◆ 1 Female College Students Working in the Sex Industry: A Hidden Population Heather Haeger Ph.D. Candidate Center for the Study of Higher Education Regina Deil-Amen Assistant Professor Center for the Study of Higher Education This study carefully examines the perceptions and experiences of several women who are part of an overlooked group—college students who work in the sex industry. Interviews were conducted with students working in strip clubs or pornography. The reasons why they choose such work and how this choice impacts them are explored. Findings reveal that the women clearly recognize the time and monetary benefits as a main motivating factor for their employment in the sex industry, and they downplay the threat of violence as the main cost. The women perceive the primary cost to be the stigma they faced and the cognitive dissonance it produces as they negotiate their student and sex worker identities. They employ a variety of coping strategies to manage the negative effects of stigma, including cognitively separating themselves from the norms of the industry, justifying why they do such work, focusing on other more positive roles, avoidance through substance use, and leaving the industry. These strategies help resolve the cognitive dissonance created by their participation in sex work. This paper will highlight the ways in which faculty and staff can assist student sex workers in developing healthy coping strategies, accessing help, and persisting in their college enrollment. Submitting author contact info: Regina Deil-Amen, University of Arizona, 520621-8468, 1430 E. Second Street, P.O. Box 210069, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA reginad1@email.arizona.edu NJAWHE 2010, 3 (1) © NASPA 2010 http://journals.naspa.org/njawhe/ Brought to you by | ULB Bonn Authenticated Download Date | 5/28/15 4:18 PM doi:10.2202/1940-7882.1039 ◆ 2 NASPA Journal About Women in Higher Education Faculty and student affairs professionals interact frequently with undergraduates, yet often know little about their private lives or work lives. Some identities beyond that of a student may be easily seen or understood, such as a student’s gender, race, or physical ability. Prior student development research has examined how these more obvious student identities affect their college experiences (Davis et al., 2004; Kuh, 1993; Terenzini, Pascarella, & Blimling, 1996), but the relevance of less obvious and more hidden, or latent identities has yet to be explored. Since out-of-class experiences have been shown to impact students’ cognitive development (Terenzini et al., 1996), it is important to understand the implications of working in the sex industry for college students, particularly the ways in which students cope with the disparity between their identities as students and as sex workers. Although the image of a student working in a strip club to pay for her college tuition is prevalent in popular culture in movies such as Flash Dance or Player’s Club and books such as The Ivy League Stripper, this population is markedly absent in higher education literature. It is unknown whether this pattern of behavior is becoming more prevalent, but some recent work by Roberts et al. (2007) suggests that the combination of rising tuition, increasing debt burdens, and the low-wage work available to college students may be making female involvement in the sex industry a more attractive option to contain debt and avoid poverty or long work hours. In a rare study, Lantz (2005) found that female students in Australia who worked as prostitutes and strippers entered the sex industry to pay for their education in the face of decreasing state and federal aid programs. As budgets continue to shrink while the costs of higher education rise, more students, particularly women, may turn to the sex industry. Due to the taboo, the existing higher education literature neglects this relatively invisible population perhaps. Despite the lack of research on this specific population, research on the sex industry as a whole, combined with social–psychological frameworks, can help faculty and staff better understand the issues facing college students working in this industry. Literature Review Research on the sex industry emphasizes the exchange value involved in the buying and selling of emotional labor (Hochschild, 1983). According to this theory, women exchange a fantasy version of themselves and doi:10.2202/1940-7882.1039 http://journals.naspa.org/njawhe/ © NASPA 2010 Brought to you by | ULB Bonn Authenticated Download Date | 5/28/15 4:18 PM NJAWHE 2010, 3 (1) Female College Students Working in the Sex Industry ◆ 3 the attention they give men for money, and that attention and the feigned emotional intimacy sex workers provide are more important than the sex or eroticism they are “selling” (Wood, 2000). Several researchers have compared sex work to other jobs in the emotional labor market. Vanwesenbeeck (2005) compared levels of burnout for women in the sex industry to nurses, whose jobs require significant emotional labor. Sex workers only scored higher than nurses on one of the three levels of burnout, and this was found to be mitigated by the level of social support sex workers had. Similar research compares sex workers to psychiatrists and supports the idea that the consequences of working in the sex industry are similar to those of working in other areas of emotional labor (Parkinson, 2003). Research on other stigmatized populations on college campuses finds that there are dramatic consequences in trying to hide the stigma (Cass, 1979). Research on homosexual college students also stresses the impact that living with stigma has on students and the challenges of disclosing this part of themselves to their families and peers (Rhoads, 1997). Lantz (2005) explores how students fear disclosure of their sex work to classmates and professors because of the associated stigma. Rosenbloom and Fetner (2001) examined this issue of classroom disclosure among students working in strip clubs, and found that when students feared being stigmatized by their peers or instructors, they limited the amount of information they shared. Frameworks utilizing the concept of cognitive dissonance support the notion that women who work in the sex industry while attending institutions of higher education could experience conflicting feelings about themselves and their actions. Based on multiple experiments, Festinger (1962) proposed the theory of cognitive dissonance, which states that individuals hold a number of thoughts or cognitions about various topics. If these cognitions are aligned and can easily be held about the same topic at the same time, they are referred to as consonant. Conversely, if two cognitions contradict each other, the individual experiences cognitive dissonance (Cooper, 2007; Harmon-Jones & Mills, 1999). An example of a person experiencing cognitive dissonance is someone who believes that smoking causes lung cancer and views themselves as a healthy person, yet continues to smoke. Since their behavior and beliefs are contradictory to each other, dissonance is produced. Dissonance is inherently psychologically uncomfortable; the greater the dissonance, the greater the pressure to reduce it. Given the social stigma associated with working in the sex NJAWHE 2010, 3 (1) © NASPA 2010 http://journals.naspa.org/njawhe/ Brought to you by | ULB Bonn Authenticated Download Date | 5/28/15 4:18 PM doi:10.2202/1940-7882.1039 ◆ NASPA Journal About Women in Higher Education 4 industry, it is not difficult to imagine that a college student sex worker could experience cognitive dissonance. Furthermore, even if women working in the sex industry did not feel it was degrading or in contradiction with their morals, they could still experience cognitive dissonance from the threat of being stereotyped by others (Harmon-Jones & Mills, 1999). Previous research has not explored the experiences of sex workers using cognitive dissonance theory. The purpose of the present study is to explore how a group of female college students working in the sex industry make sense of the costs, benefits, and behavioral strategies relevant to their choice to finance their education in this way. In order to better understand their experiences, it is important to know how and why female students choose to work and remain in this industry, how they manage the dual roles of student and sex worker, and the potential cognitive or educational implications of that negotiation. Objectives and Methodological Approach Observations and in-depth interviews were conducted in a city in the Southwest, with seven women working in strip clubs and one woman working in pornography. All of the women were Caucasian and ranged in age from 23 to 32 years. Two of the women were parents of young children. All but one participant (who was enrolled at the local university) attended a community college. All of the women had aspirations to further their education to a bachelor’s or master’s level. Fewer university students were recruited than expected, and this is possibly due to a greater fear of repercussions from disclosure among university students. Two graduate students and one undergraduate student at a large research university were contacted but declined to participate. During the interviews, the women answered questions about their experiences in higher education and in the sex industry and their perceptions of the industry and their self-concepts. Pseudonyms are used to protect their identity. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed, with informal codes created inductively (Patton, 2002). Deductive and inductive reasoning were used to organize the data into key themes. The linguistic analysis focuses on content as well as context and implied meaning of the responses in order to gather a more complete interpretation and move beyond the surface meaning of the interview (Wooffitt, 2001). Data doi:10.2202/1940-7882.1039 http://journals.naspa.org/njawhe/ © NASPA 2010 Brought to you by | ULB Bonn Authenticated Download Date | 5/28/15 4:18 PM NJAWHE 2010, 3 (1) Female College Students Working in the Sex Industry ◆ 5 fracturing was used to expose similarities and differences in the responses (Bazeley, 2007). Looking at repetition as a sign of significance also informed the coding (Bazeley, 2007). To continuously probe assumptions about sex work, students, and their experiences, assumptions were made explicit to determine if they were supported by the data or not (Corbin & Strauss, 2008). Theoretical comparisons and contrasts were used to tease out the nuances of the different responses within the same general code (Bazeley, 2007). The initial theoretical framework was developed as grounded theory, based on the data, but further exploration in social psychological theories illustrated significant similarities with cognitive dissonance theory. This theory was tested against the data and fit with the experiences for all of the participants, along with explaining a number of other themes in the data that had previously appeared unrelated. The social stigma and cognitive dissonance that this work produced served as an overarching theme for the data (Corbin & Strauss, 2008). Findings The eight students who participated in the study included five women who were solely exotic dancers and three more women who had more varied work experiences both within the sex industry and outside of it. Daisy who wanted to become an art therapist, Giovanna who was pursuing her nursing degree (each 23 years old), Rose who was majoring in history and planned to become a teacher or a writer (24 years old), Jamie who was interested in teaching in an elementary school (29 years old), and Jennifer who was studying forensic sciences (32 years old) all worked as exotic dancers in strip clubs. Natalia, a 26-year-old dancer at a strip club who has also worked at a peep show in an adult bookstore and regularly performs with a burlesque troupe, was an undecided major at the time of the interview. Megan, aged 26, began working as a nude model and then started working for a pornographic website to support herself while she finished her bachelor’s degree in anthropology. Megan ran her own pornographic website for a year and a half and also participated in two pornographic movies. She had recently stopped working in pornography and was working at the university during the time of the interview. Finally, 29-year-old Rachel, also an exotic dancer, has tried to leave the sex industry multiple times. At the time of the interview, she was NJAWHE 2010, 3 (1) © NASPA 2010 http://journals.naspa.org/njawhe/ Brought to you by | ULB Bonn Authenticated Download Date | 5/28/15 4:18 PM doi:10.2202/1940-7882.1039 ◆ 6 NASPA Journal About Women in Higher Education working full-time as a truck driver for a local construction company and working in a strip club a couple nights a week. Rachel was attending a community college part-time because she could not decide on a major. The themes that emerged from the students’ responses were (i) similar motivation to stay in the sex industry due to its benefits, (ii) negative consequences of sex work, including cognitive dissonance about their roles as students and as sex workers, and (iii) coping strategies employed to reduce dissonance (see Table 1). Benefits of Working in the Sex Industry All of the women echo the same sentiment that the money-to-time ratio along with the flexibility of the job makes it difficult for them to leave and work elsewhere, particularly since it was so compatible with the demands of attending college. Jennifer describes the benefits of working in the sex industry: I like the money and the lifestyle it affords me. I made almost a hundred thousand dollars last year, and I only had to claim $16,000. I have a lot of jewelry, a kick ass car, a $640,000 house and two investment properties that I’m fixing up . . . This is the perfect job for school. The flexibility and the money, you can’t get better. Similarly, Rose describes how she entered the industry and why she stays: My first job after high school was a smut peddler. I worked at [a local adult book store]. When I would get off early, I’d go next door to [a fully nude, 18 and over strip club]. I got to know everybody there. The DJ was a buddy and dared me to get up on stage. I made excuses why I couldn’t, so he called me a chicken—I had to defend my “manhood,” prove I had the “balls,” defend my pride. I did it and made thirty dollars in three minutes. The money to time ratio has always drawn me back to it. If you’re willing to devote the time, you can make a lot of money. Some of the women work part-time because of the amount of money they can make in so few hours. This allows them to go to school fulltime and work less than they would have to in other jobs. Others work a great deal to maximize their earnings, like Daisy notes, “You can work as much as you want here. You can work open to close, as much as your little heart desires.” Rose also points out that “The schedule is very doi:10.2202/1940-7882.1039 http://journals.naspa.org/njawhe/ © NASPA 2010 Brought to you by | ULB Bonn Authenticated Download Date | 5/28/15 4:18 PM NJAWHE 2010, 3 (1) Female College Students Working in the Sex Industry ◆ 7 flexible. There’s a schedule, but they never enforce it. It’s not a big deal if your kid’s sick or you don’t feel like working.” Similarly, Natalia feels that working in the sex industry helps her as a student and a parent. Very flexible hours for me. If I was having a bad night, I could leave. Or if I had a lot of studying to do, I didn’t have to go in . . . that was incredibly helpful. It helped pay for my daughter’s daycare while I was in school . . . Yeah, so mostly the money was really good. In these ways, the women all feel that sex work is an ideal job for managing the costs and time demands of being a student. Consequences of Working in the Sex Industry Beyond the flexibility and money, there are a number of negative consequences to working in the sex industry while in college. Both while filming for an adult video and while participating in a photo shoot for a bondage website, Meagan experienced degrading and violent treatment as illustrated by her description of the photo shoot. My arms were numb and I was gagged, and I was like that forever, and I couldn’t say anything so I just breathed and held it . . . This was violent and violating. It didn’t feel sexually violating. It felt sexist and women-hating. However, these horrific experiences were not shared by the other women. In addressing the costs and negative consequences of working in the sex industry, the overwhelming response is that the stereotypes that others held about them and the draining and degrading nature of the work are the greatest consequences (see Table 2). It is these consequences that seem to strongly affect all of the women. Rose states, “It’s easy to get burnt out. It’s very emotionally taxing, especially because of the stereotypes; those people can be very degrading and make me lose faith in humanity.” Similarly, when discussing how working in the sex industry affects them as students, the primary response was that the stigma they face and the draining or degrading nature of their work affect them the most. Most of the women do not feel that sex industry work directly affects their education in negative ways. Instead they feel it affects them personally, which hinders their ability to focus on their education or perform well academically. The one exception was Rose, who discusses how working in the sex industry affects what time of day she can take NJAWHE 2010, 3 (1) © NASPA 2010 http://journals.naspa.org/njawhe/ Brought to you by | ULB Bonn Authenticated Download Date | 5/28/15 4:18 PM doi:10.2202/1940-7882.1039 ◆ 8 NASPA Journal About Women in Higher Education classes, “It’s hard to take morning classes if you work the closing shift. Some girls work in the days, but I never made good money then. My classes have to be after 10 am.” Aside from the impact on scheduling classes, all of the women agree that the stigma associated with working in the sex industry has the greatest impact emotionally and academically. In discussing the stigma they face, all of the women name the same stereotypes that upset them, but they also express that they feel the stereotypes were true for other dancers, but not for them. Daisy, in discussing how people treat her differently when they find out that she is a stripper, states, “Ya know I’m intelligent, and articulate, I’m not stupid like the other girls.” Similarly, Jamie is upset because people think that “we’re sluts and do drugs. Some of the girls here will do anything for money. They don’t have morals.” Giovanna also lists stereotypes that upset her, and adds that “not everyone is like that,” implying that some of the dancers are like that. Natalia mentions that “There are a lot of girls who do the extras but, and a lot of girls who have to do it, but not everyone, and it’s gross.” Jennifer also adds that “Some girls are nasty and don’t know where to draw the line. Some of the other clubs are really nasty.” Megan states, in regard to her experiences with a manager in pornography, “I mean there are women who fall for this and it’s really sad for me. He expected me to be as submissive or stupid as the rest of the people.” These responses [author emphasis added] illustrate that the stigma they face affects all of the women, but they also buy into the stereotypes about the other women with whom they work. The women clearly draw on their status as college students who are intelligent and not “stupid” as one of their distinguishing characteristics. Cognitive Dissonance: Conflict between Perception of Self and Behavior The disparity between how the participants view themselves as respectable women and how they view other women who work in the sex industry shows that they experience cognitive dissonance between their perception of themselves and their perception of the sex industry. All of the women aspire to complete their education and have other professions in areas such as nursing, teaching, and counseling. The act of selling their sexuality causes a great deal of stress, especially in contrast to their identities as students. doi:10.2202/1940-7882.1039 http://journals.naspa.org/njawhe/ © NASPA 2010 Brought to you by | ULB Bonn Authenticated Download Date | 5/28/15 4:18 PM NJAWHE 2010, 3 (1) Female College Students Working in the Sex Industry ◆ 9 Some research has shown that the stress produced by cognitive dissonance is even stronger when the source of dissonance affects the person’s sense of self or their sense of morality (Steele, Spencer, & Lynch, 1993). Other research has illustrated the impact of stigma on educational outcomes and on persistence in college. Osborne and Walker (2006) found that students who face significant stereotyping in the college environment are more likely to drop out than their peers. Daisy’s feelings about herself and how she acts at work illustrate the stigma that she faces, the dissonance that the women experience, and the consequences of it. I never liked people looking at me. Outside here I’m bland and plain; I don’t draw attention to myself. If I go to a [night] club it’s really hard for me to dance and I have to like work myself up to it. How do you dance here? I have to block it out. I have nervous breakdowns every couple months (laughs). Why? Everyone stereotypes you. You get insulted on your looks, my teeth, being white, insulted on every level. You’re getting groped, touched, they blow in your ear, treat you like an object, ya know . . . I’ve changed a lot or whatever since I’ve been dancing. I used to do a lot of volunteer work, be more active and stuff . . . I don’t look at things differently; it’s just that, it goes along with the breakdowns. I feel like I’m a horrible person because of what I do. It’s a very degrading job; it’s all about your looks; it makes you feel horrible, you know, doing it just to get by. You should be doing something closer to your heart. Daisy’s idea of what she should be doing and what is close to her heart is working in art therapy. She sees herself as a caretaker and a compassionate person. In order to embody this sexualized fantasy woman, she has to disassociate herself from what she does at work. Megan also feels that the work she is doing is not as rewarding as other work that would be closer to her long-term career goals. She alludes to the idea that any occupation involves the selling of your labor in exchange for money, but she highlights the potentially less alienating nature of other options for such an exchange, such as her current work tutoring university students: The industry of porn, no matter where it is or what it’s posing under, is a patriarchal institution, and if I’m gonna whore myself I wanna do it [working with] students at [the university] who I can NJAWHE 2010, 3 (1) © NASPA 2010 http://journals.naspa.org/njawhe/ Brought to you by | ULB Bonn Authenticated Download Date | 5/28/15 4:18 PM doi:10.2202/1940-7882.1039 ◆ 10 NASPA Journal About Women in Higher Education have a connection with, and also in a way that’s spiritually fulfilling. There was nothing spiritually fulfilling about porn. It was something I felt I had to do. Megan stresses that now that she has graduated, she prefers working at a university instead of working in pornography. Although Natalia and Megan report not having the same sense of conflict between how they perceive themselves and how they perceive their morality, the social taboo against sex work is enough to cause dissonance. Natalia’s comments about other women in the industry and Megan’s statements regarding how she feels about her career in sex work illustrate this concept. At first, Megan did not feel shameful and often told friends and classmates that she was creating a porn site that showed positive images of women and lesbian relationships. However, the reactions she received, particularly from those in her college environment, illustrate the social stigma she encountered and the impact that has on her. Even the friends that had initially supported the idea of what she calls “sex-positive porn” were uncomfortable when she actually started working in the sex industry. Megan describes the reaction of her friends: “You’re doing what?” “Do you mean you’re fucking men?” “You have a website?” And very quickly, in a subtle way I learned, maybe I shouldn’t be so flippant about it . . . It was a matter of how I talked about it when it was a reality . . . It’s like communism, ya know, it’s different on paper than in reality. Her sentiments are supported by research on cognitive dissonance which suggests that a conflict between social norms and behavior can also cause dissonance that can be as detrimental as dissonance caused by a conflict between personal beliefs and behavior (Harmon-Jones & Mills, 1999). So even when a person does not hold beliefs that are incongruent with their behavior, they can still face cognitive dissonance and the stress that it produces as a result of being in conflict with social norms and dominant patterns of socialization. The dissonance that this kind of socialization produces is evident in a number of conflicting views that Megan holds about herself and the sex industry. Several times, she mentions feeling proud of what she is doing and that she has a political and feminist agenda that justifies her work (interestingly, an agenda related to the ideas she came into contact with at her university). However, Megan also names a number of occasions for which she feels remorse or shame, as in doi:10.2202/1940-7882.1039 http://journals.naspa.org/njawhe/ © NASPA 2010 Brought to you by | ULB Bonn Authenticated Download Date | 5/28/15 4:18 PM NJAWHE 2010, 3 (1) Female College Students Working in the Sex Industry ◆ 11 her discussion of her experience with a photo shoot for a bondage website and in the following statements about making an adult video: The only time I was actually really like, “Wow I’m such a slut, I’m such a whore. I have a degree, and, like, what am I doing with my life? I’m ruining myself . . . and I cried and was like “What am I doing and why can’t I get a job in biology?!” She goes on to affirm her commitment to seeing sex work as a positive experience for her: If I could, like, by day, work in some DNA lab doing PCR [Polymerase Chain Reaction] and, like, figuring out the genome of some tribe somewhere and go travel for that and then write and go through academia and then, at night, and maybe on the weekends, do some really sexy lesbian porn and make a lot of money. Hell yeah I’d do it. After discussing the effort she makes to portray women as strong, unique, and intelligent, she responds to the question of whether her clients have ever commented on her being a powerful or intelligent women or the “sex-positive” theme of the site with: Never. Not once, nothing. And really that makes a lot of sense. Why are they looking at these pictures? To jack off. They don’t give a shit about my politics . . . Everything’s sexualized. These statements reveal the dissonance between an idealized view of sex work reflecting an agenda of empowerment and the realities of the social stigma and its impact on her feelings about herself and her work. When cognitive dissonance is produced by a discrepancy between a person’s actions and what a person believes, or what is commonly seen as socially acceptable, either their behaviors or their beliefs must change in order for the dissonance to be resolved (Cooper, 2007; Festinger, 1962). This may be especially true for students working in the sex industry because they are trying to manage the dual roles of student and sex worker. Sex workers who are not students may be able to change their beliefs about themselves and their identity more closely aligns with the role of sex work. Goffman (1963) points out that members of a stigmatized group can either embrace that identity and try to fight the stigma and stereotypes associated with it, or they can try to protect themselves from the stigma by hiding it. As students, all of the women fear what would happen if anyone at the NJAWHE 2010, 3 (1) © NASPA 2010 http://journals.naspa.org/njawhe/ Brought to you by | ULB Bonn Authenticated Download Date | 5/28/15 4:18 PM doi:10.2202/1940-7882.1039 ◆ 12 NASPA Journal About Women in Higher Education college knew about their work. As students and sex workers, the women do not embrace the identity of sex worker, but instead find ways to manage the conflicting roles and cope with the dissonance they produced. All of the women express dissonance and employ a variety of coping strategies, to varying degrees of effectiveness. Coping Strategies: Separation As noted above, the women do not view themselves as the same as the other women who work with them. This serves to separate them not only from the other women, but also from the profession as a whole. Similarly, Megan’s feminist agenda allows her to differentiate herself from the rest of the porn industry even though she admits the content of her website did not differ greatly from standard pornography. This distancing from their coworkers and from the industry itself can be seen in the fact that the women do not have friendships within the club or the industry. They lack the social networks and support systems one might expect within other work environments (Vanwesenbeeck, 2005). Rose describes her relationships inside of work as “very casual, I’m civil and friendly, but we don’t have each other’s phone numbers or anything. I don’t even know most of their real names. Very separate, it never works out well.” This was a common response. Another way in which many of these students distance themselves from the sex industry is to separate their lives outside of work from who they are at work. This changes neither their behavior nor their beliefs about the behavior, but it is done in conjunction with other strategies to allow them to still work there but feel positively about themselves. Jennifer’s feelings about her work illustrate this, “I feel drained by it; it’s exhausting. I try to separate myself from it. I don’t talk about work outside of work; you can’t take your work home with you.” This theme is also evident in Rose’s discussion on intimate relationships: Relationships, that’s tricky. It’s hard to have a boyfriend because they don’t understand that it’s not real or there is a moral conflict. I have two rules for dating. 1-You meet a lot of people at work, I won’t go out with anyone who has bought a dance from me with his own money. 2-Don’t go into my bar when I’m working. Go to another club, get dances, I’m not jealous. It only works when they don’t come in to see you. doi:10.2202/1940-7882.1039 http://journals.naspa.org/njawhe/ © NASPA 2010 Brought to you by | ULB Bonn Authenticated Download Date | 5/28/15 4:18 PM NJAWHE 2010, 3 (1) Female College Students Working in the Sex Industry ◆ 13 When asked to explain her rules, she adds that: If they buy a dance, they’re a paying customer, then it’s part of the fantasy. They bought into the fantasy . . . I have a hard time being real with them if they buy into the not real part of me. This clear distinction between the real person and the fantasy that is portrayed at work carries over into personal relationships and especially into the classroom. Although the women vary in their degree of disclosure to friends and family, they all avoid disclosure within their college environment. For example, Rose is adamant about being open and honest with her family and friends and feels that “If there is anyone in my life who I don’t feel comfortable being open with, I’d have to evaluate why they are in my life, even my family. My parents are very moral. They are Christian, but they are completely supportive.” However, when asked about disclosure to classmates and professors her answer is markedly different. I don’t tell them anything. Some of the students . . . don’t understand and they treat me differently because they don’t understand. [I] got a lot of unwanted attention, mostly from younger guys who have never been to a strip club before. It’s all about the fantasy for them. None of the women feel comfortable telling their classmates or their teachers. Consistent with previous research, they only disclose that they work in the sex industry in more intimate settings, like summer school, where they know their classmates better and only in classes in which topics relating to their work are being addressed. Only one student has seen a professor while she was working. Daisy describes her experiences with seeing classmates or professors while working: I try to avoid them, but I know they see me. I had a teacher that came in a lot before I started school. The first day of class I found out he was a teacher . . . I stayed in class because I needed it. I think it was awkward for him but not for me. He never called me by my stage name in class or by my real name in the club but he would always come up to me in class. Like he’d ask a question and someone would raise their hand but he would come up to me and ask me what I thought and I’d be like “They have their hand up.” This also demonstrates the importance of keeping her fantasy self and her real self separate. Because this teacher used the appropriate name for her NJAWHE 2010, 3 (1) © NASPA 2010 http://journals.naspa.org/njawhe/ Brought to you by | ULB Bonn Authenticated Download Date | 5/28/15 4:18 PM doi:10.2202/1940-7882.1039 ◆ 14 NASPA Journal About Women in Higher Education in both circumstances, Daisy was able to keep the illusion of separation. Research supports the notion that separating the behavior that is threatening to their sense of self from their identity is a strategy to reduce dissonance (Harmon-Jones & Mills, 1999). Although this strategy helps to reduce stress from the dissonance they are experiencing, it may be particularly problematic for the women as students. A great deal of literature has focused on the need to be engaged in the campus community and to build social ties within the college (Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005; Vanwesenbeeck, 2005). Separating their work persona from their personal life and from their identity as a student may prevent them from building these connections, and in trying to prevent themselves from being exposed to the stigma associated with sex work, they may also prevent themselves from building meaningful relationships with members of the campus community. Coping Strategies: Justification In addition to separating themselves from their persona at work, some of the women change their beliefs about their profession to resolve dissonance. The justification they use is that they are entertainers and that sex sells. Rose states: People have a negative view of stripping, but I’m an entertainer and like any entertainment, it uses sexuality, except maybe family board games and stuff, mine is just more in your face. There is nothing wrong with capitalizing on your beauty—It’s everywhere, and this is an easy way to do it. You deal with jackasses everywhere. If you’re a waitress, in retail, a barista in a coffee shop, you deal with the same crap. I’ve done it all, but here you get paid a lot more. Jennifer, although she claims she doesn’t try to justify what she does, holds similar views about her work: I feel like an actress. That’s what I am, an entertainer. Yeah I rub dick, that’s what you do here. Every woman does it; I do it and get money. You can try and justify it, but when it comes down to it you rub dick . . . and you get a lot of money. Everybody sells sex in some way. By relating what they do to popular media or other women’s behavior, there is less of a taboo and stigma associated with it, and thus less cognitive dissonance. doi:10.2202/1940-7882.1039 http://journals.naspa.org/njawhe/ © NASPA 2010 Brought to you by | ULB Bonn Authenticated Download Date | 5/28/15 4:18 PM NJAWHE 2010, 3 (1) Female College Students Working in the Sex Industry ◆ 15 Research on cognitive dissonance has found that “the greater the personal commitment or self-involvement implied by the action and the smaller the external justification for that action, the greater the dissonance and, therefore, the greater the need for self-justification” (Harmon-Jones & Mills, 1999, p. 112). This implies that when these women are making large amounts of money, this external reward can be a justification of its own and serve to ease dissonance. When the money is not sufficient justification, other means of justification may be beneficial. Natalia and Megan reported making the least amount of money and also had the strongest commitment to sex work. Megan entered into the industry to make money quickly and finance a trip to Africa, but only made an average of 1,000 dollars a month. Because the original monetary justification was not enough, her feminist agenda in pornography also served to protect her sense of self. Viewing sex work as just another form of entertainment, or viewing it as a means of empowering women can serve to protect a student’s sense of self and ease the contradictions she is facing. None of the students are able to fully justify their work in the sex industry, possibly because of their dual roles as students and sex workers. Instead the women employ this strategy in conjunction with others in order to reduce dissonance. Coping Strategies: Avoidance The least effective means of coping with dissonance appears to be the use of drugs and alcohol. Jamie experiences a great deal of dissonance but uses few strategies to resolve it other than separating her identity from the other women who work in the sex industry. She describes herself as “big on morals, values and manners. Most of these girls don’t have morals and manners. I’m Christian and it means a lot to me [she holds the cross on her necklace]. I’m liberal though.” The additional cognitive stress of her strong religious beliefs and lack of coping skills has a number of consequences. When asked how her work affects her, she responds: Bad. It’s emotionally draining. I don’t want to deal with it. I used to do meth[amphetamine] a lot. It got bad. I’ve been clean two years, clean from meth. I still drink (she picks up the glass from the shot of tequila she just had). I have to drink to dance, well I kinda drink all day, smoke all day too, but I don’t get drunk. Some girls get drunk NJAWHE 2010, 3 (1) © NASPA 2010 http://journals.naspa.org/njawhe/ Brought to you by | ULB Bonn Authenticated Download Date | 5/28/15 4:18 PM doi:10.2202/1940-7882.1039 ◆ 16 NASPA Journal About Women in Higher Education to dance, I don’t do that. I drink throughout the day; I’m not an alcoholic, I don’t have a problem with it. I just do it to enjoy it. I have ADHD [Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder] and PTSD [Post Traumatic Stress Disorder], I tried meds but they don’t work. I guess I self-medicate, that’s kinda a joke. It just helps. Although none of the other students “self medicate” in this way, they often mention that it is prevalent in the sex industry. This coping strategy could severely impact students working in the sex industry and affect their ability to complete their educational goals, not to mention the risks of addiction. Coping Strategies: Strong Intimate Relationships Previous research suggests that women in the sex industry value intimate relationships more and have more conservative values about sex than average college students (Tollison, Nesbitt, & Frey, 1977). All of the women in this study are in or have just been in committed, monogamous relationships. Rose states, “I’m engaged. I tell my fiancé everything. I tell him exactly what I do so I don’t feel guilty.” Rachel also explains, “My boyfriend is supportive; not all of my friends are. He makes his money and I make mine, so it doesn’t matter.” The fact that all of the women feel that it is important to mention their partners illustrates the value they place on the relationship and its importance in their lives. As suggested by Tollison et al. (1977), the relationship protects their sense of self from the sexuality of their work. Despite the protective factor of the relationship, the women all acknowledge that dating was difficult because of their profession, especially with regard to the separation of their work self and private self. When asked about disclosing the details of her profession within her relationship, Daisy responds: I just finished a relationship . . . with a Mormon [laughs] for a year and a half. I told my boyfriend what I did. He would get mad over stupid stuff. Like I do this trick . . . he didn’t want me to do that. He had moral issues with what I do. The women’s responses illustrate not only the protective aspect of their relationship, but also the added stress involved in negotiating a relationship under these circumstances. doi:10.2202/1940-7882.1039 http://journals.naspa.org/njawhe/ © NASPA 2010 Brought to you by | ULB Bonn Authenticated Download Date | 5/28/15 4:18 PM NJAWHE 2010, 3 (1) Female College Students Working in the Sex Industry ◆ 17 Coping Strategies: Change in Behavior The most obvious way of resolving this dissonance would be to leave the sex industry. Megan is the only woman in the sample who has left the industry. Rachel has wanted to leave the industry but has kept coming back to it for various reasons: I want to get out of it, but it’s hard . . . The environment, the people make me want to leave; the money is the only good thing that comes out of it. It’s been kind of an addiction: the money, the self-esteem boost, the attention. What girl doesn’t like tons of attention? No set schedule, there’s a lot of freedom in it . . . You’re pretty much selfemployed. The reason that she has had a difficult time staying away may be the moral ambiguity she is experiencing. When asked how her work has affected her morals and values, she replies: I guess, I, um, my morals and values, I don’t really have them in place I guess. That makes me sad to say that, I’m 29—I should know that . . . I don’t think I’d be dancing if I knew. I actually grew up in a strict Catholic family. I went to a Catholic high school. Religion was just shoved down my throat and it just didn’t fit. I guess I went the opposite way. That’s sounds like a stereotype I guess: the rebellious Catholic school girl.” Rachel is still in the process of defining her beliefs and determining their consistency with her behavior. It is unlikely she will be able to resolve the stress caused by this without solidifying her value system. Other participants talk about staying in the sex industry because it allows them to be financially stable while going to school. With the current state of the economy and the rising costs of higher education, it may be increasingly difficult for students to decide to leave the sex industry and find other ways of supporting themselves and financing their education. Further research could examine other students who resolve dissonance by leaving the sex industry to see if this may be the most effective means of resolution. Other behavior changes to reduce or eliminate cognitive dissonance could include staying in the sex industry and stopping other behaviors that are dissonant with sex work. For example, a student could drop out of school and more fully invest herself in the sex industry. Because only current students were included NJAWHE 2010, 3 (1) © NASPA 2010 http://journals.naspa.org/njawhe/ Brought to you by | ULB Bonn Authenticated Download Date | 5/28/15 4:18 PM doi:10.2202/1940-7882.1039 ◆ NASPA Journal About Women in Higher Education 18 in the sample, it is not clear if this strategy would reduce cognitive dissonance. Combination of Strategies The students who employ a combination of strategies—justification plus separating their personal lives from work plus placing a high value on monogamous relationships—report the least amount of negative side effects from their work. Megan, Jennifer, and Rose all use this combination of strategies and reported fewer negative consequences of their work, whereas the other students reported using alcohol or drugs to be able to work in the sex industry, being emotionally drained by their work, or having frequent “breakdowns.” When dissonance is not resolved and coping strategies are not used, one’s self-concept changes to fit the behavior (Harmon-Jones & Mills, 1999, p. 142). In this circumstance, women working in the sex industry would likely start to embody the stereotypes they are trying to avoid and will begin to disassociate from aspects of their life that are contradictory to working in the sex industry. This implies that, if students are unable to resolve or cope with the dissonance between their different roles, they may be more likely to drop out of school and root their identity in sex work. In addition to this risk, the burden of keeping their work lives a secret to friends, professors, and classmates undoubtedly causes a great deal of stress and prevents these students from finding social support and connection at work and at school. This is particularly problematic because research on emotional labor suggests that having strong social networks mitigates the negative effects of working in an occupation that demands high levels of emotional labor (Vanwesenbeeck, 2005). The isolation and lack of engagement in college among these women are issues that postsecondary institutions should consider, as social and academic integration and involvement in college are key mechanisms of persistence at both residential universities and community colleges (Astin, 1984; Braxton, Hirschy, & McClendon, 2004; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991, 2005). Discussion The purpose of this study is to better understand the experiences of women who are both students and sex workers. All the participants stay doi:10.2202/1940-7882.1039 http://journals.naspa.org/njawhe/ © NASPA 2010 Brought to you by | ULB Bonn Authenticated Download Date | 5/28/15 4:18 PM NJAWHE 2010, 3 (1) Female College Students Working in the Sex Industry ◆ 19 in the sex industry because of the benefits of the money-to-time ratio along with the flexibility of the schedule, both of which are considered assets in their pursuit of higher education. However, a number of consequences exist that potentially directly threaten their college student roles. Rather than an emphasis on physical and sexual violence because of the work—which is a concern in the sex industry more generally—the more dominant concern of these students is the negative stereotyping and the mixed feelings they have about what they do at work. The students’ comments about themselves and about the other women in the profession illustrate that they are experiencing cognitive dissonance caused by the conflict between how they view themselves and what they do at work, and this dissonance was more pronounced due to the burden of having to manage their student identity as well. For instance, even the two women who did not feel that sex work conflicted with their sense of self or morality still displayed signs of cognitive dissonance between the social taboo and their behavior because they are forced to confront the potential for stigma in their postsecondary environment. All the students employ a variety of coping strategies to help resolve the dissonance they experience (see Table 2). These strategies included (i) separating themselves from the sex industry as a whole, (ii) justifying why working in the sex industry is acceptable for them, (iii) attempting to avoid the feelings generated by dissonance by using drugs and alcohol, (iv) placing a high level of importance on their intimate relationships to protect their sense of self, and (v) changing their behavior by leaving the sex industry. These strategies are most often used in combination, and knowledge of these strategies can be useful in understanding the particular experiences of students engaged in the sex industry. Although the sample for this study was dominated by community college students, published accounts in electronic media and books by university students who have worked in the sex industry demonstrate similar themes. They discuss dissonance between their beliefs and actions, along with the coping skills of distancing themselves from the other women, separation of work and personal self, and justification of their work (Grasse, 1999; Mattson, 2005; Ruffin, 2006). Their methods of justification differ in that they are more focused on defending their work against feminist critiques of the sex industry. Overall, the findings of the present study illustrate the unique challenges faced by this population of students. NJAWHE 2010, 3 (1) © NASPA 2010 http://journals.naspa.org/njawhe/ Brought to you by | ULB Bonn Authenticated Download Date | 5/28/15 4:18 PM doi:10.2202/1940-7882.1039 ◆ NASPA Journal About Women in Higher Education 20 Implications for Research and Practice It is critical that those working with students create safe environments for student sex workers to be open about their lives and remain engaged in their education, both in and out of the classroom. Pedagogical strategies that promote disclosure include creating a safe classroom environment where students discuss topics of exploitation, sex work, and feminism and are encouraged to write journals or share experiences without fear of being stigmatized. Fear of disclosing their profession poses a serious barrier to reaching out for support, but it is sorely needed for these students, many of whom have strained relationships with their families and little support from their coworkers. Research on emotional labor demonstrates that strong social support can mitigate the psychological costs of working in the sex industry, and the literature on student engagement clearly demonstrates the importance of having meaningful social connections to the campus community (Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005; Vanwesenbeeck, 2005). Student services professionals can be influential in helping this population of students build supportive social networks on campus both to reduce the negative effects of working in the sex industry and to increase their likelihood of persistence. Student affairs professionals can also support students by helping them develop healthy coping strategies to manage their dual roles as students and sex workers. The women in the study all employ a number of coping strategies, but not all of them are healthy or effecttive. Besides the risk of isolating themselves, the strategy of avoidance appears to be the most damaging. The women who use this strategy would be at a much higher risk of alcohol and drug abuse or dependency. Popular current programs providing short interventions targeting recreational substance abuse may not be effective for this population. More holistic and intensive treatment may be needed to help these students not only to overcome substance abuse, but also to develop healthier ways of coping with working in the sex industry. If students are not able to cope with the dissonance, they may also need assistance in finding other means of supporting themselves and financing their education. The present findings also suggest the need to further research more systematically the threat to student engagement and integration posed by student work in the sex industry. Student sex workers may suffer distinct consequences of their work that need to be considered, but doi:10.2202/1940-7882.1039 http://journals.naspa.org/njawhe/ © NASPA 2010 Brought to you by | ULB Bonn Authenticated Download Date | 5/28/15 4:18 PM NJAWHE 2010, 3 (1) Female College Students Working in the Sex Industry ◆ 21 they also share the disadvantages that other working students and nontraditional-aged students face as well. For instance, Bozik (2007) demonstrates that students’ employment can decrease their likelihood of persisting in college, especially if they are working over 20 hr a week and are financially dependent on their income. Research suggests that students in this age range, who delay their enrollment or stop attending college and return later, are at a disadvantage in degree completion (Deluca & Bozick, 2005). Further research should directly examine how working in the sex industry influences academic outcomes and persistence, and relevant support programs should be instituted that perhaps overlap with support provided to working and nontraditional-aged students. The combined effects of working to support themselves and their families and being nontraditional-aged students put them at an increased risk of dropping out of college (Bozik, 2007; DeLuca & Bozick, 2005). Facing the added stigma of working in the sex industry poses an additional threat that could prompt college departure despite relative academic success (see Osborne & Walker, 2006, for a discussion of similar pressures for students of color). It is also informative to consider Megan’s desire to work in a DNA lab as a preferable alternative to her work in pornography. Gray (1997) finds that only one in three college graduates find employment relevant to their major. This small sample of student sex workers shares the same needs in this respect as a majority of college students. Developing more opportunities for all students to become involved during college in employment that is related to their intended career is an objective more institutions should identify and pursue. To help students who are sex workers achieve their goals of completing their education, the college cultural environment must be a supportive and nonjudgmental one. Since this population is not easily identifiable, and may not want to be identified, every student must know that they will not be penalized for disclosing latent identities. As the negative experiences of some students who have been “outed” for working in sex industry have shown, disclosure is not necessarily safe and a student may suffer serious consequences if she is found out (Chronicle of Higher Education, 2001). If institutions of higher education continue to stigmatize women working in the sex industry, they will perpetuate these women’s dependence on this line of work by decreasing their chances of graduating and leaving the sex industry. NJAWHE 2010, 3 (1) © NASPA 2010 http://journals.naspa.org/njawhe/ Brought to you by | ULB Bonn Authenticated Download Date | 5/28/15 4:18 PM doi:10.2202/1940-7882.1039 ◆ 22 NASPA Journal About Women in Higher Education References Astin, A. (1984). Student involvement: A developmental theory for higher education. 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A fly in the buttermilk: Descriptions of university life by successful Black undergraduate students at a predominantly White southeastern university. The Journal of Higher Education, 75(4), 420–45. DeLuca, S., & Bozick, R. (2005). Better late than never? Delayed enrollment in the high school to college transition. Social Forces 84(1), 527–550. Festinger, L. (1962). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Goffman, J. (1963). Stigma: Notes on the management of a spoiled identity. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Simon & Schuster. Grasse, N. (1999, July 23). Salon.com: Ivory Tower. In Dancing lessons [On-line]. http://www.salon.com/books/it/1999/07/23/ stripping/index.html. Gray, K. (1997). The gatekeepers. Techniques: Making Education and Career Connections, 71(9), 24. Harmon-Jones, E., & Mills, J. (1999). Cognitive dissonance: Progress on a pivotal theory in social psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. doi:10.2202/1940-7882.1039 http://journals.naspa.org/njawhe/ © NASPA 2010 Brought to you by | ULB Bonn Authenticated Download Date | 5/28/15 4:18 PM NJAWHE 2010, 3 (1) Female College Students Working in the Sex Industry ◆ 23 Hochschild, A. R. (1983). The managed heart: Commercialization of human feeling. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Kuh, G. (1993). In their own words: What students learn outside the classroom. American Educational Research Journal, 30(2), 277– 304. Lantz, S. (2005). Students working in the Melbourne sex industry: Education, human capital, and the changing patterns of the youth labor market. Journal of Youth Studies, 8(4), 385–401. Mattson, H. (2005). Ivy league stripper. New York: Arcade Publishing. Osborne, J., & Walker, C. (2006). Stereotype threat, identification with academics, and withdrawal from school: Why the most successful students of colour might be most likely to withdraw. Educational Psychology, 26(4), 563–577. Parkinson, J. (2003). Psychiatrist or sex worker? Emotional awareness in ethics education. Australian Psychiatry, 11(1), 71–73. Pascarella, E. T., & Terenzini, P. T. (1991). How college affects students: Findings and insights from twenty years of research. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Pascarella, E. T., & Terenzini, P. T. (2005). How college affects students:A third decade of research (Vol. 2). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Patton, M. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Rhoads, R. (1997). A subcultural study of gay and bisexual males: Resisting developmental inclinations. Journal of Higher Education, 68(4), 460–482. Roberts, R., Bergstrom, S., & La Rooy, D. (2007). Sex work and students: an explanatory study. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 31(4), 323–334. Rosenbloom, S. R., & Fetner, T. (2001). Sharing secrets slowly: Issues of classroom self-disclosure raised by student sex workers. Teaching Sociology, 29(4), 439–453. Ruffin, S. (2006, April 8). Ex-stripper shares stories of empowerment and degradation. Collegiate Times [On-line]. http://www. collegiatetimes.com/news/1/ARTICLE/6862/2006-04-08.html. Sidelines. (2001, April 20). Chronicle of Higher Education [On-line serial], 46(32), A57. Steele, C. M., Spencer, S. J., & Lynch, M. (1993). Self-image resilience and dissonance: The role of affirmational resources. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 885–896. NJAWHE 2010, 3 (1) © NASPA 2010 http://journals.naspa.org/njawhe/ Brought to you by | ULB Bonn Authenticated Download Date | 5/28/15 4:18 PM doi:10.2202/1940-7882.1039 ◆ NASPA Journal About Women in Higher Education 24 Terenzini, P., Pascarella, E., & Blimling, G. (1996). Students’ out of class experiences and their influence on learning and cognitive development: A literature review. Journal of College Student Development, 37(2), 149–162. Tollison, D. C., Nesbitt, J. G., & Frey, J. D. (1977). Comparison of attitudes toward sexual intimacy in prostitutes and college coeds. Journal of Social Psychology, 101(2), 319. Vanwesenbeeck, I. (2005). Burnout among female indoor sex workers. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 34(6), 627–639. Wood, E. A. (2000). Working in the fantasy factor. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 29(1), 5–27. Wooffitt, R. (2001). Researching psychic practitioners: Conversation analysis. In M. Wetherel, S. Taylor, & S. J. Yates (Eds.), Discourse as data: A guide for analysis ( pp. 49–92). London: Sage Publications. Appendix TABLE 1. Consequences for students working in the sex industry. Cause of cognitive dissonance Belief Description I am a good and moral person. I am a college student who will have a professional career Working in the sex industry; threat of being stereotyped Behavior TABLE 2. Means of resolution. Coping strategy Justification Distancing Separation Avoidance Intimate relationships Change in behavior Description Working in the sex industry is a means to an end, and the end justifies the means; or working in the sex industry is entertainment and sex sells Belief that they are not like the other women in the industry. Focus shame on the other Keeping work persona separate from their true self and from their identity as a student The use of substance abuse to decrease the experience of dissonance Value placed on relationships to protect sense of self from the sexuality of the workplace Leaving the sex industry doi:10.2202/1940-7882.1039 http://journals.naspa.org/njawhe/ © NASPA 2010 Brought to you by | ULB Bonn Authenticated Download Date | 5/28/15 4:18 PM NJAWHE 2010, 3 (1)