Street walking blues : sex work, St Kilda and the street

From its local beginnings during the colonial era, when men outnumbered women by six to one, to modern legalised brothels, prostitution has been a long-standing and often controversial aspect of St Kilda life. Throughout this time, the community and legislative responses to the issue of prostitution have mostly revolved around health concerns, commercial issues and moral values; never quite effectively acknowledging that the trade in sex persists is because of constant demand. In the 1970s, high youth unemployment and the emergence of large-scale drug trafficking in Australia helped to create many of the characteristics of contemporary St Kilda. It was the combination of youth and drug dependency that was primarily responsible for the changing the nature of the sex trade in St Kilda. Poverty, homelessness and abuse are now recognised as key factors in any study of sex workers today. This report draws on life experiences and stories as told by fourteen different individuals. Importantly, it looks at the lives of people as opposed to prostitutes, and provides a thought-provoking and compassionate counterpoint to the stereotyped construct of the modern sex worker.