Sex, Gender, and Diversity in Sex Work Research

This brief report responds to the call for commentaries in the Archives of Sexual Behavior (Zucker, 2025), in response to one of President Donald Trump's Executive Orders, inferring "sex" solely as an absolute binary biological categorization assigned at birth. According to the Order, acceptable terms of use are sex (which does not include the concept of "gender identity"), woman/women/girl(s), men/man/boy(s), female (as determined at conception), and male (as determined at conception). Our report traces the historical change in terminology related to sex and gender, in one specific area of research-the exchange of sexual services for money, material goods, or other services among consenting adults. We conducted a Web of Science search from 1900 to the current period, enumerating scholarly literature referencing terms related to "prostitution" or "sex work." Our findings show that the language has become less stigmatizing and more diverse over time. This is reflected in a growing scholarship on the diversity of genders who sell sexual services and the application of intersectional perspectives to sex work research. Importantly, our findings show that the terminology used by scholars to describe this profession has been neither uniform nor static, instead aligning with several historical milestones, including social justice movements, dedicated focus on women's health, and our expanded understanding of the sociology of sex work. At this juncture in time, we argue restricting scholarship on sex, and sexuality topics, including those related to sex work, will limit our ability to respond to intersecting social structures that prevent workers from accessing their rights to occupational health and safety.