The prostitution is usually described as either gendered or capitalist exploitation. It is common for both viewpoints that the prostitute is seen as acting in a paid sexual relationship hurting herself and therefore loosing – at least temporarily –  her ability to ”real” intimacy and sexuality. On the other hand, in a broader view prostitution is seen as an institution that produces and maintains both forms of exploitation. That way it comes close to the phenomenon of alienation both on the individual and the collective level.

My data is collected in Finland where the level of social security benefits is high and the prostitutes are in relatively good position. When analyzing my interviews of prostitutes at least three characteristics come up that make the image of alienating impact of prostitution more complicated.

Firstly, a part of the prostitutes I have reached have started sex work for other than economic motives, for example personal sexual pleasure or excitement. In their case, it is impossible to talk about working in order to make a living. It deals at least partly with self-fulfilling, and thus is an opposite to alienation.

Another group of sex workers chooses prostitution to be as little time as possible at work. They consciously aspire to settle outside capitalist employment and succeed in it better than would be possible in other jobs, usually low-paid and hard. They emphasize that short working hours (in Finland, less than one hour a day is enough to ensure reasonable earnings) increase their freedom.

Thirdly, also in the case that the sex-worker doesn’t like her work or does it only for money, she usually tries to minimize in every way those characteristics of her work that we associate with alienation. These methods include efforts to have control over working conditions, choosing the clients, deciding the working hours, aspirations to get better in work and professional pride.

Concerning alienation, prostitution can be seen as an at least two-way phenomenon: it is an activity that produces alienation but also reduces it. The aforementioned supposition may restrict to the industrialised western world, because the culture of sexuality, the gender roles and the forms of prostitution vary. However, in my presentation I will ask if and in which circumstances prostitution can be seen as a disalienation strategy for an individual.