The work–life management strategies of indoor female sex workers in Poland

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of the article is to analyze the strategies deployed by female sex workers in Poland when navigating the areas of work and life. The article draws on unstructured interviews, analyzed using the procedures of grounded theory methodology. I approach the provision of sexual services (as the participants of the study do) as stigma-burdened, non-regulated work that may offer an opportunity to establish a work–life balance. In practice, this enterprise is jeopardized by a number of factors within the legal, social, and organizational frames of sex work. I discern several work-life management strategies depending on what realm, work or life, is prioritized by sex workers as well as whether they choose to segment or integrate these realms. Much as establishing strong boundaries between the domains of work and life is the predominant strategy, some sex workers strive to make these boundaries permeable or remove them altogether. The strategies practiced are also informed by the sex workers’ life and occupational conditions as well as the experience or anticipation of social stigma.