the worst version of it (Weitzer, 2020).

A wooden gavel and metal handcuffs resting on a laptop keyboard. — Figure 15.23. Selling the image of sex is legal in the U.S.; selling the act is not. The difference is rooted less in evidence of harm than in legal and moral history.

There are three broad legal approaches when it comes to sex work. Under criminalizationi, buying and selling sex are crimes. Under legalizationi, sex work is allowed but tightly regulated — legal only under specific conditions such as licensed brothels, mandatory health checks, or restricted zones. Under decriminalizationi, the criminal penalties are simply removed, so that sex work is treated less like a crime and more like other work, without a heavy regulatory apparatus (American Civil Liberties Union, 2021). Legalization says “yes, but only like this,” while decriminalization says, “yes, and you decide how to do it.”

The reason this distinction matters is that the legal regime shapes how dangerous the work is. When sex work is criminalized, workers cannot easily call the police, insist their clients use condoms, or work together for safety. Criminalization pushes the trade into the shadows, which is precisely where it becomes most dangerous.

After New Zealand decriminalized sex work, research found workers were better able to protect themselves and had improved relationships with police (Armstrong, 2017). Conversely, where governments have leaned harder into punishing buyers and sellers, some studies find the trade did not shrink but grew more dangerous, as the clientele shifted toward men more willing to break the law (Della Giusta et al., 2021). Currently, the U.S. is split in its public opinion on sex work, with nearly half of Americans agreeing that “prostitution between consenting adults should be legal” (Heng-Lehtinen, 2020; Moore, 2015, 2016).

Multiple Choice

Why can a person legally be paid for sex on camera but not in private?

AFilmed sex carries far less risk of disease for the workers.

BFederal law treats all paid private sex as sex trafficking.

CPorn performers are licensed and screened by state agencies.

DPorn won free-speech protection, while prostitution did not.

Sex Trafficking

Sex work is completely different from sex trafficking. While sex work involves consenting adults trading sex for money, sex traffickingi involves forcing someone to have sex, often involving minors. Concerns about trafficking have often been used to single out and “crack down” on sex work more broadly. In 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Texas law requiring pornography sites to verify that their visitors are adults, which has made operating porn sites in the state virtually impossible (Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Paxton, 2025).

Three young people at a protest with black tape covering their mouths, symbolizing silenced victims of trafficking. — Figure 15.24. Sex trafficking — forcing or coercing someone into commercial sex — is a serious crime, but it is far less common than public alarm often suggests, and is distinct from consensual adult sex work.

While sex trafficking is a real concern, it is far less common than lawmakers often make it out to be. Reliable national counts are extremely difficult to estimate, given that the practice is well guarded and highly illegal. However, out of the more than 80,000 arrests of sex workers in one year, only about 100 were related to trafficking (Human Trafficking Institute, 2022). In other words, sex trafficking likely constitutes only an incredibly small percentage (less than 0.1%) of all sex work.

Measures sold as anti-trafficking tools also frequently sweep up consensual adult sex workers instead, or simply push the trade toward more dangerous channels (ProCon, 2024). A U.S. Government Accountability Office review found that FOSTA-SESTA was rarely used to prosecute traffickers, yet it shut down the advertising and client-screening sites many workers relied on for safety (U.S. Government Accountability Office, 2021). As of 2026, most porn websites are no longer available in 25 U.S. states, including most of the Southern and Midwest states. Laws meant to stop trafficking have most likely had little effect on trafficking itself, but have made it much harder to safely access sex work and sexual media for much of the country.

US map coloring states by PornHub availability: banned, upcoming ban, and banned with a threat to ban VPNs. — Figure 15.25. By 2026, major pornography sites had become unavailable across roughly half of U.S. states — concentrated in the South and Midwest — in response to age-verification laws.

Multiple Choice

Which statement best fits the evidence on FOSTA-SESTA?

AIt caused a sharp rise in trafficking prosecutions nationwide.

BIt rarely caught traffickers but removed workers’ safety tools.

CIt made online ads safer by verifying the identity of workers.

DIt shrank the size of the online sex trade in most U.S. states.

Study Guide

After reading this chapter, you should be able to answer each of the questions below. These are open-ended prompts for review and discussion; use your own words and support your answers with evidence from the text.

15.1 Pornography: What It Is and How It Is Made

What is the difference between pornography and erotica, and why is the line between them so hard to draw?
Explain the three parts of the Miller test for obscenity. Why does the phrase “community standards” make the test difficult to apply in the internet age?
In what sense is pornography a “performance” rather than a documentary? Give three ways that porn differs from real-life sex.
Describe how technology has changed the way pornography is produced and consumed, from print magazines to webcamming and subscription platforms.
Why do most porn performers report low job satisfaction? Identify at least three factors.

15.2 The Effects of Pornography

Describe the three profiles of porn users identified by researchers. Which group is the largest?
Why do frequent male porn viewers sometimes report slightly lower sexual satisfaction? What role do expectations play?
Explain why the claim “porn causes violence against women” is considered an overstatement. For whom is the effect actually strongest?
What is problematic pornography use, and how does it differ from simply watching porn? Which direction does the evidence suggest the relationship with mental health runs?
What predicts whether someone labels themselves a “porn addict” better than the amount they watch? What does this tell us about how beliefs shape experience?
What is porn literacy, and why do many sexual-health educators recommend it?

15.3 Sex Work and Sex Workers

Why do many researchers prefer the term “sex work” over “prostitution”?
Why is the popular image of sex work — a woman on a street corner — misleading about what most sex work actually looks like?
Rank streetwalking, brothel work, and escort work from most to least dangerous, and explain what drives the difference in safety.
Why are transgender women overrepresented in sex work? What factors push some toward the trade?
How does research on pimps and on the buyers of sex (“Johns”) complicate common stereotypes?

15.4 Sex Work and the Law

Explain why making pornography is generally legal in the U.S. while prostitution generally is not.
Distinguish among criminalization, legalization, and decriminalization. How does each affect the safety of sex workers?
What does the evidence suggest about which legal arrangements keep sex workers safest, and why?
Why should concern about sex trafficking be “kept in proportion,” and how can broad anti-trafficking measures sometimes harm consensual sex workers?

Key Terms

Brothel: A house or business where sex is sold. Where they are legal and regulated, brothels tend to be safer than street-based work because of security, house rules, and clear limits on activity and protection.
Call Girl: Another name for an escort — a sex worker who arranges meetings privately, usually advertising online and traveling to a client or hosting at a chosen location.
Community Standards: The idea, central to the Miller obscenity test, that whether material is “patently offensive” is judged by the norms of an average person in a particular community — norms that vary by place and time.
Criminalization: A legal approach in which both buying and selling sex are crimes. It tends to push the trade underground and make it more dangerous for workers.
Decriminalization: Removing the criminal penalties for buying and selling sex, so that sex work is treated more like ordinary work, without a heavy system of regulation. Associated in research with improved worker safety.
Erotica: Sexual material that also aims for artistic or literary value — telling a story or evoking feeling — rather than only prompting arousal. The line between erotica and pornography is largely a matter of opinion.
Escort: A sex worker who arranges meetings privately, usually advertising online and traveling to a client or hosting at a chosen location. Escorts can screen clients and set terms in advance, which makes the work relatively safe and well-paid. Also called a call girl.
Exotic Dancing: Stripping or striptease performed for an audience, usually in a club; the most common legal, face-to-face form of sex work. Dancers earn mainly through tips and private dances.
John: A common term for a customer who buys sex. Research finds buyers are not a single type, and that men with “fragile” masculine identities tend to pose more danger to workers than those simply seeking variety.
Legalization: A legal approach that permits sex work only under specific regulations, such as licensed brothels, mandatory health checks, or restricted zones. Different from decriminalization, which simply removes penalties.
Madam: A woman who manages a brothel or a group of sex workers, usually taking a share of the earnings.
Massage Parlor: A storefront business that advertises massages but may also offer sexual services; in the U.S. these are often staffed by immigrant women and sit in a legally and socially uncertain middle space in the sex trade.
Miller Test: The three-part U.S. Supreme Court standard (from Miller v. California, 1973) for deciding whether sexual material is legally obscene: it must appeal mainly to a shameful interest in sex, depict sexual conduct in a patently offensive way, and, taken as a whole, lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
Obscenity: Sexual material judged so offensive that it falls outside the free-speech protection of the First Amendment. Very little adult pornography actually meets this legal definition.
Pimp: A person, usually a man, who manages and profits from sex workers. Research shows many function more like “business managers” than the violent stereotype, though abusive pimps and coercion in trafficking cases are real.
Porn Literacy: An educational approach that teaches young people to view pornography critically: as staged fantasy with unrealistic bodies and scripts that leave out communication, consent, and protection.
Pornography: Media — photographs, video, writing, drawing, painting, or sculpture — created mainly to cause sexual arousal.
Problematic Pornography Use: A pattern of porn use that a person feels is out of their control and that interferes with their life. Evidence suggests distress and poor mental health more often drive heavy use than the reverse.
Prostitution: The exchange of sexual acts for money; the older term for what many now call sex work.
Sex Trade: The overall industry built around sex work.
Sex Trafficking: Forcing or coercing someone into commercial sex, or trafficking a minor for sex. A serious crime, but far less common than public alarm often suggests.
Sex Work: The exchange of sexual activities or performances for money or goods. Many researchers prefer this term over “prostitution” because it frames the activity as labor and carries less stigma.
Streetwalker: A sex worker who finds clients on the street. The lowest-paid and most dangerous form of sex work, because workers have little ability to screen clients, insist on protection, or safely contact police.
Webcamming: Performing sex acts live on camera for paying viewers over the internet — a form of work that sits between pornography and in-person sex work.

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