Not Sex Work

This book explores the parallel histories and intersecting politics of LGBTQ+ people and sex workers, including the role of digital media in shaping the experiences of both in the early twenty-first century. Drawing on the first empirical study with gay, bisexual, and queer young men who agreed to sell sex online without advertising or identifying as sex workers, it examines what the term ‘incidental sex work’ means. Adopting queer methods and feminist theories to explore how definitions of ‘sex’ and ‘work’ have become increasingly unstable in the digital era, it considers how casual, occasional, and unprofessional forms of sex work are arranged on different platforms, from Grindr to OnlyFans. This book will appeal to students and researchers studying sex work and social media across a wide range of fields. It will also be useful for campaigners, policymakers, and healthcare practitioners interested in the implications of incidental sex work.