Our collective images of the sex trade are typically portraits of danger, misery and victimization — and our collective images of drug addiction are often not much different: portraits of men and women in poor health, with life-threatening diseases, victimized by those who profit from the illicit nature of the trade, and committing crime to pay for their drugs.

But the reality is more complex. In fact, both the trade in sex and the trade in illicit drugs have tiers of risk, and these tiers of risk produce both vastly different images and vastly different realities. The women who work in massage parlours and escort agencies are rarely the victims of violent crime; they are protected by credit cards, by the men who typically run such businesses, and by the easily identifiable names and locations of outcalls. Although they are sex trade workers, they are seldom described as such. They are usually more socially stable, they make more money than street prostitutes, and they are much less likely to be drug dependent. And although the transaction they engage in – selling sex – is no different from the transaction of the street prostitute, they are rarely targeted by enforcement efforts. They are, to use their own euphemisms, merely escorts, or the providers of massage services.

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