"I look in the mirror and that’s all I see": perceptions, challenges, and service needs of underage sex workers in Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with the experiences and service needs of underage sex workers in Aotearoa New Zealand, and attempts to address the relative paucity of existing literature concerning this population group in a domestic context. It is informed by interviews with eight young people who are or have been involved with sex work in Auckland, New Zealand. The study aims to explore participants’ early experiences and their understanding of their sex work involvement. This thesis also identifies barriers to service access. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the data, and the emergent findings are illustrated by participant excerpts. Analysis of the research data shows that participants’ involvement in underage sex work functioned predominately as a method of enabling psychological or physical escape, was associated with a lack of caregiver consistency and intense reliance on peer relationships, and served to reinforce the existing gendered power differential inherent in participants’ social environments. These findings further indicate that the internal working models deriving from early proximal relationships govern the development of self-­‐ concept, gendered expectations, and the ability to tolerate distress. The convergence of these working models with the sub-­‐culture of underage sex work appears to influence participants’ negative self-­‐perspective, their acceptance of gendered violence and mistreatment, and their uptake of escape behaviour such as substance use. These factors then act synergistically to create barriers to service access through participants’ levels of shame, internal and external chaos, and learned hesitance about service engagement. Relationship building between practitioners and underage sex workers is also hindered by the approaches of individual practitioners. This thesis concludes with recommendations regarding effective service design, providing for needs relating to attachment, self-­‐concept, and gender-­‐related harm. Finally, it proposes that although an ecological framework is helpful to understand the multi-­‐faceted nature of underage sex work, the facilitation of a robust and responsive therapeutic alliance between practitioner and client constitutes a significant step toward successful intervention with this population group.