Stigma in California: Late 20th-Early 21st Century
Prostitution in California: Street Walkers and Call Girls
Prostitution (or any kind of sex work) is varied in California, just as it is in Paris and Nairobi. As Bernstein (2007) describes, within San Francisco alone, there are different "classes "of street walkers who occupy different areas of the city: the "upper-class," the "middle class" and the "lower class." While many women working in the upper tier earn as much as $900 a night, those in the lower tier engage in "survival sex" in which they exchange sex for minimal amounts of money, drugs, or a place to stay (on the streets) [1]. Streetwalkers (especially those in the lower class) symbolize immorality, and are banished in residential or suburban areas of San Francisco [2].
While streetwalkers conduct their work in public spaces (such as corners, cars, alleys, and parks), call girls and escorts work in secluded indoor settings (such as homes and hotels) [2]. While the price of a streetwalker varies depending on "class," all call girls and escorts charge a lot for their services. Because call girls and escorts work in descreet settings, they usually don't leave any sort of visible impact on their surrounding neighborhood. Thus, there is little public awareness of private forms of sex work [2]. The invisibility of escorts and call girls to the public results in a lack of observable objection to this class of prostitution. However, the absence of outward opposition is not necessarily indicative of approval so much as it is a lack of awareness on the part of the public [2].
Relationships and Kinship Networks Amongst Streetwalkers:
The dominant kinship structure in contemporary California is that of the nuclear family. Those in the lower class of streetwalking have a very untraditional kinship network and family life. While public women adapt some of the values that are fundamental to the nuclear family into their lives, sex, affection, and money are often linked in the minds of females that engage in "survival sex" on the streets [3]. Tina (a streetwalker in urban California) illustrates this through her life story. Tina's mother pushed Tina into exchanging sex and intimacy for money starting at a very young age. Her mother tried to pay Tina to marry the man she lost her virginity to despite the fact that Tina did not love him. After years of fleeting romantic/physical encounters in exchange for drugs and/or money, Tina eventually entered into a relationship with Carter, one of her friends from the streets. Together, they adapted many of the customs traditional middle class couples had (affection, monogamy, introduction to extended kin) yet they did so while integrating drugs, alcohol, and income generation into the backbone of their romantic domesticity. Because their primary preoccupation was with acquiring drugs, motherhood was not a true consideration [3].
Stigma Associated with Streetwalking and "Survival Sex"
Although sex work encompasses escorts and private sex workers as well as street walkers, the word "prostitute" in California almost always evokes the image of a public working girl in a mini skirt and heels (as is illustrated in the photo to the left) [1]. This necessarily contradicts the image of the white, married woman who is able to practice caretaking in the form of motherhood and sexual restraint. Thus, we can see a parallel in the dichotomy between "private" and "good" women and "public" and "bad" women. Streetwalkers in California (especially those that engage in "survival sex") are looked down upon for substance use. Although all individuals in poverty who depend on drugs and/or alcohol are scrutinized, women are especially stigmatized for their substance use because dependence is considered "inappropriate behavior for a lady [3]."Even amongst others on the street, Tina's inability to look after her children (due to her preoccupation with and dependence on drugs) separates her from true "womanhood:"
"...Bitch is crazy! That's her way of showin' love. Nobody ever looked at her as a woman. They look at her as a bitch. Spread her legs to have nine fuckin' kids, and they all got took. She don't have none of them. I got fourteen kinds, and I'm separated from all the women, but it doesn't mean I'm gonna neglect the kids. My family have all the kids. Each and every one of my sisters took a kid." (Reggie speaking of Tina, Righteous Dopefiend, p. 50)
[1] Bernstein, Elizabeth. Temporarily Yours: Intimacy, Authenticity, and the Commerce of Sex. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007.
[2]Weitzer, Ronald. "Sociology of Sex Work." Annu. Rev. Sociol. Annual Review of Sociology 35, no. 1 (2009): 213-34.
[3] Bourgois, Philippe I., and Jeff Schonberg. Righteous Dopefiend. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009.