This is a guest post written by Claudia Trevor-Wright with the American Society for Emergency Contraception as part of IWPR’s Connect for Success initiative. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of IWPR.
The intended audience for this article is higher education professionals who support college students in their well-being and academic success.
Higher education professionals are increasingly aware of college students who are or have been engaged in the commercial sex trade, whether they consider their experience as sex work, sex trafficking, or something else.* The needs of these students, however, have not received meaningful attention or significant study, particularly those from marginalized communities.
While the reasons for this knowledge gap are complex, the need to develop evidence-based interventions to support these students is likely to grow. They face the same challenges to persistence and degree completion that many students face, with an additional burden of stigma and shame often associated with their experiences. In addition to tailored academic and social support, these students should be supported in accessing comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care, including access to the contraceptive methods of their choice. This is particularly true for time-sensitive reproductive health care interventions, including emergency contraception.
A Spectrum of Experiences
It’s important to recognize the diversity in language used to describe experiences in the commercial sex trade, as well as the confusion and challenges that diversity poses for those supporting college students. Some phrases a student may use to describe their experience include sexual exploitation, sex trafficking, prostitution, survival sex, sugaring, and/or sex work. Some students may not identify with any of these labels, or don’t differentiate their experiences from other forms of gig work.
A social worker in the Midwest who recently began working with community college students noted, “I have worked with individuals who have spoken in more casual ways, such as including OnlyFans on their list of flexible income alongside Uber, Shipt, doing hair and nails . . .” said Dawn Napiorkowski, LCSW, a clinician with Harry S. Truman College in Chicago. “One student I have worked with who has done sex work did not refer to it as sex work, but ‘webcam modelling.’ Another student I worked with referred to it specifically as ‘sex work.’” Napiorowski also finds her students “. . . tend to offer these services specifically when they are financially struggling to make ends meet.”
Further complicating matters, people’s lived experiences in the commercial sex trade rarely exist within one distinct category. As some advocates note, “Involvement in the sex trade occurs across a constantly shifting spectrum of choice, circumstance, and coercion.” A student who engages in online activity may, under certain circumstances, engage in in-person commercial sex encounters. A student who identifies as a sex worker may experience being trafficked, and a student who has experienced being trafficked may later identify as a sex worker. The complicated conversation among stakeholders in this work involves questions of agency, issues of criminal justice, layers of identity and intersectionality, and more.
A Spectrum of Risk
Students with experience in the commercial sex trade may face a variety of unique risks to their health, safety, and academic success. They may not avail themselves of institutional support for fear of being reported to law enforcement or campus disciplinary bodies, or of being denied services. This may be true regardless of whether any institutional policies or procedures actually apply to a student’s lived experience, or whether the activities in which they’ve engaged are illegal.
A mental health professional at a Midwest community college noted that students they have supported faced significant legal challenges, including wage theft, sexual harassment, and encounters with law enforcement. Another administrator at a community college in Texas reported, “We have definitely seen an uptick in human trafficking reports, specifically sex trafficking, over the past few years—some from students who were previously engaged in sex work and some from students who are still being trafficked in some capacity. Most are seeking support resources, such as counseling, housing assistance, or other basic needs, but we have also received requests for emergency assistance and allegations of harassment from employees or students who learn about the trafficked individual’s past work.”
Access to comprehensive reproductive health care can promote college completion for students in the aggregate, but it is particularly necessary for people who are experiencing or have experienced sex trafficking. Traffickers may deny victims condom use or birth control, and victims/survivors are more likely to experience unprotected or under-protected intercourse. Students engaged in sex work or survival sex may also face pressure or challenges to the use of condoms or other forms of birth control. Students whose primary experience is in online activities may at times find themselves engaged in in-person experiences that can result in unintended pregnancy, whether that is by choice or as a result of coercion or force.
A Spectrum of Support
To effectively support students with experience in the commercial sex trade, higher education professionals must center the students’ perspectives in defining their experience. In addition, these students must be empowered to access the support they need to be safe, healthy, and successful academically. This includes sexual and reproductive health care, particularly for students who can become pregnant.
Access to emergency contraception (EC) pills is a critical harm reduction strategy for this population, as it is the only form of contraception that can be used after unprotected sex, contraceptive failure, or sexual assault. It is also a highly time-sensitive intervention. Institutions of higher education across the country have already removed barriers to accessing EC pills on their campuses through innovative strategies, such as offering EC in vending machines, supporting peer-to-peer EC distribution programs, and providing prescription EC in advance to students who can become pregnant.
Lisa MacDonald, associate dean for equity assurance and Title IX coordinator at Massachusetts Bay Community College, feels a responsibility to recognize and support students who have experienced involvement in the commercial sex trade. “This isn’t an isolated issue affecting just one or two students—it is far more prevalent than we realize. The impact runs deep, creating disparities in education, financial stability, and emotional well-being, while also carrying an immense burden of shame.”
Institutions should consider:
- Collecting qualitative and quantitative data on the extent to which students have experience in the commercial sex trade, including the relationship between student financial hardship and such experiences.
- Offering comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care services to the extent possible on campus and in partnership with community-based organizations.
- Making explicit an amnesty policy that, to the extent permissible by law, disclosure of current or past experience in the commercial sex trade will not result in denial of service or referral for disciplinary action.
- Implementing trauma-informed support services for students and training for all student-facing positions.
- Removing barriers to students’ access to basic needs support.
- Partnering with local, state, and national organizations serving people with experience in the commercial sex trade to develop tailored support for campuses.
*This article discusses college students’ experiences in the commercial sex trade. We acknowledge that stakeholders hold deeply felt—and sometimes different—beliefs about these experiences and the language used when describing them. Some stakeholders from sex-worker advocacy groups believe it is critical to distinguish between consensual sex work and exploitative or coercive experiences, including trafficking. Some stakeholders from anti-trafficking organizations believe that all experiences in the commercial sex trade are inherently coercive or abusive. Students may present with a wide range of experiences and a wider range of feelings about those experiences. To support these students, higher education professionals should respect the manner in which they describe their own experiences and empower them to decide which resources they wish to use in advancing their well-being and academic success.
This article, which is limited in scope, does not include contributions from students themselves. To hear from students directly, read Terah J. Stewart’s Sex Work on Campus (2022), which features a qualitative study of seven students engaged in sex work, as well as Polaris Project’s Survivor Stories page, which centers the voices of survivors of labor and sex trafficking.
