When the sex industry is covered by the mainstream media, they often use phrases and words to describe the business that aren’t actually used by people who work in it. Here are some of these words and phrases, and what should be used instead.
Call girl - this isn’t entirely offensive or completely wrong because it’s not really slang, but it’s a little out dated. Escort is the preferred term these days, and in studies these workers are sometimes called “indoor workers.” See Tracy Quan’s 2001 novel Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl for a realistic depiction of this era in the business.
Prostitution ring - this phrase exists basically to get people wound up. It looks really shocking and scandalous in a headline. No one in the sex industry uses this phrase - in fact, I’m not entirely sure what it’s supposed to mean. Escort agency is a much more accurate way to refer to businesses that a client can call or email to request one of several escorts.
Hooker/whore - Why is it ok to use slang when it’s about sex workers? These are pretty offensive words, and the media shouldn’t perpetuate their use. Escort, prostitute or the umbrella term sex worker are all preferred to these.
Street walker - It’s a subtle difference, but “street worker” is preferred. People who live or spend a lot of their time on the street but may or may not be sex workers are often referred to as the “street-based population.”
8 responses so far ↓
1 Lilithe Magdalen // Apr 1, 2008 at 10:02 pm
I need to do the research to back this up, but my understanding is that the word whore can actually be traced back to ….well, here, I probably shouldn’t do this, but this is a bit from “the Authentic Herstory of Prostitution”. I’m sure you have already seen it, but it can be found at http://www.freedomusa.org/coyotela/history.html.:
“The word whore is an English corruption of the Old Semitic word hor, meaning “hole,” “cave,” or “pit.” Hor, in turn, is a derivation of the pre-Judaic Indo-European word, hora, meaning “hour.” In fact, our modern English word “hour” derives from hora. In ancient Greece, for instance, prostitutes were called horae; in Persia, houri; in Babylon, harines; and in Israel, hors. What is the connection between “hour” and “whore”?
Women of the Hours…. I kinda like it. The article makes alot of claims with no bibliographic backup, and though there are a handful of disagreements I have with it, much of it I have read elsewhere and “know” to be true.
Besides, it’s like reclaiming the words “bitch”, “cunt”, “slut” and “whore”…it’s, like, “Yeah?”
2 Sex Work 101 // Apr 2, 2008 at 12:21 am
There are some really cool (and unconfirmed, of course) stories about the origin of the word “hooker” too - most of them revolve around places. The one I’m most familiar with is the NYC tale - 19th century street workers apparently populated an area of the city called Corlears Hook - hence, hookers. I think there’s also a similar place-name story relating to Washington, DC.
I’m all for reclaiming those words, it’s having the media fling them at me that I’m not so into.
Dacia
3 RD // Apr 2, 2008 at 11:45 am
I think it is also like reclaiming the word “queer.” Having it screamed at you by a group of adolescent boys in rural Texas, not so much, “queer studies,” yes…If a newspaper called you a queer without it being a quote, it’d be pretty messed up…
4 Tara // Apr 2, 2008 at 2:05 pm
New definition for whore:
We
Honor
Ourselves with
Respect and
Empowerment.
SWOP has shirts that say this, they were a big hit last year at gay pride. We’ll be doing more of these for gay pride month this year. Credit to this acronym is given to Veronica Monet, Robyn Few, and a few others (Robyn told me once who all was there, and I forget) I wasn’t.
5 Priscilla Alexander // Apr 2, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Brilliant, just brilliant.
I agree with the distinction between workers and management. Maybe managers can be called Sex Work Managers, or something. Even though there are grey areas here, basically there is a distinction between the people who organize the business in some way and the practitioners, and I hope that as the work becomes legal in more and more places, sex workers will become more interested in joining together in unions to represent themselves in negotiating contracts, etc.
I am so awed by all the work you are all doing now. It can’t help but change the landscape.
6 Amber // Apr 3, 2008 at 9:45 am
And don’t forget… they love to describe sex workers as “plying their trade!”
7 Being Amber Rhea » Blog Archive » links for 2008-04-03 // Apr 3, 2008 at 6:48 pm
[…] Misnomers: Prostitution (Sex Work 101) “When the sex industry is covered by the mainstream media, they often use phrases and words to describe the sex industry that aren’t actually used by people in the sex industry. Here are some of these words and phrases, and what should be used instead.” (tags: sexwork useful information media msm blog) […]
8 Fitz // Apr 3, 2008 at 7:30 pm
The use of the term “Prostitution Ring” comes from the relationship, or perceived relationship, between organized prostitution and organized crime. It from from the potential definition of the word “ring” as ” an exclusive combination of persons for a selfish and often corrupt purpose (as to control a market).” http://www.m-w.com
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