Research, policy, and activist efforts increasingly involve studies of men, transgender individuals, queers, non-binary people, and other groups with a range of sexual orientations. In terms of race, ability/mobility, sex work types, and participants’ subjective experiences, the literature is also evolving dramatically in these areas. This transformation is attributable to the advent of inter-sectional feminism and associated theoretical frameworks that consider the numerous ways that sex work is experienced and portrayed in line with gender, place, culture, age, race, and other health-related characteristics.

The lives of those who perform sex labour have long been represented in ornamental and visual art, whether it be in stone, fabric, metal, or other materials. With an emphasis on the ethical, moral, and legal regulation of prostitution, the Medieval Period saw the birth of historical works that are today acknowledged as research. During this period,  escort girls in Tel Aviv was seen as a “necessary evil” that could be abolished due to their outstanding beauty, knowledge, and political connections. Similar concepts can be found in writings from the Victorian period, which is regarded as the start of the modern age of sex research. The legal, social, moral, and health issues related to prostitution at this period were of great interest in many European, some North American, and colonial contexts. The governance of sex work is a hot topic in academic literature. The three primary approaches to controlling sex work are legalization, decriminalization, and abolition. Each has its own set of supporters and detractors. The majority of proponents of legalization and abolition think that by criminalizing sex work on the supply and/or demand sides of the market, the practice—which is seen as a dangerous blight and is frequently, problematically, confused with sexual trafficking—will be diminished and possibly eradicated.