Social stratification in Singapore's sex industry
Much of research around the sex industry focuses on its regulation, organization, and social construction as deviant behaviour. The literature neglects to ask meaningful questions about the complex inequality present in the sex industry – and how sex workers’ lives are shaped and transformed through...
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| Format: | Thesis-Master by Research |
| Language: | English |
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Nanyang Technological University
2024
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/178470 |
| _version_ | 1811692556741771264 |
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| author | Mahtani, Raksha Kirpal |
| author2 | Laavanya Kathiravelu |
| author_facet | Laavanya Kathiravelu Mahtani, Raksha Kirpal |
| author_sort | Mahtani, Raksha Kirpal |
| collection | NTU |
| description | Much of research around the sex industry focuses on its regulation, organization, and social construction as deviant behaviour. The literature neglects to ask meaningful questions about the complex inequality present in the sex industry – and how sex workers’ lives are shaped and transformed through their participation in the industry. This thesis examines the stratifications and social hierarchies of the sex industry that structure sex workers’ social locations along lines of nationality, gender, race, class, age, and disability. These stratifications and social hierarchies have important implications in relation to patterns of inequality around exclusion, space, exploitation, safety, earning potential, and negotiating power for sex workers. This thesis explores trajectories of social and economic mobility where sex work is highlighted as an important avenue for income generation, giving way to new consumption practices for workers and their families. Tracing friendships and social networks also point to important resources of cultural and social capital for sex workers, including presenting possibilities of care and resistance to stigma, discrimination, and exclusion – although the transient and fraught nature of such social ties may give way to practices of gatekeeping and co-ethnic exploitation that hinge on asymmetries of power and resources. While there is a breadth of resources for sex workers in relation to social support and sexual health, receiving assistance may be insufficient – short-lived, issue-specific, contingent on one’s departure from sex work, and imbricated in other labour issues. The narratives of sex workers emphasise their autonomy and independence as their self-constructions cast them as female breadwinners, mothers, caregivers, and economically productive and self-sufficient individuals. In doing so, it expands scholarship on intimate industries where work is differentially constructed, valued, regulated, and policed. The thesis extends social stratification and occupational inequality literature by nuancing research on social hierarchies within and outside of the social space of the sex industry is classed, gendered, racialised, ableist, and subject to social differences like nationality and sexuality. Through explicating sex workers’ narratives and self-constructions, it contributes to understandings and counter-cultural possibilities of sex work as licit and legitimate in Singapore. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T06:37:40Z |
| format | Thesis-Master by Research |
| id | ntu-10356/178470 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T06:37:40Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publisher | Nanyang Technological University |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1784702024-07-05T03:11:43Z Social stratification in Singapore's sex industry Mahtani, Raksha Kirpal Laavanya Kathiravelu School of Social Sciences LaavanyaK@ntu.edu.sg Social Sciences Sex work Intimate work Sex industry Singapore Stratification Hierarchies Stigma Friendship Social mobility Much of research around the sex industry focuses on its regulation, organization, and social construction as deviant behaviour. The literature neglects to ask meaningful questions about the complex inequality present in the sex industry – and how sex workers’ lives are shaped and transformed through their participation in the industry. This thesis examines the stratifications and social hierarchies of the sex industry that structure sex workers’ social locations along lines of nationality, gender, race, class, age, and disability. These stratifications and social hierarchies have important implications in relation to patterns of inequality around exclusion, space, exploitation, safety, earning potential, and negotiating power for sex workers. This thesis explores trajectories of social and economic mobility where sex work is highlighted as an important avenue for income generation, giving way to new consumption practices for workers and their families. Tracing friendships and social networks also point to important resources of cultural and social capital for sex workers, including presenting possibilities of care and resistance to stigma, discrimination, and exclusion – although the transient and fraught nature of such social ties may give way to practices of gatekeeping and co-ethnic exploitation that hinge on asymmetries of power and resources. While there is a breadth of resources for sex workers in relation to social support and sexual health, receiving assistance may be insufficient – short-lived, issue-specific, contingent on one’s departure from sex work, and imbricated in other labour issues. The narratives of sex workers emphasise their autonomy and independence as their self-constructions cast them as female breadwinners, mothers, caregivers, and economically productive and self-sufficient individuals. In doing so, it expands scholarship on intimate industries where work is differentially constructed, valued, regulated, and policed. The thesis extends social stratification and occupational inequality literature by nuancing research on social hierarchies within and outside of the social space of the sex industry is classed, gendered, racialised, ableist, and subject to social differences like nationality and sexuality. Through explicating sex workers’ narratives and self-constructions, it contributes to understandings and counter-cultural possibilities of sex work as licit and legitimate in Singapore. Master's degree 2024-06-24T00:22:51Z 2024-06-24T00:22:51Z 2024 Thesis-Master by Research Mahtani, R. K. (2024). Social stratification in Singapore's sex industry. Master's thesis, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. https://hdl.handle.net/10356/178470 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/178470 10.32657/10356/178470 en This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). application/pdf Nanyang Technological University |
| spellingShingle | Social Sciences Sex work Intimate work Sex industry Singapore Stratification Hierarchies Stigma Friendship Social mobility Mahtani, Raksha Kirpal Social stratification in Singapore's sex industry |
| title | Social stratification in Singapore's sex industry |
| title_full | Social stratification in Singapore's sex industry |
| title_fullStr | Social stratification in Singapore's sex industry |
| title_full_unstemmed | Social stratification in Singapore's sex industry |
| title_short | Social stratification in Singapore's sex industry |
| title_sort | social stratification in singapore s sex industry |
| topic | Social Sciences Sex work Intimate work Sex industry Singapore Stratification Hierarchies Stigma Friendship Social mobility |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/178470 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mahtanirakshakirpal socialstratificationinsingaporessexindustry |