Bridging Disciplinary Boundaries (January 11 - 14, 2007)

Street prostitution in the United States is an industry composed disproportionately of women who are poor, of color, and survivors of interpersonal violence, many of whom are struggling with substance use problems. For over 150 years substance use has been identified as both a reason women begin prostituting (to support a habit) and a means of coping with the conditions encountered in prostitution (Kandall, 1996). However, the AODA treatment literature is strangely remiss in including an exploration of prostitution as an aspect of women's specific programming. Furthermore, the voices of prostitution-involved women are absent from the treatment literature and the social work profession has little information about women's perspectives on the relationship between prostitution and substance use in their lives. The purpose of this study is to generate knowledge about the experience of prostitution from the perspective of women involved in order to sensitize social workers to women's lives and inform social work practice, education, and policy to better meet this population's needs. Interpretive phenomenological data analysis was used to analyze transcribed in-depth interviews conducted with a sample of fourteen adult women recruited from a Midwestern program that provides prostitution-specific services. Interviews focused on what it means to be a woman who has engaged in prostitution and what has been helpful in situations where receiving help or services. Common themes, or meanings, are revealed via interpretations of the narratives women share. Analysis reveals that for the women in this study, prostitution and substance use coexist in their lives; the two go “hand-in-hand.” All of the women link their prostitution involvement and substance use in one, if not multiple, ways. Participants describe three such connections: (a) exchanging: “a means to an end,” (b) using: “making it easier to do,” and (c) using and exchanging: enabling each other. Although many of the women describe almost causal relationships between the two phenomena (e.g., “and when I didn't have the money…that's when I started selling my body for drugs”), stories reveal that “just quitting” (either drugs, prostitution, or both) was not a realistic option for many. Additionally, several identify as “not helpful” the failure of alcohol and drug treatment facilities to include prostitution-related content within their programs. Findings from this study provide social workers with more information about the needs of prostitution-involved women struggling with substance use problems. For the women in this study, substance use is intricately connected to prostitution involvement. Narratives reveal how women make sense of, and connect, prostitution and substance use in their lives. This study suggests the necessity of incorporating a focus on prostitution involvement as a critical area of women's specific AODA programming, something that has not been adequately addressed in existing treatment literature. Additionally, findings support the adoption of policy requiring specific educational content on stigmatized women in the curricula of schools of social work.