Paper short abstract:

This poster charts how female sex workers strategize selling sex in Dublin, particularly in relation to recent technological advances, especially mobile phones and the Internet.

Paper long abstract:

The Dublin sex-work industry, like other service industries, is subject to the forces of globalisation. Economic growth, changes in the labour market, migration, national and EU legislative frameworks, and advances in technology, condition how women engage in sex-work. Using life histories from sex workers, this poster charts at how sex-work in Dublin has been transformed in the last 15 years or so, in response to changes facilitated by technological advances, especially with the proliferation of mobile phones and the Internet. In the recent past, covert advertisements in magazines, offering a mere hint at what carnal delight might be on offer, have given way to explicit internet websites, allowing potential buyers to view an array of women in various locations around the city, as well as a menu of services, price lists, and graphic photos. Indeed, far from looking like an exotic enterprise, the sex industry, especially in the escort sector of the market, resembles many other branches of the service industry, in dealing with the effects of globalisation while finding new and innovate means of accessing their potential market as part of their economic strategy.