Sex workers are individuals associated with the multibillion-dollar sex industry that encompasses live sex shows, sex shops, strip clubs, escort services, phone sex, sex tourism, massage parlors, exotic dancing, prostitution, and pornography.

The sex industry is a malleable and changing sector that is influenced by political, economic, cultural, and geographic contexts. Sex work occurs in a wide range of venues that represent different activities and relationships, with differing degrees of danger, coercion, and consent. Therefore, a simplistic definition of sex work as an activity of selling sex in exchange for money, drugs, or other agreed-upon commodities fails to represent its complexity.

The language used in reference to sex work varies and reflects larger societal discourses. Sex work has been described as a health issue, a sin, female ...