The Cost of Stigma: Tackling and Responding to Discrimination Against Students in the Sex Industry within Spanish and Italian Universities

ongoing

Global challenges in fostering university education free from discrimination are on the rise. Many students face bias based on their class, gender, race, age, or occupation, often without recognition of their rights. While European universities have made significant progress in preventing gender-based violence against women and the LGBTQ+ community, they have yet to address discrimination against students in the sex industry. This issue is increasingly relevant as more students turn to sex work due to rising tuition fees and living expenses. COSTI aims to fill this gap by promoting equitable responses to the needs of student sex workers in Spanish and Italian universities. This pioneering project employs an interdisciplinary, intersectoral, and multi-sited approach to explore student sex work in previously unexamined contexts. COSTI will investigate the interplay between stigmatization, sex work, the education system, and social change and pursues four key objectives: 1) to map the phenomenon of university students in the sex industry in Europe through a comprehensive literature review; 2) to understand the motivations of student sex workers and the social and political factors contributing to their institutional stigma in four of the most important Spanish and Italian universities; 3) to identify the needs of student sew workers together with experts in institutional stigma; 4) to co-create recommendations with student sex workers to prevent discrimination within the academic community. The methodology will combine ethnographic research, quantitative methods, and action research practices. This means realising short online anonymous questionnaires among students and academic staff, face-to-face in-depth interviews and focus groups with student sex workers. COSTI will elevate awareness of student sex work within educational institutions and society, delivering significant benefits to researchers, student sex workers, academic community and civil society at large.