This article examines the relationships between street prostitutes and men on the streets who are not their clientele (pimps, drug dealers, and other drug users), in the context of the urban drug environment. The crack scene provides an important example of how gender relations shift and are reconstituted in changing environments. Women who engaged in sex-for-money exchanges on the streets to support their crack use defined themselves as independent from male control because they were seldom involved in traditional pimping relationships. However, closer examination reveals the many ways in which they continued to face forms of disempowerment and dependence in relation to drug dealers and users on the streets, resulting in a shift of the content of gendered power relations but not in the overall form of gendered domination.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Adler, P. A.
1993. Wheeling & dealing: An ethnography of an upper-level drug dealing and smuggling community, 2d ed.New York: Columbia University Press.
2.
Agar, M. H.
1977. Ethnography in the streets and in the joint: A comparison. In Street ethnography: Selected studies in crime and drug use in natural settings, edited by R. S. Weppner, 143-156. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
3.
Bernard, C.
, and E. Schlaffer. 1989. `The man in the street': Why he harasses. In Feminist frontiers II, edited by L. Richardson and V. Taylor, 384-387. New York: Random House.
4.
Bourgois, P.1989. In search of Horatio Alger: Culture and ideology in the crack economy.Contemporary Drug ProblemsWinter:619-649.
5.
Bourgois, P.
, and E. Dunlap. 1993. Exorcising sex-for-crack: An ethnographic perspective from Harlem. In Crack pipe as pimp: An ethnographic investigation of sex-for-crack exchanges, edited by M. S. Ratner, 97-132. New York: Lexington.
6.
Boyle, K.
, and M. D. Anglin. 1993. `To the curb': Sex bartering and drug use among homeless crack users in Los Angeles. In Crack pipe as pimp: An ethnographic investigation of sex-for-crack exchanges, edited by M. S. Ratner, 159-186. New York: Lexington.
7.
Bracey, D. H.
1979. Baby pros.New York: John Jay.
8.
Connell, R. W.
1987. Gender and power.Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
9.
Datesman, S. K.
, and J. A. Inciardi.1979. Female heroin use, criminality, and prostitution.Contemporary Drug ProblemsWinter:455-473.
10.
Diana, L.
1985. The prostitute and her clients.Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas.
11.
Dunlap, E.
, B. Johnson, H. Sanabria, E. Holliday, V. Lipsey, M. Barnett, W. Hopkins, I. Sobel, D. Randolph, and K. Chin.1990. Studying crack users and their criminal careers.Contemporary Drug ProblemsSpring:121-144.
12.
Fagan, J.1990. Myths and realities about crack (second of two parts).Contemporary Drug ProblemsSpring:1-7.
13.
Feldman, H. W.
, F. Espada, S. Penn, S. Byrd. 1993. Street status and the sex-for-crack scene in San Francisco. In Crack pipe as pimp: An ethnographic investigation of sex-for-crack exchanges, edited by M. S. Ratner, 133-158. New York: Lexington.
14.
Feucht, T. E.1993. Prostitutes on crack cocaine: Addiction, utility, and marketplace economics.Deviant Behavior14:91-108.
15.
Fullilove, M. T.
, E. A. Lown, and R. E. Fullilove.1992. Crack 'hos and skeezers: Traumatic experiences of women crack users.Journal of Sex Research29(2):275-287.
16.
Goldstein, P. J.
1979. Prostitution and drugs.Lexington, MA: Lexington.
17.
Goldstein, P. J.
, P. A. Bellucci, B. J. Spunt, and T. Miller.1991. Volume on cocaine use and violence: A comparison between men and women.Journal of Drug Issues21(2): 345-367.
18.
Goldstein P. J.
, L. J. Ouellet, and M. Fendrich.1992. From bag brides to skeezers: A historical perspective on sex-for-drug behavior.Journal of Psychoactive Drugs24(4): 349-361.
19.
Harding, S.
1987. Feminism and methodology.Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
20.
Hølgård, C.
, and L. Finstad. 1992. Backstreets: Prostitution, money and love.University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.
21.
Inciardi, J. A.
, 1989. Trading sex for crack among juvenile drug users: A research note.Contemporary Drug ProblemsWinter:689-700.
22.
Inciardi, J. A.
, D. Lockwood, and A. E. Pottieger. 1993. Women and crack-cocaine.New York: Macmillan.
23.
Inciardi J. A.
, and A. E. Pottieger.1991. Kids, crack and crime.Journal of Drug Issues21(2): 257-270.
24.
Inciardi, J. A.
, A. E. Pottieger, M. A. Forney, D. D. Chitwood, and D. C. McBride.1991. Prostitution, IV drug use, and sex-for-crack exchanges among serious delinquents: Risks for HIV infection.Criminology29:221-235.
James, J.
1977. Ethnography and social problems. In Street ethnography: Selected studies of crime and drug use in natural settings, edited by R. S. Weppner, 179-200. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
27.
James, J.
1978. The prostitute as victim. In The victimization of women, edited by J. R. Chapman and M. Gates, 175-201. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
28.
Lofland, J.
, and L. H. Lofland. 1984. Analyzing social settings: A guide to qualitative observation and analysis.Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
29.
McBride, D. C.
, and J. A. Swartz. 1990. Drugs and violence in the age of crack cocaine. In Drugs, crime and the criminal justice system, edited by R. Weisheit, 141-169. Cincinnati: Anderson.
30.
Mieczkowski, T.1990. Crack distribution in Detroit.Contemporary Drug ProblemsSpring:9-30.
31.
Miller, E. M. 1986.Street woman.Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
32.
Miller, J.1993a. `Your life is on the line every night you're on the streets': Victimization and resistance among street prostitutes.Humanity & Society17(4): 422-446.
33.
Miller, J.
1993b. `We're the objects of everybody's anger...': The institutionalization of violence against street prostitutes.Institute for the Study of Women and Men Working Papers Series, University of Southern California.
34.
Miller, J.
, and M. D. Schwartz. 1993. The ideology of sexual violence against prostitutes, wives, lovers and other perceived sexual property. Paper presented at the American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting.
35.
Morningstar, P. J.
, and D. D. Chitwood.1987. How women and men get cocaine: Sex-role stereotypes and acquisition patterns.Journal of Psychoactive Drugs19(2): 135-142.
36.
Ouellet, L. J.
, W. W. Wiebel, A. D. Jimenez, and W. A. Johnson. 1993. Crack cocaine and the transformation of prostitution in three Chicago neighborhoods. In Crack pipe as pimp: An ethnographic investigation of sex-for-crack exchanges, edited by M. S. Ratner, 69-96. New York: Lexington.
37.
Pheterson, G.
1989. A vindication of the rights of whores.Seattle: Seal.
38.
Prescod, M.
1990. Discussion presented at the National Women's Studies Association annual conference, Akron, OH, June.
39.
Ratner, M. S.
, ed. 1993a. Crack pipe as pimp: An ethnographic investigation of sex-for-crack exchanges.New York: Lexington.
40.
Ratner, M. S.
1993b. Sex, drugs, and public policy: Studying and understanding the sex-for-crack phenomenon. In Crack pipe as pimp: An ethnographic investigation of sex-for-crack exchanges, edited by M. S. Ratner, 1-36. New York: Lexington.
41.
Reynolds, H.
1986. The economics of prostitution.Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.
42.
Rosenbaum, M.
1981. Women on heroin.New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
43.
Silbert, M. H.
, and A. M. Pines.1982. Victimization of street prostitutes.Victimology: An International Journal7:122-133.
44.
Weisberg, D. K.
1985. Children of the night.Lexington, MA: Lexington.
