One of the most conspicuous gaps in research on prostitution concerns the off-street prostitution trade in escort services, body rub parlours, massage parlours, steam baths, private advertising and various kinds of "exotic dance" establishment [1] for important exceptions, see Lewis , and Maticka-Tyndale, et al, In the early s, concern about the nuisance aspects of the street prostitution trade provided the main stimulus for prostitution research funding.
When the federal government initiated research, public nuisance concerns shaped research questions. While many researchers were interested in including men and women working in off-street venues, most of the surveys of the s and early s involved street prostitutes.
In the s, the bulk of survey research was devoted to youth prostitution, most of which occurs on the street.
The image created by these studies is of an inseparable link between prostitution and victimisation. But is this an intrinsic feature of prostitution, or an artefact of research methodology? One Dutch commentator Vanwesenbeeck suggests the latter:. Prostitution β¦ and victimization are often almost equated with each other.
Some of you may be familiar with American or Canadian studies that have come up with a very high prevalences. These figures are in sharp contrast with my own findings in the Netherlands. All of these cases involved multiple and severe abuse⦠However, the picture is by far not as grim as the one sketched by Silbert and Pines and Bagley and Young. My explanation for this is that the American and Canadian studies focus mainly on street prostitutes, often recruiting their respondents in jails, and in so doing, often have investigated those prostitutes who are worse off.
