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Prostitution or full-service sex work (FSSW) is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment and is a type of sex work. While prostitution has been the word historically used, sex worker right’s activists have more recently campaigned for the preferential use of full-service sex work because of the implications around control and consent within each word. Full-service connotes an economic negotiation between two consenting adults, while prostitution connotes an exploitative exchange. Full-service sex work is sometimes described as providing sexual services or commercial sex. It is also referred to euphemistically as "the world's oldest profession" in the English-speaking world.

Full-service sex work occurs in a variety of forms, and its legal status varies from country to country (sometimes from region to region within a given country). These ranges include full criminalization, partial criminalization, legalization and decriminalization. It is one branch of the sex industry, along with pornography, stripping, and erotic dancing. Full service sex workers who work indoors may work as call girls or escorts, and may work with an agency or independently. Another form is street based or street level sex work.

Because of the changing nature of sex work’s legality worldwide, it is incredibly hard to capture an accurate estimate of how many people engage in sex work globally. Those who work in areas where sex work is illegal may not want to disclose their occupation for fear of social isolation or legal action. The blurred discourse between sex work and sex trafficking from those who have attempted to study the selling of sex makes it even more challenging to find even a population estimate.

The position of sex work and the law varies widely worldwide, reflecting differing opinions. Abolitionists favour the term prostitution and view sex work as a form of exploitation of or violence against women, and children , that helps to create a supply of victims for human trafficking. Some critics of the sex industry as an institution are supporters of the Swedish or Nordic approach, which decriminalizes the act of selling sex, but makes the purchase of sex illegal. This approach has also been adopted by Canada, Iceland, the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Norway, and France. The humanitarian or pro-sex work perspective views sex work as a legitimate occupation, whereby a person trades or exchanges sexual acts for money. Amnesty International is one of the notable groups calling for the decriminalization of full service sex work.

Street based
Main article: Street prostitution

In street based sex work, the sex worker solicits customers, often called "johns", while waiting outside on the street. A street highly populated by sex workers is sometimes called a stroll. Street based sex work is generally considered to be one of the most risky forms of sex work. Street-based sex workers face unique challenges, most often risking criminal charges from police or violence from police or clients, especially in regions like the United States where they are working illegally. While street based sex work is often the lowest paid form of sex work, not all are working as a means of survival. Some choose to work outside because it is easy to attract customers without working for an agency or brothel, allowing them to work independently.

The term survival sex work is often used to describe some street based sex workers when workers are selling sexual services to directly support their survival. While this sometimes includes supporting addictions, it also refers to supporting themselves or their families in paying for basic necessities. Street based survival sex workers are at a heightened risk for health risks like HIV and hepatitis C, as well as physical violence like rape, murder, and robbery, mainly because it is more difficult to vet clients while working on the street.

Escort services
Main article: Call girl

Call girls, more frequently called escorts, are indoor sex workers who offer sexual services either independently or with an agency. Both escort agencies and independent workers may offer "in-call" services, in which the escort works out of a rented space (most often a house or hotel, sometimes shared with other workers), or "out-call" services in which the worker goes to the client (most often a hotel).

Escorts who choose to work independently may do so because of the freedom of choosing their own clients, setting their own hours, and setting their own prices. This form of sex work offers the most personal agency, but sometimes risks personal safety when working alone. The widespread use of the internet has allowed many sex workers to move off of the streets and indoors, advertising their services online through third party sites. However, as a result of increased internet crackdowns on sexual solicitation and human trafficking, many workers are losing the ability to offer online services following the closure of Craigslist's "personals" section and Backpage.

Escorts who choose to work for an agency may do so because of the safety and security it provides, however they may also experience less personal autonomy in the job. In some cases, agencies can operate similarly to "pimps", by violating labour rights and taking a large cut of the worker's wages.

Brothels
Main article: Brothel and red-light district

Brothels are establishments specifically dedicated to sex work, often confined to special red-light districts in big cities. Brothels are generally distinct in their reference to establishments that operate legally. Other names for brothels include bordello, whorehouse, cathouse, knocking shop, and general houses.

Brothels that advertise through window displays are fairly common in the Netherlands and surrounding countries. The sex worker rents a window and workspace from a window operator for a certain period of time, often per day or part of a day. The worker is independent and recruits her own customers, negotiates the price, and the services to be provided.

Attitudes
Roughly speaking, the possible attitudes are:


 * "Sex work is work":
 * Decriminalization: considers sex work labour like any other. Decriminalization would not require that sex industry premises be subject to regulations, but does not criminalize the worker or client for selling/buying sex. This is currently operating in New Zealand; laws against sex workers or the sex industry are struck down, but sex work is not legally run. Proponents of this view often cite instances of government regulation under legalization that they consider intrusive, demeaning, or violent, and feel that criminalization adversely affects sex workers. Amnesty International is one of the notable groups calling for the decriminalization of sex work.
 * Regulation: sex work should be considered a legitimate business that is legally regulated. This is the current situation in the Netherlands, Germany, most of Australia and parts of Nevada (see Prostitution in Nevada). The degree of regulation varies; for example, in the Netherlands, sex workers are not required to undergo mandatory health checks (see Prostitution in the Netherlands), while in Nevada, the regulations are very strict (see Prostitution in Nevada).
 * "Sex work is exploitation":
 * Abolitionism: seeks the complete abolition of the sex industry altogether . Abolitionists consider all sex work violence against women, and usually refer to them as "prostituted women" . In an attempt to make it more difficult to engage in the sex industry, sex work is heavily discouraged and seen as a social problem. Sex work (the exchange of sexual services for money) is legal, but the surrounding activities such as public solicitation, operating a brothel and other forms of pimping are prohibited. This is the current situation in Great Britain and Italy, among others.
 * Neo-abolitionism: views sex work similarly to abolitionism, as violence against women, but seeks to prosecute clients and pimps rather than the sex workers themselves. This is the current situation in Sweden, France, Norway, Canada and Iceland (in Norway the law is even more strict, forbidding engaging in the sex industry abroad). The implementation of this asymmetrical model (criminalizing the client and not the worker) in Norway has given rise to the "Nordic model" of sex work, which has been used increasingly around the world . Neo-abolitionists often endorse this model for protecting the workers while discouraging the industry . In February 2014, the members of the European Parliament voted in a non-binding resolution, (adopted by 343 votes to 139; with 105 abstentions), in favour of this model.
 * Prohibitionism: both sex workers and clients are seen as immoral and considered criminals. This is the prevailing attitude nearly everywhere in the United States, with a few exceptions in some rural Nevada counties (see Prostitution in Nevada).

Advocacy and activism
Sex work is a significant issue in feminist thought and activism. Abolitionist feminists are opposed to the entire sex industry, which they see as a form of exploitation of women and male dominance, and as a practice which is the result of existing patriarchal structures. These feminists argue that sex work has a negative effect both on the sex workers themselves and on society as a whole, as it reinforces stereotypical views about women, who are seen as sex objects which can be used and abused by men. Other feminists hold that sex work can be a valid choice for the women who choose to engage in it; in this view, sex work must be differentiated from forced prostitution, and feminists should support sex worker activists in fighting abuses by both the sex industry and the legal system.

Many countries have sex worker advocacy groups which lobby against criminalization and discrimination of sex workers. These groups generally oppose Nevada-style regulation and oversight, stating that sex work should be treated like other professions. In the United States of America, one such group is COYOTE (an abbreviation for "Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics") and another is the North American Task Force on Prostitution. In Australia the lead sex worker rights organization is Scarlet Alliance. International sex worker rights organizations include the International Committee for Prostitutes' Rights and the Network of Sex Work Projects.

Still other groups, often with religious backgrounds, focus on offering women a way out of the sex industry, like the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women. These groups often have legal positions in which they lobby for full criminalization, abolitionism, or neo-abolitionism.