Exploring the experiences of people with disability who access sex worker services, in Australia (PASA-Research study)
  • Description

    While academic inquiries regarding clients of sex workers have greatly expanded in the last two decades, findings within this cohort are more limited regarding the lived experiences of people with disability. Areas of inquiry for the PASA - Research study include locating suitable sex workers, frequency of access, types of paid sexual services and where service delivery occurred. Financial considerations, third-party support mechanisms and motivations for seeking sex worker services are also explored.

    Eligible participants were recruited via a snowball sampling approach with all information accessible via the study’s website: www.pasa-research.com.au. An online- survey and a series of semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted. To increase accessibility, an EasyRead version of the participant information sheet was produced, with all survey questions also provided in Plain English.

    108 viable anonymous online surveys were collected, and 27 semi-structured interviews were conducted. The age range, gender identity, sexuality and disabilities of participants were quite diverse. Sexual services were provided by female, male, non-binary and transgender sex workers in a broad range of geographical and physical locations. A range of motivational factors were identified along with how these activities contributed to a person’s sense of self and wellbeing. This was bolstered by the identification of duel educational and supportive roles that sex workers often played in their clients’ lives, in conjunction to services.

    The sexual citizenship of people with disability is commonly overlooked in both policies and support services. It is anticipated that these findings may contribute to future legislative reform, policy development, educational programs and training within the disability, aged care, rehabilitation, and sex worker sectors. This data is stored and maintained by the author.

    To discuss the research please contact Rachel Wotton <20080642@student.westernsydney.edu.au> or info@rachelwotton.com ORCID 0000-0003-2763-8867.


    • - Start
      Data publication title Exploring the experiences of people with disability who access sex worker services, in Australia (PASA-Research study)
    • Description

      While academic inquiries regarding clients of sex workers have greatly expanded in the last two decades, findings within this cohort are more limited regarding the lived experiences of people with disability. Areas of inquiry for the PASA - Research study include locating suitable sex workers, frequency of access, types of paid sexual services and where service delivery occurred. Financial considerations, third-party support mechanisms and motivations for seeking sex worker services are also explored.

      Eligible participants were recruited via a snowball sampling approach with all information accessible via the study’s website: www.pasa-research.com.au. An online- survey and a series of semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted. To increase accessibility, an EasyRead version of the participant information sheet was produced, with all survey questions also provided in Plain English.

      108 viable anonymous online surveys were collected, and 27 semi-structured interviews were conducted. The age range, gender identity, sexuality and disabilities of participants were quite diverse. Sexual services were provided by female, male, non-binary and transgender sex workers in a broad range of geographical and physical locations. A range of motivational factors were identified along with how these activities contributed to a person’s sense of self and wellbeing. This was bolstered by the identification of duel educational and supportive roles that sex workers often played in their clients’ lives, in conjunction to services.

      The sexual citizenship of people with disability is commonly overlooked in both policies and support services. It is anticipated that these findings may contribute to future legislative reform, policy development, educational programs and training within the disability, aged care, rehabilitation, and sex worker sectors. This data is stored and maintained by the author.

      To discuss the research please contact Rachel Wotton <20080642@student.westernsydney.edu.au> or info@rachelwotton.com ORCID 0000-0003-2763-8867.


      • Data type dataset
    • Keywords
      • Disability
      • Sex work
      • Sexual citizenship
      • Sex positivity
      • Sexual services
      • National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)
      • Prostitution
      • Support worker
    • Funding source
    • Grant number(s)
      • -
      • FoR codes
      • 420318 - People with disability
      • 420605 - Preventative health care
      • 440506 - Sexualities
      SEO codes
      • 200399 - Provision of health and support services not elsewhere classified
      • 209999 - Other health not elsewhere classified
    - Coverage
      Temporal (time) coverage
    • Start date
    • End date
      • Time period
       
      Spatial (location,mapping) coverage
    • Locations
    - Data
      Data Locations

      Type Location Notes
      The Data Manager is: Rachel Wotton
      Access conditions Conditional
    - Supplements
    • Related publications
        Name Exploring the experiences of people with disability who access sex work services, in Australia
      • URL
      • Notes
    • Related website
    • Related metadata (including standards, codebooks, vocabularies, thesauri, ontologies)
    • Related data
        Name
      • URL
      • Notes
    • Related services
        Name
      • URL
      • Notes
    - License
      The data will be licensed under
    • Other license
      • Statement of rights in data Copyright Western Sydney University
    - Citation
      Citation Wotton, Rachel (2024): Exploring the experiences of people with disability who access sex worker services, in Australia (PASA-Research study). Western Sydney University.

    © 2021 Queensland Cyber Infrastructure Foundation