The transformation of the sex industry since 2000 has meant that the image of the ‘street prostitute’ touting for business on dark street corners is less representative of sex work or sex workers than it has ever been. Much of our knowledge about the sex industry, and about wider transformations of economic, intimate and cultural life, is out of date (Bernstein, Reference Bernstein2007a), and policy processes are taking place within the context of limited or outdated knowledge. The growth in visibility, consumption and diversity of sexual commerce is now well recognised (Weitzer, Reference Weitzer and Weitzer2000; Agustín, Reference Agustín2005; Scoular and Sanders, Reference Scoular and Sanders2010) and commercial sex industries are known to operate across a variety of locations, and within specific modes of production and consumption, which are historically, contextually and culturally contingent and where ‘the meaning of buying and selling sex is not always the same’ (Agustín, Reference Agustín2005: 619).

Agustín (Reference Agustín2005, Reference Agustín2007) has called for a cultural studies approach capable of examining commercial sex in ways that move beyond an understanding based on morality and that takes into account ‘its intersections with art, migration, ethics, service work, consumption, family life, entertainment, sport, economics, urban space, sexuality, tourism, informal economies and criminality, not omitting issues of race, class, gender, identity and citizenship’ (Agustín, Reference Agustín2007: 169). This themed section seeks to demonstrate how commercial sex is intertwined with culture, and to explore policy debates that recognise this. It aims to move research into commercial sex towards an analysis of policy issues that pertain to commercial sex in a context in which both sexual commerce and the intimate sphere of wider society have changed. Its objectives are to explore the spectrum of the global sex industry and to locate the discussion in a socio-cultural perspective. This recognises that neither policy making, implementation and practice, nor sexual commerce, exist in a vacuum.

As Bernstein argues, Westernised, large-scale sexual commerce is a recent occurrence, materialising out of the shifts and confusion of mid-nineteenth century industrial capitalism, such as urbanisation, the decline of traditional family networks and the growth of wage labour which have generated new boundaries between the public and private (Reference Bernstein2007a: 23). These post-industrial transformations of sexuality and culture have created a paradox in which there is increasing political problematisation of the demand for sexual services alongside an ‘unbridled ethic of sexual consumption’ in which demand has both increased and become more specialised, transgressing technological, spatial and social boundaries (Reference Bernstein2007a: 155). Shifts in modern commercial sex markets include the industry's expansion and mainstreaming (Scoular and Sanders, Reference Scoular and Sanders2010), the influence of globalisation, including increased mobility and technological development (Holt and Blevins, Reference Holt and Blevins2007; Katsulis, Reference Katsulis2009; Pettinger, Reference Pettinger2013), and the economic restructuring of commercial sex enterprises at both the macro level and the micro level of sex workers’ practices and organisation (Bernstein, Reference Bernstein2007b; Brents and Sanders, Reference Brents and Sanders2010). The sex industry has grown, with increased numbers of consumers and providers, a rise in the volume and total of economic transactions and spatial expansion. It has diversified, including a broader range of clients and a wider remit of services and products available. In parallel, there has been increased regulation of sex industries world-wide and an emphasis on tackling the demand for prostitution, which Sanders and Campbell (Reference Sanders, Campbell and Munro2008) argue is led by a radical feminist abolitionist influence which defines sex work as violence against women and a cause of the objectification of women. This, coupled with what Weitzer (Reference Weitzer2007) calls a ‘moral crusade’ against sex trafficking, ensures that the increased criminalisation and regulation of those involved in the sex industry is at the top of political and social agendas.

Taking an alternative perspective which expands the traditional policy focus on prostitution and explores the day-to-day practices of those engaged across the spectrum of the sex industry worldwide, the articles in this themed section explore policy across diverse spaces, from traditional street sex work to using the home as a place of work; from licensed premises to the online realm. A range of actors involved in commercial sex are also considered, including female, male and transgender sex workers, dancers, support workers, criminal justice personnel, police, policy makers and those who make up licensing committees, and male clients. The articles go beyond traditional debates about morality to explore the policy implications of the intersections of commercial sex and consumption, work, employment, informal economies and business management. Issues of exclusion, social control, marginalisation and the challenges that legal and policy systems create are grounded in empirical data, revealing the everyday practices of those who operate within the sex industry. The articles address contemporary concerns surrounding trafficking and increased regulation, and consider issues that have received relatively little policy attention, such as online regulation, working conditions and resistance to policy. This approach addresses gaps in our knowledge and their implications for policy, contributing towards a body of work that recognises the breadth and diversity of the global sex industry.

The themed section begins with two articles that explore the inclusion and exclusion of key stakeholders in sex work policy debates. Sanders et al. draw on the findings from a study which sought to explore how dancers are excluded from policy debates, to investigate the welfare, safety and working conditions of dancers and to make recommendations to improve working conditions and the ways in which Sexual Entertainment Venues operate. The data are drawn from a survey of 197 dancers and seventy interviews with dancers, licensing officers and police, and a follow on impact and dissemination study. The authors argue that one of the most successful methods for turning research into policy is to convert findings into tangible recommendations that can achieve change, and that this can only be achieved through methodology that places participants at the centre of the research process. Hammond also explores exclusion from policy debates, focusing on the perspective of men who pay for sex. Drawing on interviews with thirty-five men who pay for sex, she examines the way some clients negotiate political and media constructions of the client figure, build collective identity and respond to policy processes surrounding the regulation of commercial sex. The article reveals how members of the Sex Work Movement and some clients share similar grievances around the construction and regulation of commercial sex, with both groups experiencing stigma and discrimination. The data suggest that whilst traditional political participation may prove challenging for men who pay for sex, subtle forms of mobilisation do occur. Next, continuing to focus on the local climate of sex work regulation, Carline and Scoular explore some of the cultural factors pertaining to sex work, such as the impact of the politics of austerity and poverty, along with issues relating to criminality, urban space, gender and citizenship. The article highlights the inefficacy of Engagement and Support Orders and wider policy. The authors call for a more inclusive debate about what kind of changes within commercial sex may be desirable, along with the development of a more focused and effective role for criminal law in policing actual violence.

Pitcher, focusing on the experiences of a range of off-street current and former sex workers, discusses how policy discourses fail to recognise sex work as legitimate work, and neglect to include the voices of sex workers in discussions, which hinders the development of initiatives to improve their labour rights and working conditions. She argues that exploring sex work as labour highlights diverse experiences within the industry, drawing parallels with other forms of work, and can help in identifying ways to facilitate safer and more supportive working conditions. Continuing the focus on off-street sex worker experiences, Prior and Crofts explore the experiences of fourteen home-based sex workers in New South Wales, Australia. They argue that home working provides sex workers with opportunities for autonomy and wellbeing that are not available in other sex service environments, with minimal disruption to neighbouring residents.

Research is beginning to explore the increasing role of computer-mediated communication within the sex industry. However, much of this focuses heavily on the content of online message boards, and policy implications have generally been ignored. Pettinger takes steps to address this gap by considering how the infrastructure and mechanisms of the web enable the organising, searching and reporting of consumer experience, and how web reviews mediate commercial markets. She draws links between social policies that concern the Internet and those that relate to sex work. Her article also explores how sex review sites such as Punternet do not passively report events, but are part of the production of commercial sex markets, stipulating acceptable and unacceptable behaviour, and the potential insights for policy audiences. Finally, Berg offers an overview of trafficking policy, arguing that the conflation of trafficking and prostitution that runs throughout anti-trafficking policy creates ‘victims’ by limiting mobility and work eligibility, making workers more dependent on third party managers and less able to secure assistance when these parties abuse the power that the state has effectively granted them. Sex workers experience the state as a primary source of violence and exploitation. Taken together these articles draw attention to the different policy dimensions that discussions around sex work can take. By exploring sexual commerce from a wider perspective and understanding more about the cultural context in which sex markets operate, we hope to encourage others to ask different questions about commercial sex.