Editing Sex worker (section)

=== Demographics ===
[[Transgender sex worker|Transgender people]] are more likely than the general population to do sex work, particularly [[trans women]] and trans people of color.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://1map.com/endtransdiscriminationorg|title=End Trans Discrimination: Home|website=1map.com}}</ref> In a study of female Indian sex workers, illiteracy and lower social status were more prevalent than among the general female population.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Dandona |first1=Rakhi |last2=Dandona |first2=Lalit |last3=Kumar |first3=G Anil |last4=Gutierrez |first4=Juan Pablo |last5=McPherson |first5=Sam |last6=Samuels |first6=Fiona |last7=Bertozzi |first7=Stefano M. |last8=ASCI FPP Study Team |date=April 2006 |title=Demography and sex work characteristics of female sex workers in India |journal=BMC International Health and Human Rights |volume=6 |pages=5 |doi=10.1186/1472-698X-6-5 |pmc=1468426 |pmid=16615869 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

One study of sex work in Tijuana, Mexico, found that the majority of sex workers there are young, female, and heterosexual.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Katsulis |first=Yasmina |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LG0ddgALFAsC&q=sex+work+trans&pg=PA121 |title=Sex Work and the City |date=2009-09-15 |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=9780292779808}}</ref> Many of these studies attempt to use smaller samples of sex workers and [[pimps]] in order to extrapolate about larger populations of sex workers. One report on the underground sex trade in the United States used known data on the illegal drug and weapon trades and interviews with sex workers and pimps in order to draw conclusions about the number of sex workers in eight American cities.<ref name="Urban Institute - Underground Sex Economy">{{Cite web |last=Dank |first=Meredith |display-authors=etal |date=2016-06-28 |title=Estimating the Size and Structure of the Underground Commercial Sex Economy in Eight Major US Cities |url=http://www.urban.org/publications/413047.html |publisher=Urban Institute |access-date=2014-03-31 |archive-date=2015-03-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150316034025/http://www.urban.org/publications/413047.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> However, studies like this one can come under scrutiny for a perceived emphasis on the activities and perspectives of pimps and other sex work managers rather than those of sex work providers themselves. Another criticism is that sex trafficking may not be adequately assessed in relation to sex work in these studies.<ref name="Misconceptions - UCSE report">{{Cite web |last=Dank |first=Meredith |title=Misconceptions about our report on the underground commercial sex economy |url=http://blog.metrotrends.org/2014/03/misconceptions-ucse/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140331221527/http://blog.metrotrends.org/2014/03/misconceptions-ucse/ |archive-date=31 March 2014 |access-date=31 March 2014 |publisher=Urban Institute}}</ref>

Many studies struggle to gain demographic information about the prevalence of sex work, as many countries or cities have laws prohibiting prostitution or other sex work. In addition, [[sex trafficking]], or forced sex work, is also difficult to quantify due to its underground and covert nature. In addition, finding a representative sample of sex workers in a given city can be nearly impossible because the size of the population itself is unknown. Maintaining privacy and confidentiality in research is also difficult because many sex workers may face prosecution and other consequences if their identities are revealed.<ref name="Shaver - Sex Work Research">{{Cite journal |last=Shaver |first=Frances M. |date=March 2005 |title=Sex work research: methodological and ethical challenges |journal=Journal of Interpersonal Violence |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=296–319 |doi=10.1177/0886260504274340 |pmid=15684139 |s2cid=23470722}}</ref>