Structural Oppression in the Everyday Lives of Sex Workers

Structural Oppression in the Everyday Lives of Sex Workers explores the mechanisms of oppression experienced by cisgender female sex workers in Türkiye through the lens of anti-oppressive feminist social work. Drawing on in-depth interviews with twenty-five women and grounded in intersectional feminist theory, it situates sex work within broader socio-economic and cultural power dynamics rather than individualised frameworks of choice or victimhood. It explores coercion, beauty norms, client power, emotional labour, and barriers to exit, alongside gender inequality, poverty, stigma, and institutional exclusion. By foregrounding women’s narratives, the analysis reveals how legal frameworks, gendered expectations, and internalised norms interact with everyday encounters and public institutions to reproduce complex systems of domination, while positioning sex workers as knowledge-producing subjects. This book offers valuable insights for academics, social work practitioners, and policymakers seeking to address marginalization and gender-based violence with a rights-based and harm-reduction approach.