The potential link between drug abuse and female street-level prostitution

Abstract

A woman’s trajectory throughout her prostituting career is heavily influenced by a myriad of factors. In light of this fact, this study analyses drug abuse as a leading factor within the female street-level prostituting career. Due to the nature of this research question, a qualitative approach is adopted. Detailed data in the form of expert testimony is derived through interviewing six service provision professionals who are exposed to exiting prostitutes. Results show that drug abuse deeply affects the female street-level prostituting career from entry to exit. Drug addicted women contemplate about entering prostitution as a means to sustain their existing drug habit. Although this factor can act independently, study findings show that it is often accompanied by family and relationship pressures, as well as earlier exposure to childhood sexual abuse. In addition to maintaining their addiction, women remain prostituting in an attempt to resist poverty. Upon a woman’s entry into the prostituting lifestyle, a heightened level of drug intake is also observed, often resulting from being able to buy more drugs and functionally using them to cope with the daily stresses associated with prostitution. This same drug addiction, alongside the financial stability that prostitution provides and their belief of being incapable of doing anything other than prostituting will solidify them into their career and bar them from exiting. As this study observes, prostitutes’ successful exit will depend on them ‘hitting rock bottom’ and recognizing their diminishing marketability over time. These findings clarify the relationship between a woman’s street level prostituting career and her drug addiction, alongside other factors. This allows service provision organisations to focus their resources into providing specialized care when faced with potentially exiting prostitutes.