Transgender Sex Work and Society

Larry Nuttbrock

• Publisher: Harrington Park Press, LLC
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781939594235
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

This is the only book that systematically examines transgender sex work in the United States and globally. Bringing together perspectives from a rich range of disciplines and experiences, it is an invaluable resource on issues related to commercial sex in the transgender community and in the lives of trans sex workers, including mental health, substance use, relationship dynamics, encounters with the criminal justice system, and opportunities and challenges in the realm of public health.

The volume covers trans sex workers' interactions with health, social service, and mental-health agencies, featuring more than forty contributors from across the globe. Synthesizing introductions by the editor help organize and put into context a vast and scattered research and empirical literature. The book is essential for researchers, health practitioners, and policy analysts in the areas of sex-work research, HIV/AIDS, and LGBTQ/gender studies.

SECTION VI

TRANSGENDER SEX WORK IN DIFFERENT CULTURAL SETTINGS

This section examines transgender sex work in different settings around the world with an eye toward the ways the experiences of these individuals are shaped by broader cultural and societal factors. The section begins with a qualitative study of the experiences of transgender women sex workers in Turkey. This is followed by a current review of sex work among hijras/transgender women in India. Next is an examination of transgender sex work in Brazil with a reprint of Kulick’s classic study of transgendered prostitutes in that country. This chapter is followed by a current and broad-based discussion of transgender sex work in Brazil written by an international lawyer with deep knowledge of this population. This is followed by discussions and empirical studies of transgender sex work in Malaysia, Thailand, the Andean region of South America, and China.

CHAPTER 13

Sex Work in Turkey

Experiences of Transwomen

Ceylan Engin¹

1 Doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology at Texas A&M University.

SUMMARY

Most research that is available on transgender sex workers focuses on Western nations, and research on the status of transgender sex workers in non-Western societies remains limited. This chapter focuses on transwomen who participate in sex work in Turkish society. Turkey presents a unique example as a predominantly Muslim society where prostitution is legal in the form of state-run brothels, also known as genelevler. I posit that the current genelev system marginalizes transgender sex workers by allowing only biological women to work as registered sex workers. I then perform a content analysis of the experiences of transwomen, drawing from 53 previously collected interviews and testimonials. I argue that indoor prostitution in the form of genelevler would provide a superior working environment for transgender sex workers and could alleviate some of the hazards associated with street prostitution.

KEY TERMS

genelevler; registered sex workers; sex workers; transgender; Turkey

Until the late nineteenth century, it was illegal for Muslim women to participate in prostitution, and only non-Muslim minorities were formally allowed to work in the profession. Nevertheless, illegal prostitution was present during that period in some Muslim areas of Istanbul, including Aksaray, Kaduköy, and Üsküdar (Sevengil, 1927). Prostitution became more commonplace and visible in Istanbul after World War I (Rasim, 2005). During this time, the spread of syphilis and other STDs became a major problem and led to the establishment of the first state-regulated brothels (Temel, 2002).

Turkey remains one of the few democratic and predominantly Muslim countries to allow state-regulated prostitution, along with Kazakhstan and Bangladesh (2007 Country Reports, 2008). Turkey currently has around 3,000 licensed sex workers operating within its borders, all of whom work in 56 state-run brothels, also known as genelevler (“Seks işçileri ve Yasalar,” 2011). A genelev is an indoor prostitution area where only registered unmarried women over the age of eighteen are allowed to work. Once women are registered as sex workers, they are not allowed to seek employment outside the sex industry without first notifying the police. The government requires registered sex workers to undergo regular health examinations. This state-regulated system recognizes this work as a legitimate form of employment and provides the workers with state pensions for healthcare and social security (Zengin, 2011). Despite the existence of legal brothels, most sex workers in Turkey operate outside the genelev system and number around 100,000 (“Seks işçileri ve Yasalar,” 2011). These individuals work in private escort agencies and illegal brothels, as streetwalkers, and as individuals who sell sexual services from their homes. Sex workers who operate outside the legal brothel sector are subject to criminal charges.

A growing body of research recognizes the varied ways in which sex work is arranged, regulated, and experienced by workers, clients, and other third-party members across time, space, and sector (Weitzer, 2012). Despite this broadening outlook, the literature on sex work lacks sufficient data on the ways in which the commercial sex trade functions in Turkey. Turkish scholars who have attempted to collect data on the culture of prostitution often express their frustration with the silence surrounding sexual discourse and the difficulty of speaking to research participants. For instance, in her book, İktidarin Mahremiyeti: İstanbul'da Hayat Kadinlari, Seks İşçiliği ve Şiddet (Istanbul’s Prostitutes, Sex Work, and Violence), Zengin (2011) discusses how challenging it was to reach women who engaged in prostitution in Istanbul, a difficulty that resulted in her securing only five interviewees (two former brothel workers and three street workers). Zengin focuses on the relationship between the state and sex workers, arguing that legal prostitution in Turkey is related to the control of sex workers’ bodies. Drawing from her interviews, she argues that state policies to regulate prostitution exert tremendous control over women’s bodies, influencing the experiences and working conditions of sex workers by way of the legalized brothel system.

Both empowering and oppressive conditions can be present in sex work, but these situations fluctuate and differ with selected types of prostitution and control mechanisms that are put in place to regulate the sex industry. A prominent sex work scholar, Ronald Weitzer (2012), describes this phenomenon as the polymorphous paradigm. The two most commonly held perspectives that describe the nature of sex work are the empowerment and oppression paradigms. Those who embrace the oppression paradigm hold the viewpoint that sex work is a product of patriarchal gender relations that result in the subjugation and exploitation of women. This perspective denies human agency in sex work and assumes that female sex workers are always victims of violence (Weitzer, 2012).

In contrast, the empowerment paradigm considers sex work to be a legitimate line of work that involves human agency. This viewpoint posits that sex work can be empowering for workers and provide better socioeconomic opportunities than many other jobs. Both empowering and oppressive situations can take place in the sex industry. One-dimensional and monolithic paradigms, such as the oppression and empowerment paradigms, lack the complexity to fully explain the intricacies of how the sex industry functions, particularly in Turkish society. Weitzer (2012) points out that “victimization, exploitation, agency, job satisfaction, self-esteem, and other dimensions should be treated as variables (not constants) that differ between types of sex work, geographical locations, and other structural conditions” (p. 18).

The ways in which indoor and street prostitution differ have been examined by other researchers in the developed world. Recent research suggests that indoor prostitution has potential advantages over street prostitution (Church, Henderson, & Barnard, 2001; Lowman & Fraser, 1995; Plumridge & Abel, 2001; Weitzer, 2012). Previously collected research on how victimization rates differ among indoor and street prostitutes shows that street workers are more likely to experience being robbed, assaulted, and raped. In their work, Porter and Bonilla (2010) illustrate that street prostitution differs from indoor prostitution to various degrees, depending on race, drug use, and location within the United States.

Porter and Bonilla (2010) conclude in their study that one-third of those who participate in street prostitution used drugs. Most of these street workers were drug users before they started working in the sex industry. In addition, street workers tend to stay in the industry in order to support their drug habits, and they participate in survival sex such as sex in exchange for drugs, food, or other goods. Because they use drugs and engage in sexual activities in precarious environments more often than indoor sex workers, they are more prone to suffer from STDs. Exploitation by third-party managers can be present in both indoor and street prostitution; however, those who work in indoor environments are less likely to have experienced exploitation by their clients.

Even though Porter and Bonilla (and other researchers) focus on Western systems of indoor and street prostitution, the characteristics of street prostitution in the developed world can be applied to the characteristics of prostitution in Turkey. Though indoor prostitution in Turkey exists under harsher conditions than in other developing countries, the genelev system still provides a safer and sup...