THC Science

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Introduction

Sex work is "the exchange of sexual services, performances, or products for material compensation. It includes activities of direct physical contact between buyers and sellers as well as indirect sexual stimulation". Sex work only refers to voluntary sexual transactions; thus, the term does not refer to human trafficking and other coerced or nonconsensual sexual transactions such as child prostitution. The transaction must take place between consenting adults of the legal age and mental capacity to consent and must take place without any methods of coercion, other than payment. The term emphasizes the labor and economic implications of this type of work. Furthermore, some prefer the use of the term because it grants more agency to the sellers of these services. (Full article...)

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Courtesan, in modern usage, is a euphemism for a kept mistress or prostitute, particularly one with wealthy, powerful, or influential clients. The term historically referred to a courtier, a person who attended the court of a monarch or other powerful person. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

Selected images

Image 1Prostitutes on display in Yoshiwara during the Meiji Period, Japan (from Prostitution)
Image 2A liberated Chinese girl who had been forced in to sexual slavery by the Japanese military sits on a stretcher and speaks to a British military serviceman. (from Prostitution)
Image 3A prostitute and her customer illustrated on an ancient Greek wine cup; the act of prostitution is indicated by the coin purse above the figures. (from Prostitution)
Image 4Sex workers demonstrating for better working conditions at the 2009 Marcha Gay in Mexico City (from Sex work)
Image 5A prostitute in Amsterdam's red-light district talks with a potential customer. (from Prostitution)
Image 6Prostitute c. 1890. (from Prostitution)
Image 7
  Legalization – prostitution legal and regulated
  Decriminalization – No criminal penalties for prostitution
  Abolitionism – prostitution is legal, but organized activities such as brothels and pimping are illegal; prostitution is not regulated
  Neo-abolitionism – illegal to buy sex and for 3rd party involvement, legal to sell sex
  Prohibitionism – prostitution illegal
  Legality varies with local laws
(from Prostitution)
Image 8World map of pornography (18+) laws
  Pornography legal
  Pornography legal under some restrictions
  Pornography illegal
  Data unavailable
(from Sex work)
Image 9The Procuress by Dirck van Baburen (1622) (from Prostitution)
Image 10A sex worker in Berlin in 2001 (from Sex work)
Image 11Tart cards in a British phone box advertising the services of call girls (from Prostitution)
Image 12Stickers affixed to a payphone in São Paulo, 2006 (from Prostitution)
Image 13Kisaeng women from outcast or slave families. (from Prostitution)
Image 14News report about three brothels operating in Albuquerque, New Mexico that were raided by police in 1922 (from Prostitution)
Image 15A detail from plate 1 of William Hogarth's (1697–1764) The Harlot's Progress, showing brothel-keeper Elizabeth Needham, on the right, procuring a young woman who has just arrived in London (from Prostitution)
Image 16Fresco from the Pompeii brothel (from Prostitution)
Image 17De Wallen red-light district in Amsterdam (from Prostitution)
Image 18World map of prostitution laws
  Decriminalization – No criminal penalties for prostitution
  Legalization (regulation) – Prostitution legal and regulated
  Abolitionism – Prostitution is legal, but organized activities such as brothels and pimping are illegal; prostitution is not regulated
  Neo-abolitionism (Nordic model) – Illegal to buy sex and for 3rd party involvement, legal to sell sex
  Prohibitionism – Prostitution illegal in all aspects (selling and buying)
  Legality varies with local laws
(from Sex work)
Image 19An Ancient Greek urn depicts a prostitute and her client. (from Sex work)
Image 20A political cartoon from 1787 jesting about the notion of taxation affecting prostitutes (from Prostitution)
Image 21Brothel scene; Brunswick Monogrammist, 1537; Gemäldegalerie, Berlin (from Prostitution)
Image 22A street prostitute talking to a potential customer in Turin, Italy, 2005 (from Prostitution)
Image 23An oiran preparing herself for a client, ukiyo-e print by Suzuki Haronubu (1765) (from Prostitution)
Image 24The red light district in Amsterdam (from Sex work)
Image 25Prostitution Information Centre in Amsterdam (from Prostitution)
Image 26Women in an early San Francisco bordello in 1870 (from Prostitution)
Image 27Statue to honor the sex workers of the world. Installed March 2007 in Amsterdam, Oudekerksplein, in front of the Oude Kerk, in Amsterdam's red-light district De Wallen. Titled Belle, the inscription to the piece says "Respect sex workers all over the world." (from Prostitution)

Related portals

Selected general sex worker

Image 1

_{Autograph-signing event in Kobe, Hyogo}
Akari Asahina (Japanese: 朝日奈あかり, Hepburn: Asahina Akari, born 30 May 1988) is a Japanese actress and AV idol. (Full article...)
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Canyon at the F.O.X.E. Awards in February 2006

Christy Canyon (born June 17, 1966) is a retired pornographic actress and American radio personality. She is an inductee of the AVN and XRCO Hall of Fame. (Full article...)
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Marie at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2015

Ariana Marie (born March 15, 1993) is an American pornographic actress, cam-girl, and dancer. Marie was Miss November 2014 in Penthouse Pet of the Month, and has been nominated for numerous AVN Awards, XBIZ Awards, and other industry awards. As of June 2019 Ariana was under a one-year Exclusive Contract as an actress and spokesmodel for Vixen Media Group. (Full article...)
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Silvera in 2007

Joey Silvera (born December 20, 1951) is an American pornographic film director and former actor.

He has been involved in the pornographic industry since the early 1970s. A native of upstate New York, he first started performing in San Francisco in 1974, and went on to appear in more than 1,000 videos. In the early 1990s, Silvera went on to direct videos for his own company. His movies were first distributed by Devil's Film, and he later was invited to join John Stagliano's Evil Angel. (Full article...)
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Absolonová in 2003

Andrea Absolonová (26 December 1976 – 9 December 2004), better known by the pseudonym Lea De Mae, was a Czech diver and a member of the Czech high diving national team, later an adult model and pornographic actress. She died from brain cancer on 9 December 2004, at the age of 27. (Full article...)
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Ai Iijima (Japanese: 飯島愛, Hepburn: Iijima Ai, October 31, 1972 – December 17, 2008) was a Japanese media personality, writer, activist and actress who was an AV idol early in her career, starring in more than 100 films. She later became the hostess on the nighttime television program, Gilgamesh Night, and transitioned away from AV work. After ending her career in adult videos, Iijima released a musical single Naisho DE Ai! Ai! (ナイショ DE アイ!アイ!) in July 1993 and soon became a regular on daytime TV talk shows. Iijima became involved in campaigns to educate the public about HIV/AIDS, a cause that few Japanese celebrities were willing to undertake.

On December 24, 2008 at about 3:30 p.m. (JST), Iijima was found dead in her 21st floor Tokyo apartment. Pathology examination showed she had died of pneumonia shortly after retiring from the public eye. (Full article...)
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Phillips in 2016

Lauren Phillips is an American pornographic actress and feature dancer. (Full article...)
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Mark Shannon (born Manlio Cersosimo; 8 December 1939 – 11 May 2018), sometimes also billed as Mark Shanon or Mark Channon, was an Italian pornographic actor active mainly from 1979 to 1988 and cast - often as protagonist - in more than 30 Italian adult films, many of which were produced, lensed and directed by Joe D'Amato. He was the first Italian male protagonist in Italian cinema performing non-simulated sex on screen and has been called the first Italian "pornodivo". (Full article...)
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Antonella Alonso (born 9 June 1990), also known for her stage name LaSirena69, is a Venezuelan pornographic actress. (Full article...)
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Lisa De Leeuw (born July 3, 1958) is an American former pornographic actress. (Full article...)
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William Randall Daniels (born September 25, 1951), better known by the stage name Billy Dee, is a retired American adult film actor. (Full article...)
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Lollipop, also known as Federica Gori (6 August 1970 – 5 February 2008), was an Italian pornographic actress and television personality.

Born as Maria Federica Besesti in Rome, daughter and granddaughter of actors and voice actors, Lollipop debuted as a stripper, then started her career in adult films after having met Luca Damiano, who directed her in several films and with whom she was engaged for some years. Her works include the series Lollipop e le sue amiche and an adult soap opera on the satellite channel Stream TV. In 2000, she also appeared in the documentary film Gladiatori: Reportage sul cinema hard italiano, that premiered at the Turin Film Festival. (Full article...)
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Dera in November 2007

Charles Dera (born December 21, 1978) is an American adult entertainer, actor, model, mixed martial artist and former exotic dancer. Dera has received several adult industry awards, including the NightMoves Award for Male Performer of the Year. In 2022, he was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame. (Full article...)
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Paul Baxendale-Walker

Paul Baxendale-Walker, also known under the stage name Paul Chaplin, is a British entrepreneur who worked as a solicitor until being struck off in 2007.He has since worked as a talk show host and pornographic film producer, director, and actor. He is, together with Andrew Thornhill QC, the author of The Law and Taxation of Remuneration Trusts (Key Haven, 1997) and also the Purpose Trusts (1999, 2009 [2nd ed.]). (Full article...)
Image 15

Danni Ashe (and early in her career sometimes as Danielle Ashe; born January 16, 1968) is a retired American nude model, former erotic dancer, web developer, and pornographic actress who is the founder and former CEO of Danni's Hard Drive, a pioneering adult web site. She started her adult Internet site in 1995. She has been an industry advocate and testified before a government panel. (Full article...)
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Bill Gray, known professionally as Billy Santoro, is an American gay pornographic actor. He first began performing in gay pornographic films in 2013 as an exclusive model for Men.com, and appeared in Lucas Entertainment's first-ever bareback film alongside his then-boyfriend Seth Santoro later that year. He became a popular performer in the mid-2010s and appeared in over 200 gay pornographic films by 2017. He later became known for his controversies, including his tweets advocating for the shooting of Black people during the George Floyd protests in 2020. (Full article...)
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Long Dong Silver is a British retired porn star known for his large penis. He was born in 1960 in London, England, as Daniel Arthur Mead. His stage name is a reference to the fictional Treasure Island character Long John Silver. (Full article...)
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Hatsumi at the 2014 Tokyo Game Show, September 2014
Saki Hatsumi (Japanese: 初美沙希, Hepburn: Hatsumi Saki, born 1990) is a Japanese former pornographic film actress who was active between 2010 and 2017. A highly prolific and versatile performer, Hatsumi has over 900 credited AV appearances spanning over seven years and numerous genres. She is also a voice actress and singer. (Full article...)
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Saint wins the 2006 Best Newcomer Germany eLine Award.

Leonie Saint (born 23 April 1986), also known with the stage names Leonie Luder or simply Leonie is a German actress, TV presenter and former pornographic actress. (Full article...)
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Henry Saari (born 14 January 1964, in Pori, Finland), also known as Henry the Great (Henry Suuri) is a Finnish actor, director and porn star. In 1993, Saari won the title of Mr. Finland and placed 3rd in the Mr. Europe contest. He is known colloquially in Spanish-speaking countries as “El Cinturonero de Finland.”

Saari is best known for the five eponymous Henry the Great movies he directed and starred in between 1998 and 2001. Aside from his pornographic work, Saari had parts in the Hollywood movie History Is Made at Night (1999) and the mainstream Finnish movies Young Gods (2003) and Bunny the Killer Thing (2015). (Full article...)
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Rebecca Lord (born in 1973) is a French pornographic actress, director, and producer who has been active since 1993. Soon after her first experience in the porn industry, she moved U.S., where she achieved popularity, appearing in over 200 porn movies (as of 2007). She is the owner of Rebecca Lord Productions. In 2013, Rebecca Lord was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame. (Full article...)
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John Robert Stillman (July 11, 1946 – April 7, 2009), billed professionally as Jack Wrangler, was an American gay pornographic film actor, theatrical producer, director, and writer. He performed in both gay and straight films.

Open about his homosexuality and adult film work throughout his career, Wrangler was an icon of the gay-liberation movement. The 2008 feature-length documentary Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon examines his life and career. (Full article...)
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Carol Connors is an American former pornographic actress. She starred in about 20 adult movies between 1971 and 1981. Married to fellow former porn star Jack Birch, she is the mother of actress Thora Birch. (Full article...)
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Honoka (Japanese: 穂花, Hepburn: Honoka) is a Japanese TV personality, actress, writer and former adult video (AV) performer who retired from the AV industry in 2008. (Full article...)
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Dillon at the 2013 Adult Entertainment Expo

Ashley Stamm-Northup (née Levis), professionally known as Danica Dillon is an American pornographic actress who debuted in 2009 and then went on to appear in mainstream (non-adult) roles in cable television movies. Dillon is also a featured dancer at men's clubs and is a featured guest on radio and podcast shows. (Full article...)

Did you know...

... that a Harvey's franchise known for being a hub for sex work was described by one artist as a "legendary Toronto icon"?
... that Lea Ackermann, a German nun of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa, fought against forced prostitution and sex tourism in East Africa?