Being Heard

The Experiences of Young Women in Prostitution

Being Heard examines, from their own perspectives and experiences, the lives of young women sexually exploited through prostitution.

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December 2002
ISBN: 9781552661017
140 pages
$30.00
For sale worldwide
Co-published with RESOLVE

About the book

Being Heard examines, from their own perspectives and experiences, the lives of young women sexually exploited through prostitution. Putting their voices in the centre of its analysis, the book tries to help us more fully understand the experiences of girls exploited through prostitution, the complex issues of sex trade work and the ways to best respond to the issues. Beginning with a discussion of what little we know about youth prostitution, subsequent chapters address young women’s experiences with community and government programs, issues of self-identity, health and safety concerns, experiences of violence, factors that push young women into and may draw them out of sex trade work, and the effectiveness of Canadian legislation in coming to the aid of young prostitutes.

The book is based on a four-year research project undertaken with Prairie women involved in sex trade work as youth and those who provide programming for them.

Crime & Law Feminism, Gender & Sexuality Social Work

Authors

Kelly Gorkoff

Kelly Gorkoff is a faculty member in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Winnipeg and a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton University. She is the author of Being Heard: The Experiences of Young Women in Prostitution (2003).

Jane Runner

Introduction: Children and Youth Exploited Through Prostitution (Kelly Gorkoff with Jane Runner)
“Selling Sex? It’s Really like Selling Your Soul”: Vulnerability to and the Experience of Exploitation Through Prostitution (Leslie Tutty and Kendra Nixon)
“The People We Think We Are”: The Social Identities of Girls Involved in Prostitution (Pamela J. Downe with Ashley ‘Mika’)
“That Was My Prayer Every Night—Just to Make it Home Safe”: Violence in the Lives of Girls Sexually Exploited Through Prostitution (Kendra Nixon and Leslie Tutty)
“I Don’t Know What the Hell it Is but it Sounds Nasty”: Health Issues for Girls Working the Streets (Pamela J. Downe)
The Protective Confinement of Girls Involved in Prostitution: Potential Problems in Current Regimes (Karen Busby)
Balancing Safety, Respect, and Choice in Programs for Young Women Involved in Prostitution (Kelly Gorkoff with Meghan Waters)