Affective Sex Work in a Post-Socialist Context

The Sociology journal has published an article by Leja Markelj and Majda Hrženjak, “Affective Sex Work in a Post-Socialist Context”, in which the authors analyze the transformations of the sex industry through the lens of shifting structures of intimacy and labour in late capitalism. Drawing on an online survey, focus groups with sex workers, and digital ethnography, they examine how the role of intimacy and emotionality is shifting in the contemporary sex industry and what consequences this brings for the working conditions of sex workers.

The analysis shows that emotionality, intimacy, and authenticity – traditionally associated with higher-end services such as escort and the “girlfriend experience” – are becoming increasingly normalized across the sex industry. The unbounded demand for establishing “authentic” intimacy and emotional connection with clients is interpreted by the authors as a tightening of working conditions in the sex industry, since it involves surplus affective labor that is no longer compensated as a luxury service. In the Slovenian sex industry, an opportunity structure for the rise of affective labor is linked to the individualization of sex work, which is typically carried out without intermediaries, in private homes, unregistered, and often as a supplementary source of income alongside other employment. While this form of sex work allows for greater autonomy and control over working conditions, the informalization, deregulation, and lack of professionalization creates circumstances that demand an excessive investment of affective labor from workers.