•  
  •  
 

Biography

Andrea Heinzresides in Edmonton, Alberta. She experienced seven years in the licensed commercial sex trade in several sublets up to and including studio ownership. She holds a diploma in Correctional Services and is now in her fourth year of studies toward her Bachelor of Professional Arts in Governance, Law and Management. She is happily married with three children. Email: 2020heinzsight@gmail.com

Abstract

As a woman who exited after seven years in licensed commercial sexual exploitation in Canada, I share my reflections on my experience, which led to the development of the Insights from Sex Trade Experienced Persons (InSTEP) Model. The model was constructed based on interviews with “service providers” in the sex trade. Twelve exited women share their experiences inclusively. InSTEP is geared toward a population of quasi-autonomous providers who have alternate economic options. Three levels are introduced in the InSTEP model to describe the continuum of agency among service providers; Level 1: trafficked/controlled; Level 2: quasi-autonomous; Level 3: autonomous. The InSTEP Model focuses on Level 2 providers and identifies optimal times when helping professionals or agencies could be most effective in offering exit support. Opportunities for change are contextualized within Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (1943) and the Prochaska and DiClemente’s (1983) Stages of Change.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Download

Share

COinS