RESEARCH NOTE - MANAGING RISKS - THE SOCIAL-ORGANIZATION OF INDOOR SEX WORK

In this research note we begin to develop ideas drawn from studies con cerned with the social context of sex work, and contribute to the lite rature on the sociology of risk, by investigating the social organisat ion and conditions of work of a group of female sex workers whose work has not so far been described in any detail - flat-working women. The se are preliminary findings from an ongoing empirical study comparing occupational risk of violence between women working in flats and stree t-working women in central London. Here we report on the flat-working women's employment of protective strategies, such as co-working with ' maids' who serve as gatekeepers, allowing clients access to the women and monitoring the time clients spend in the flats. Rather than focus on women's self-efficacy or health beliefs, we argue that it is throug h the social organisation of their work that we are best able to under stand the nature of their risk exposure, and their strategies for mana ging risk and safety in relation to their occupational health.