Gender, Ethnicity, Immigration Status, and Public Opinion : An Experimental Study of Attitudes Toward Sex Work
(2025) In Crime & Delinquency- Abstract
- This study explores how sex workers’ gender, ethnicity, and immigration status influence public attitudes toward sex work in the United States. Using a randomized experiment, 1,193 respondents evaluated a hypothetical news story featuring a sex worker as either a “Caucasian woman,” “Caucasian man,” or “undocumented Mexican woman.” Respondents rated the acceptability of sex work, worker agency, venue liability, and preferences for supportive or punitive interventions. Sex work by a Caucasian man was viewed least favorably, and the undocumented Mexican woman was perceived as having the lowest agency. Supportive interventions were endorsed more for women, while punitive measures, particularly fines, were favored for the man. Results highlight... (More)
- This study explores how sex workers’ gender, ethnicity, and immigration status influence public attitudes toward sex work in the United States. Using a randomized experiment, 1,193 respondents evaluated a hypothetical news story featuring a sex worker as either a “Caucasian woman,” “Caucasian man,” or “undocumented Mexican woman.” Respondents rated the acceptability of sex work, worker agency, venue liability, and preferences for supportive or punitive interventions. Sex work by a Caucasian man was viewed least favorably, and the undocumented Mexican woman was perceived as having the lowest agency. Supportive interventions were endorsed more for women, while punitive measures, particularly fines, were favored for the man. Results highlight how the intersecting factors shape perceptions of agency, culpability, deservingness, and intervention preferences. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/9cb1ff82-cee3-4666-9c98-ff2374016d94
- author
- Hansen, Michael A. LU ; Johansson, Isabelle LU and Navarro, John C.
- publishing date
- 2025
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- epub
- subject
- in
- Crime & Delinquency
- pages
- 26 pages
- publisher
- SAGE Publications
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105013500318
- ISSN
- 0011-1287
- DOI
- 10.1177/00111287251359200
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- 9cb1ff82-cee3-4666-9c98-ff2374016d94
- date added to LUP
- 2025-12-11 09:25:18
- date last changed
- 2025-12-12 09:00:22
@article{9cb1ff82-cee3-4666-9c98-ff2374016d94,
abstract = {{This study explores how sex workers’ gender, ethnicity, and immigration status influence public attitudes toward sex work in the United States. Using a randomized experiment, 1,193 respondents evaluated a hypothetical news story featuring a sex worker as either a “Caucasian woman,” “Caucasian man,” or “undocumented Mexican woman.” Respondents rated the acceptability of sex work, worker agency, venue liability, and preferences for supportive or punitive interventions. Sex work by a Caucasian man was viewed least favorably, and the undocumented Mexican woman was perceived as having the lowest agency. Supportive interventions were endorsed more for women, while punitive measures, particularly fines, were favored for the man. Results highlight how the intersecting factors shape perceptions of agency, culpability, deservingness, and intervention preferences.}},
author = {{Hansen, Michael A. and Johansson, Isabelle and Navarro, John C.}},
issn = {{0011-1287}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{SAGE Publications}},
series = {{Crime & Delinquency}},
title = {{Gender, Ethnicity, Immigration Status, and Public Opinion : An Experimental Study of Attitudes Toward Sex Work}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/00111287251359200}},
doi = {{10.1177/00111287251359200}},
year = {{2025}},
}