Tricking and Tripping

Tricking and Tripping was a very interesting piece for me, as "the life" is rarely studied or looked at from an unbiased perspective. Most researchers tend to approach it with an agenda of how to decrease or eliminate it, but Sterk seemed genuinely interested in finding out what the women thought, and why. It was refreshing to see that kind of empathy in a researcher, though she herself pointed out that it may have influenced her results. Unlike most people I don't really feel a stigma toward prostitution, though I do believe it is a problem when not regulated. The type of illegal prostitution that occurs in the United States does, as Sterk pointed out, lead to a high instance of violence and STDs.

The reasons that some of these women had become prostitutes especially interested me, as I've always found it somewhat grounding to reflect on how easy it can be to be drawn into that sort of life, and I found it somewhat surprising that so many of her subjects had started or completed college. Prostitution is something that tends to be looked on as a bottom rung job, not even a job really, but an act of desperation. I don't believe that is always the case, and Sterk did a good job of explaining the circumstances surrounding some cases and showing that it is not confined to one small sect of "low" people on any side of the issue.

I was also fascinated by how Sterk chose to focus on the fact that not all of the women used drugs, another common belief, or that they only started using after already being in "the life". She seemed to use this in conjunction with the discussions on condom use, how most of the women knew plenty about HIV infection but were sometimes hesitant to push the subject. I find it kind of sad that these situations tend to enable each other, that one woman may not be able to push condom use because another will not, but it is an unfortunate cycle perpetuated by drugs and a feeling of lost control.

Sterk also acknowledged how difficult it can be for some of these women to ever leave "the life" which is something that I don't think most people realize. When you enter a world like that, the world you knew before kind of disappears. How can a woman be confident in leaving when everything and everyone she knows and relies on is tied up in that world? There may also be the threat of violence, and judgments by people they meet in the future. There are not enough resources available for women trying to break out of this, which Sterk seems to be working on with her involvement in outreach programs. I believe that this is something I also want to get involved in, and plan to do so through activity in public policy and the community.