Psychology of Sex Work (Certificate of Completion)

Explore the history of prostitution from ancient Mesopotamia to the United States, tracing legal and illegal brothels, medical exams, and modern estimates of sex for sale.

Examine the types of prostitutes and venues, from streetwalkers to call girls, escorts, bar or casino workers. Compare indoor versus street work in welfare, health risks, and earnings.

Explore how strip clubs frame sexualized interactions along a continuum from upscale clubs to explicit venues, shaping workers and clients, with online platforms transforming access.

Examine the role of third parties in sex work, focusing on pimps and madams, and how definitions and terminology shape psychological perspectives.

Examine sociological perspectives on sex for sale, including functionalist, conflict, feminist, and symbolic interactionist views, and understand how poverty, patriarchy, and social meaning shape prostitution.

Analyze sex trafficking through the lens of the psychology of sex work in this course.

Examine the career of sex workers by comparing entry predictors across sex work, food and beverage service, and barbering, highlighting economic need and childhood influences.

Assess risks to sex workers' well-being, including violence, coercion, burnout, and HIV, and explore coping strategies and harm-reduction approaches across different work venues.

Explore early abuse and family factors shaping female sex workers. Note lower socioeconomic status, parental separation, and higher childhood sexual abuse; link to later coercion, prostitution, and adverse health outcomes.

Explore who sex work customers are and why they pay for sex, including appearance, partner absence, thrill, and emotional distance, with NSHB data on payments by men, women, and johns.

Examine the history and contemporary landscape of male sex work, including gigolos, hustlers, escorts, and brothels, their clients, settings, and stigma across cultures.

Explore sex tourism as leisure travel for purchasing sexual services, driven by globalization, migration, and commodification of intimacy; examine global variations, recruitment risks, and internet-facilitated markets.

Examine the psychological effects of prostitution, including PTSD and its symptoms—anxiety, depression, insomnia, and hypervigilance. Explore how identity disruption, dissociation, and trauma contribute to self-hate and suicidal ideation.

Explore the porn industry from behind the scenes of x-rated videos to the legal distinctions between obscenity and erotica, and examine its economics and production pressures.

Assess whether prostitution should be legalized for consenting adults through philosophical and social science perspectives, highlighting harm reduction, safety, and potential tax revenue with Nevada as a case example.

Explore how psychotherapy and Sage's peer counselors help former prostitutes leave prostitution, heal trauma and PTSD, and build new careers through comprehensive support programs.

Explore social science research methods across major fields and learn to collect and analyze qualitative and quantitative data for descriptive and experimental studies.

Explore ethical issues in psychology research, including informed consent, protection from harm, confidentiality, debriefing, deception, withdrawal rights, and the roles of ethics committees and guidelines.

Explore the abc model—antecedents, behavior, and consequences—and examine maintaining antecedents, maintaining consequences, prompts, and setting events shaping behavior in therapy and daily life.

Reflect on the most intriguing takeaways from this course and outline a personal or professional action plan to apply the insights from the psychology of sex work.