The sexual identities of high-income female sex workers in Johannesburg, South Africa

There is a vast amount of empirical research exploring the physical health of female sex workers and their risk of contracting and spreading sexually transmitted infections. Also, a number of studies have been dedicated to the dangers of sex work, such as physical violence, rape and the social implications of stigmatisation of these women. There is, however, little empirical evidence exploring the negotiation between female sex workers' professional and personal sexual identities. This research aims to qualitatively explore and understand the sexual identities of high-income female sex workers from the northern suburbs of Johannesburg, South Africa. It was found, after conducting semi-structured interviews with six high-income female sex workers, that the social stigmas that exist in society regarding sex work and sex workers influence various identity-facets of the high-income female sex worker's personal life, professional life and self. Through the use of narrative analysis, various narrative categories emerged such as change in perception of self and others, “othering”, issues surrounding males, contradictory defences of the social stigmatisation, sex as “work”, personal relationships, and management of personal versus professional sexual identities. It was found that the sexual identities between the high-income female sex worker's personal and professional lives are different from each other. Therefore, various psychological mechanisms are put into place to negotiate the differences in order for the female sex workers to manage the different roles they have to occupy, as well as adequately function in their daily lives.