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Danny Schechter - ColdType

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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.”

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