Does anyone know the article about "prostitute", "sex worker" etc not being the correct terminology

obviously "women in priostitution" is intended to mean women. Others would be "[x] in prostitution".

Have prostitutes not "reclaimed" the word ?

"Women in prostitution" excludes the men and transpeople who also engage in sex work, and are affected by legisation.

But "working girl" uses "girl" which is patronising for an adult woman, although I recognise the similarity with "rent boy".

Buffy this is right up your street, isn't it? I think you're right about trying to gain positive association with work although it doesn't fit with work as we understand it.

I prefer "women in prostitution". The problem with "women who sell sex" is that it overlooks women who are sold for sex rather than who are positively selling sex.

AF I hate "working girls", possibly worst of all although it does encapsulate how prostitution affects all women.

"Working girl" I see as just euphemistic, a bit like "lady of the night".

"I think (as with other types of terminology) the correct terms to use are the ones preferred by the person-in-that-category. You don't get to define another person against his/her wishes" Absolutely SGB.

I don't see such a huge problem with the term 'sex worker'. Work means doing a particular activity as a commercial exchange of goods or services. Sometimes that work is forced or carried out under duress - think of the terms 'forced labourer' or 'slave labour' or 'bonded worker' - but it's still work. If a person is being compelled to sell sexual services presumably that makes them a forced sex worker. At least the term is not pejorative about the women themselves.
It's certainly better than the word prostitute, which is mired down in a 19th century morality that blames and shames desperate women for their supposed moral failings rather than the clients who actually drive the exploitation forwards.

Buffy, I'd only read the first part of your post when I posted, but I agree with the second bit too. FWIW I first heard the term "sex worker" used in the 1980s in the context of HIV/AIDS prevention, which I guess is about as close to workplace health and safety as people selling sex get.

...and I am sure another poster in the same line said she didn't mind the term "prostitute" when applied factually and unemotionally

How about "working girls" ? There is a lovely poster who comes on here on occasion to join debates around the sex industry. I am not going to use her nickname here but she uses a combination of "WG" and a female Christian name.

Personally, I don't like that term.

Oi, Rain . I don't mind offending people who piss me off. Some of the groups of people we are talking about here have done nothing to me in that regard...

I agree, Buffy - I can totally understand how a woman in that position would lump "prostitute" in with a whole load of other, more derogatory terms and think,"no, I don't want to be defined like that".

It's a tricky one. I suppose "sex worker" seems neutral enough until you think about it. I would normally agree with the principle of letting the people in that position decide their own label, but in terms of the sex industry, so many women are exploited and unable to see that until after they exit.

No I wouldn't do that. It would be a betrayal of what I believe and of the survivors who have asked for that term not to be used.

AF since when?

Given that, in a polarised debate, using either/any term will upset people, I tend to think that (as I said above) you use the term preferred by the person you are addressing when you are in a person's company, and the term you consider most appropriate when you are speaking generally.
Unless anyone has any good suggestions for a term that is neutral and acceptable to all apart from the seriously hardline on either side (or the sort of people who prefer to nitpick at terminology rather than counter with a valid argument).

Perhaps. I guess my female default position is to not want to offend anyone

AnyFawker you are as entitled as anyone else to contribute to what is acceptable generally. There are two positions which are founded in ideology and there's nothing wrong with that. This notion that only certain people who fall into one category can determine the terminology everyone uses is just a political tactic.

However, since I am none of those things, what I "prefer" is possibly way low on a list of what is acceptable generally.

This is a conundrum. What terms do we use then ? I prefer the purely factual ones. Prostitute = has sex for money. Pimp = procures others for sex for money. Lap dancer. Stripper. Pornographer. Etcetera.

They all contribute to the sex industry.

Unfortunately in attempting to please everyone, you would please no-one. A survivor abolitionist is offended at the notion that sex is work because it negates their experience even if applied to other people. Similarly a woman delighted with her experience in prostitution would likely be unhappy with the use of "woman in prostitution" even if applied to other people.

I do not recognise sex as work and "sex worker" is an unsatisfactory term that includes pimps so I won't use that term.