Choosing Streetwalking

“My escape was the street. Some nights I wouldn’t even bother doing any work I just used to sit on the wall and just stare at whatever, and punters used to come up I’d say, ‘No, I’m not working tonight’, and I just used to sit there. That was my retreat, that was like my home, my comforter. Like now, sometimes I’ll go down and I think, ‘Oh fuck it I can’t be bothered to work’, but I just go down there. I don’t know, I think I get… I don’t get a buzz but I like to go, it’s like my territory so I’m going to go down there and see what’s going on, you know? That’s mine. Nobody can take that away from me, they can take everything else but the street is where I belong.” [1]

People choose to become streetwalkers for myriad reasons. By positioning streetwalking within the structural category of ‘occupation’, we may explore more deeply the social contexts in which people work as streetwalkers. For many streetwalkers, the ability to control their own hours and make their own decisions about their labor presents the most ideal labor situation possible. Many streetwalkers work two or three jobs at a time and often choose streetwalking as a primary means for income because of its lucrativeness. Sandra, a streetwalker who is married and has two kids, lamented the long hours and low pay of the other jobs she has held: “I’d rather just earn my money on the street.” Sandra quit her other two jobs because streetwalking allowed her a flexible, part-time work schedule in which she could be her own boss. Macey, a former streetwalker, expressed a similar sentiment regarding the freedom associated with streetwalking: “You went out when you decided to, you done your money, whatever. A couple of hours, you’re home, or you were out doing whatever you wanted to do… raving, whatever.”  While streetwalkers often leave the industry in pursuit of other jobs or further education, many continue to see certain clients and/or do not “rule out the possibility of returning to sex work if [they need] to for financial reasons”. When explaining why she left college to re-enter prostitution, Polly, a streetwalker-turned-brothel-worker, emphasized that “when you know that round the corner you can just go and sit in a flat and walk out with six or seven hundred pounds, and you’ve got no food in the fridge, the temptation’s there you know.” [2]

Because of stigma, many prostitutes develop aliases to explain the work they do. Sandra however, openly describes herself as a prostitute and adds the term ‘sex therapist’ with journalists and police to highlight “the social value of her job and the pride she [takes] in it.” [2]

Many female transgender streetwalkers report turning to prostitution around the time of their transition, feeling that “it’s the only way [for transgender women] to survive”. During an interview, Bria, a female transgender streetwalker in Baltimore, explained that, “Most of the girls, we don't want to do it, but the way things are built, it is really a game of survival. I don't have my self-esteem attached to it, but a goal." However, survival is not the only reason transgender women turn to streetwalking. For many of them, streetwalking is the first time they feel accepted as women. For Bambi, one of her first times streetwalking was “a strange sense of power at first. You don't think about the danger or how you're branding yourself socially. I was new to womanhood and it made me think, How pretty I am: There are 30 million girls out here, but he chose me." Bria also describes the money as a factor in turning to prostitution. “It's expensive being trans. But it's also just normal expenses. Rent, car -- everybody needs money." Bambi also describes the money as a reason leaving prostitution can be hard for many women. “It's like drugs-not only using them but selling them. The cash flow, how quickly you can make money, it's addictive.” [2]

Many streetwalkers explore a range of occupational fields and choose to stay in prostitution because of a general lack of enthusiasm for other careers, an impatience with education and licensing processes, or because they possess a unique skillset and professionalism required in prostitution and thus feel a sense of belonging in their work. [2] The different notions of choice and the rationale streetwalkers have for why they work on the streets demonstrate why many people prefer prostitution to other career options. Moreover, these experiences directly challenge traditional conceptions of prostitution that suggest streetwalkers lack autonomy or only choose to work on the streets because they literally have no other option.