Work–life management in legal prostitution: Stigma and lockdown in Nevada's brothels. (June 2017) - Blithe, Sarah Jane
Across occupations, people contend with the difficult task of managing time between their work and other aspects of life. Previous research on stigmatized industries has suggested that so-called 'dirty workers' experience extreme identity segmentation between these two realms because they tend to cope with their occupational stigma by placing distance between their work and personal lives. Through a qualitative study of Nevada's legal brothel industry, this article focuses on the prevalence of boundary segmentation as a dominant work–life management practice for dirty workers. Our analysis suggests that work–life boundaries are disciplined by legal mythologies and ambiguities surrounding worker restrictions, occupational ideologies of 'work now, life later, ' and perceived and experienced effects of community-based stigma. These legal, occupational and community constructs ultimately privilege organizations' and external communities' interests, while individual dirty workers carry the weight of stigma.