ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the intersections of work life and personal life among female, male, and trans sex workers, and the strategies they use to manage work/life balance as they navigate their intersecting identities, self-representation, relationships with others, and membership in various institutions and groups. Warr and Pyett found that it was common for sex workers to maintain a distinction between their work and their personal life, using separation as a coping mechanism to manage the two spheres of their lives. Sex workers were intentional in addressing various challenges in their personal, romantic, and professional relationships. Rather than choosing to keep their personal life separate from their work life, sex workers may merge their personal and professional identities. Sex workers who are financially independent have the option of creating more distinct boundaries and separations between work and personal life. The degree and level of stigma often informs sex workers’ separation, integration, and management of work and personal life.
