whorearchy

By the middle of the nineteenth century, the wealth, power, and ubiquity of prostitutes caused several urban reformers to warn of a “whorearchy” that threatened to undermine the virtues of the nation.

A Renegade History of the United States Thaddeus Russell 2010

The “whorearchy” “I think part of [the OnlyFans] story is about what sex worker organizers call the ‘whorearchy,’” said Heather Berg, author of the book “Porn Work” and professor of women, gender and sexuality studies at Washington University in St. Louis. The whorearchy is the idea that some sex work is more respectable than others. “The whorearchy is both within sex worker communities, but also in terms of how outsiders understand sex work labor,” Berg said. “And so there is a hierarchy, I think, in the public imagination.”

Marketplace - Business news and economic stories for everyone. Kai Ryssdal 2023