413047-Underground-Commercial-Sex-Economy

Rates, Expenses, and Spending
The rise of crack cocaine in the 1980s correlated with a notable decline in the rates and profitability of
street-based sex work, and a change in sex worker spending habits, in the 1990s and 2000s. Many sex
workers reported still being able to make hundreds and even thousands of dollars per day, but the work
became more desperate, and the need to see more clients greater, as individuals increasingly used sex
work to sustain crack addictions.
Just as more individuals were becoming addicted to crack, street-based sex workers began to lower the
prices of their work. Compared to the rates in the 1970s and 1980s of $50–100 for oral sex and $60–300
for sex, the low end of the price range for street-based sex work dropped in the 1990s and through the
present day. As reported by those in our sample, rates in the 1990s and 2000s ranged from $5 to $150 for
oral sex and $5 to $250 for sex.
According to those interviewed for this study, the primary reason for this dramatic decline in prices was
the influence of crack cocaine on the street-based commercial sex market. A sex worker from Washington,
DC described this decrease:
In the 1990s, during the height of the crack epidemic, some people kept their prices high.
But as time went on, people lowered prices to do anything they could to get high, so
they’d drop their prices. When it was all about the drugs, it didn’t matter how much they
made—five or ten dollars—as long as they had money to get drugs. (L4)
As another sex worker stated, “Everything slowed down in 1995. Crack started coming into play, the
economy was kind of low … But you could still make money, just not as much as you wanted. [Clients]
were paying $30, $35 for [any sexual request]” (J8). It became commonplace to trade sex for crack, and to
determine prices for sex acts on the basis of street-based drug prices. A sex worker from Washington, DC
made a note of this type of exchange: “When crack came out, crack messed everything up. The price[s] of
oral sex, other sex … all went down. People could buy you for a rock worth $20 to $50” (L5).
With johns developing their own addictions to crack and becoming less willing to pay higher rates, and
with other street-based sex workers settling for reduced rates, sex workers lost substantial bargaining
power when quoting prices. A sex worker from Seattle who began trading sex in the mid-1990s described
this trend:
Dates were getting stingier over the years. There are a lot of girls out [there] that’ll do a
lot more because they’re addicted to drugs. If I’d stayed on drugs longer I’d be more likely
to do that. I had to negotiate for more because I needed to get money. (K2)
Spending patterns also changed significantly. According to many respondents, earnings from sex work
were often not high enough to support everyday needs. While sex work sustained some or all daily
expenses—including rent, food, and child care—in the years prior to crack addiction, individuals found it
increasingly difficult to avoid spending most of their earnings on crack after becoming dependent on the
drug. One Washington, DC-based sex worker described this change: “Before I started crack in 1990s, I
spent on family, bills, shopping. After [in the mid-1990s], I’d spend on crack. On a weekly basis, I was
making about $6,000 to $7,000. I was blowing it. As soon as [I’d] get it, I spent it” (L2). Another
respondent had a similar experience: “Now it wasn’t about getting money for clothes. Now it was about
feeding my addiction … The majority of my money was for drugs. Now that I was on drugs, I have johns
on drugs, I would do things for drugs” (L5). And another from Washington, DC described similar
spending habits: “In 1991, I started spending the money I was making on crack. Almost all of the money
was going to crack. I would stop helping my mom out—only if she wanted $40. I had to make sure I had
enough money to buy my drugs and my things” (L1).
For many, the money came in and out of their hands quickly, as was true for a Denver-based sex worker in
the late 1990s:
Interviewer: How often did you need to get high
Respondent: All day, I would take a hit every twenty minutes, if that, [it was] hundreds
to thousands a day [on drugs].
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