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One sex website noted, “It’s been a world of pain for the<br />
sex workers who have been complaining about the recession.<br />
While prostitutes are reporting record business and lay people<br />
are doing it like bunnies, the niche market has been beaten<br />
down.” Time reported a steep drop off in global sex tourism,<br />
as well.<br />
At the same time in other parts of the world, economic crisis<br />
driven joblessness can lead to more sex workers, not fewer.<br />
Short News.com reported:<br />
Due to the global financial crisis, sex workers in Cambodia<br />
are getting fewer customers with less money, causing them<br />
to do things that puts them at a higher risk. 60,000 factory<br />
workers lost their jobs causing a rise in the number of sex<br />
workers.<br />
Controversial human trafficking legislation that was passed<br />
in February 2008 criminalized sex work and led to months of<br />
brothel busts which resulted in the sex workers taking to the<br />
streets, night clubs, and karaoke parlors.<br />
Ly Pisey, from Woman’s Agenda for Change, said that sex<br />
workers who work independently of brothels are more likely<br />
to be affected by the economic downturn, because they are<br />
less protected and often more desperate for money.<br />
I doubt that this issue raises much concern on Wall Street.<br />
There are other ways in which the high-pressure world of<br />
Wall Street and the sex business are interconnected, if not<br />
interdependent, and this may have more to do with the risky<br />
behavior in trades and investments.<br />
To find out more, I spoke to Jonathan Albert, a psychologist<br />
practicing in mid-Manhattan.<br />
He told me, “I see a lot of clients in NYC who are impacted<br />
by the economic crisis. People deal with stress in many different<br />
ways. Some people exercise, some people over-eat, some<br />
use drugs and alcohol, some even sexualize those feelings.”