New research published in The Journal of Sex Research suggests that the specific words used to describe people in the commercial sex industry shape how the public views them. The findings provide evidence that terms like “sex worker” and “escort” carry less stigma and are viewed more positively than words like “prostitute” and “hooker.” This implies that shifting the language used in media and legal settings might help reduce prejudice against these professionals.
Researchers conducted the study to better understand the powerful role that language plays in shaping societal stigma. “This research is quite personal to me, actually. I spent years doing volunteer work for a non-profit aimed at providing support and care for sex workers (shout out to The Cupcake Girls),” said Sarah Lindley, lead statistician at the University of Michigan Medical School. “I learned a lot about the industry and experiences of sex workers, and as a researcher, I was surprised by the lack of literature related to how people respond to various terms used for sex workers, given the importance of terminology!”
People who exchange sexual services for money or goods face intense social prejudice, which tends to normalize violence and discrimination against them. In recent years, advocates have pushed for the adoption of the term “sex worker” to emphasize the labor aspect of the profession. Lindley noted the broad impact of these linguistic choices, explaining, “I would say that overall, terminology, especially in the case of sex workers, has important connotations and a single word can sculpt the way we think about people in the industry.”
Previous studies explored this topic by having the same participants rate multiple terms at once. This method can create a psychological effect known as anchoring bias, which occurs when a person’s response to one question heavily influences their response to the next. To avoid this, the researchers designed a new experiment where each person only evaluated a single term.
To conduct the study, the scientists recruited an initial group of 401 participants from the United States through an online research platform. After removing individuals who failed attention checks, the final sample included 386 people who were paid three dollars for their time. The nationally representative group had an average age of about 42 years old and included 199 women.
The researchers randomly assigned each participant to read a survey utilizing one of four specific terms. These terms were sex worker, escort, prostitute, or hooker. Participants then answered a series of questions measuring their perceptions of the demographics of the people associated with their assigned label.
They used sliding scales from zero to one hundred percent to estimate the racial makeup, biological sex, sexual identity, and trafficking involvement of these professionals. To create a baseline for comparison, participants also estimated the demographic breakdown of the broader United States population. Next, the scientists measured stereotype content by asking participants to rate how well certain adjectives described their assigned group.
Participants used a five-point scale, ranging from “not at all” to “extremely”, to rate words like dirty, promiscuous, ambitious, and competent. Finally, the survey asked participants to rate how harmful they believed the assigned group was to society on a scale from zero to one hundred. Higher scores on this scale indicated a belief that the profession causes greater societal harm.
The data revealed several notable patterns regarding how the public imagines the demographics of people in the sex industry. Participants estimated that Black individuals make up a higher percentage of the sex work industry than they do the general population. Specifically, they estimated that the general population is about 29 percent Black, but guessed that 33 to 37 percent of people in the sex industry are Black.
Additionally, participants perceived that fewer men and fewer heterosexual people participate in the sex industry compared to broader national averages. The researchers noted that these estimations might reflect underlying societal biases and stereotypes regarding minoritized groups and gender norms. For example, people might rely on negative media portrayals when guessing the demographic makeup of stigmatized professions.
When looking at the descriptive adjectives, the researchers found that participants viewed the terms “sex worker” and “escort” similarly. They also viewed the terms “prostitute” and “hooker” similarly, but much more negatively. For instance, words like “poorly educated”, “insincere”, “ugly”, and “victims” were strongly associated with “prostitute” and “hooker”.
In contrast, “sex worker” and “escort” were more frequently associated with economic success and were less likely to be viewed as victims. Despite the push to focus on the professional aspects of the industry, sexual descriptors dominated the results across all four experimental groups. The two most common adjectives selected for all four terms were “promiscuous” and “sexually perverse”.
Using statistical models, the scientists found that the term “sex worker” was perceived more positively than “prostitute” and “hooker.” This held true even after accounting for the age, gender, and political orientation of the participants. The analysis also suggests that racial perceptions might influence these negative views.
“We looked at the interaction of the perceived proportion of the Black demographic within each term, and found that people were less likely to view the term hooker positively (compared to sex worker) if they believed the proportion of ‘hookers’ that are Black was high,” Lindley said. “This implies some unexplored connection between race and terminology that we have not yet dived into.” This provides evidence that racial bias might serve as an underlying factor explaining why certain terms carry harsher stigma.
While the findings provide helpful insight into public biases, there are a few potential misinterpretations and limitations to consider. “Our analysis was primarily exploratory, especially given the lack of quantitative research in the area, and is meant to be descriptive and give evidence for testable hypotheses in the future,” Lindley explained. The study relied on a predefined set of adjectives for participants to rate, which might have missed specific nuances in how people naturally describe these groups.
Future research should continue to examine the specific types of prejudice directed toward people in the sex work industry, such as work currently being done by Lindley’s co-author Kayla Burd at the University of Wyoming’s Social Cognition and Law Lab.
“We are currently collecting responses from a survey that uses a mock jury to explore the ramifications of terminology for sex workers in the U.S. legal system,” Lindley said. “We will be incorporating aspects of race and ethnicity along with terminology to further explore that potential interaction noted above!” Ultimately, Lindley stated, “The most important aspect of this study is that it has real-world consequences for people in the sex industry, and also provides yet another reason to be intentional with the language we use.”
The study, “What’s in a Name? Public Perceptions of Sex Worker Professionals Are Differentially Influenced by Terminology,” was authored by Sarah M. Lindley, Kayla A. Burd, Scott Freng, Olivia N. Grella, Jaylan M. Aliev, and Amanda Anzovino.
