Navigating Risk and Safety: An ethnographic analysis of body rub centres in Edmonton, Alberta

• Author / Creator

  Hunter, Shaylyn C

• This Master’s thesis focuses on the experiences of indoor sex workers working in body rub centres in Edmonton, Alberta. In Canada, the research on sex work tends to focus primarily on the experiences of outdoor sex workers although the majority of Canadian sex workers work indoors (Hanger, 2006). To address this gap in the literature, I ask two questions: 1. How do indoor sex workers view working in body rub centres in comparison to other sex work settings? 2. How do body rub centres mitigate some of the physical and psychological risks associated with sex work? Using an ethnographic approach to conduct 14 semi-structured interviews, 20 informal interviews, and over 700 hours of fieldwork, my findings outline the importance of body rub centres as sites of risk mitigation for sex workers. I find that body rub centres are associated with increased feelings of safety and a decrease in risks for sex workers in comparison to street-level sex work and indoor sex work in other settings (such as escorting). I also discuss how the unique social organization of body rub centres can mitigate some of the physical and psychological risks sex workers may experience. Finally, I discuss the benefits of the City of Edmonton’s harm-reduction approach to body rub centres and argue that Edmonton’s model should be considered by other Canadian municipalities.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Edmonton
  • Policy
  • Indoor sex work
  • Sex work

• Graduation date

  Fall 2020

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Arts

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-d9je-fg43

• License

  Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author's prior written permission.