Sex work in SF
Sex work is frequently depicted in SF.
Some of the common depictions include:
- human women in the same or similar types of prostitution and sex work as they are in historically and modernly. Often such sex work is depicted without any consideration of whether or not sex work would have changed in the SFnal setting. Sometimes sex work is portrayed in this fashion to illustrate presumed general tendencies of humans, or the similar sets of circumstances that create the sex work.
- alien women in the same or similar types of prostitution and sex work as they are in historically and modernly earth. All of the above, plus the exoticization of alien women.
- male sex workers: Male sex workers crop up in role reversal societies, dedicated usually to either showing the absurdity and injustice of the institution as it is practiced, or the absurdity of going against the presumed natural (i.e., patriarchal) order. Male sex workers also crop up in some works as part of an illustration of the degenerate nature of that society -- e.g., women who can hire male sex workers are even more degenerate. Male sex workers also crop up in sex-positive SF, creating a sort of equal-opportunity sex shopping for male and female customers; or to signal a particular person or society's laissez-faire permissive attitude toward same-sex sexuality. Male sex workers offer the opportunity to explore questions of the disparity in customers -- are male prostitutes hired by male or female customers? If there is a disparity, why?
- child sex workers: Almost always used to show the degenerate nature of the society, or to create a horrible abusive past for the child. May also be used for shock value and exploitation.
- new and different types of sex work: Robot sex workers (e.g., as in A.I.); teledildonics; people cloned to be sex workers; mindless or semi-mindless creatures used for sex (e.g., Elizabeth Hand's "In the Month of Athyr"). This category is probably the least explored but offers the most SFnal and critical potential.
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