Journal International de Victimologie

This qualitative study used semi-structured open-ended interviews to listen to the voices of 18 Mizrahi women who had been engaging, for more than 7 years, in street prostitution. Through a bottom-up content analysis the author searched for the various dimensions of agency, empowerment and resilient self-efficacy perception that emerged these women's life stories as street prostitutes. 

 

JIDV 21 (Tome 7, numéro 3 - 2009)

Brenda Geiger, Ph.D. Department of Criminology Western Galilee & Zefat Colleges of Bar-Ilan University, PO Box 2125, Acre 24121 Israel

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his qualitative study used semi-structured open-ended interviews to listen to the voices of 18 Mizrahi women who had been engaging, for more than 7 years, in street prostitution. Through a bottom-up content analysis the author searched for the various dimensions of agency, empowerment and resilient self-efficacy perception that emerged these women's life stories as street prostitutes. Research findings indicate that sex work was for theses women a strategy of resistance, and a way to become autonomous agent away from the authority and domination of Mizrahi men. With their body in sex work, they protested against their inferior status, and the defamation and sexual abuse perpetrated by Mizrahi males supposed to protect women's honor and virginity! read more 

Background

This qualitative study used semi-structured open-ended interviews to listen to the voices of 18 Mizrahi women who had been engaging in prostitution for an average of 14 years. In the 1960's, Shoham and Rahav (1968) perpetuated the myth of street prostitutes from Mizrahi origin. Stigmatized and scapegoated as "whores" in the Moroccan extended family, young females felt compelled to fulfill the family members' prophecy by engaging in prostitution.

In the 1990s the myth concerning the ethnic origin of prostitutes in Israel had changed and the term "prostitute" no longer referred to women of Moroccan descent, but to women from the former USSR. These women were trafficked or worked independently in sex work, as call girls, or in massage parlors. The change in the myth aroused the author’s curiosity and led her to explore what had happened to the Mizrahi women who had engaged in street prostitution as in the 1960s. The findings that these women had continued to work for so many years in the same deserted industrial areas without attracting the media or researchers' attention motivated this research. Up to this day legal status of prostitution in Israel, except in the case of women trafficking, has neither been criminalized, nor institutionalized, and women who engage in street prostitution are not automatically criminals (Elam, 2001; Caspi, 1999; Kamir, 2002). Nevertheless, acts surrounding prostitution, such as soliciting (section 209a) or being in a place to engage in prostitution (section 215c) and pimping, have been criminalized (Sections 199-201 of the Penal Law-1977; CEDAW Report, 8 April 1997; Levenkron, 2007). Given that engaging in prostitution is not illegal, data on such occurrences will not be part of the official crime statistics. Nevertheless, the police (2000) have estimated that approximately 400 street prostitutes exist in Israel. In Tel Aviv the number of women engaging in street prostitution was estimated to range from one hundred Caspi (1999) to three hundred (Lee, 2008). Rawls’ (1971) concept of autonomous agency, Foucault's (1983) concepts of power relation and resistance, and Bandura's (1986) concepts of empowerment and resilient self-efficacy perception constitute the sensitizing concepts that guided this study in a bottom-up search for the dimensions of empowerment and resilient self efficacy perception in the life of Mizrahi women engaging in street prostitution. Rawls (1971) defines autonomous agency as the ability to form and revise one's plans and to choose among alternative conceptions of the good life for which one can be held responsible.

In the context of social interaction, the notion autonomous agency must be expanded to include a dimension of power between subjects. The autonomy of individual subject in power relations refer to the individual subjects' ability to exercise agency within a system of power relations. One such system of power relations is the family. Foucault argued that the disciplinary mechanism of power relations exercised in the extended family relates in subtle ways to the gender discourse that controls female bodies and souls by producing unchangeable absolute truths about sex and pleasure and women's place in the family (Foucault, 1978, 1980). Progressively, the constant surveillance of family members that was initially directed toward making the females' body docile, eventually takes control over women's mind by inducing a "psychological state of conscious and permanent visibility' (Foucault 1977: 201). In the patriarchal Mizrahi family, any deviation from the standards of honor and normative expectations of modesty related to female virginity results in stigmatizing into the master status of prostitute (Schur, 1984), which carries with it the ultimate risk of social death or ostracism (El Kholy, 2002; Galon, 2003; Haj-Yahia, 2000; Mitchell, 1990). The labels of "bad", "evil", and sharmuta [whore in Arabic] become a major mechanism of social control that condemns, stigmatizes, and destroys the reputation of "potentially deviant" Mizrahi women. The inducement of shame, and blame, results in a negative self-concept, loss of self-esteem, and permanent change of self-identity. Ultimately, the "potentially deviant" Mizrahi women have nothing left to do but fulfill the prophecy of dominant family members, and engage in prostitution (Shoham & Rahav, 1968). Within Foucault’s (1983) bipolar domination-subjugation top-down paradigm of power, the traditional discourse on prostitution gives rise to discourse of victimization of the disempowered (Sawicki, 1998). Within this model, prostitution is viewed as a tool of patriarchy that oppresses and subjugates the female body as a product to be sold for profit (Alexander, 1984, Doar, 1990).

In the sociological discourse on prostitution women are depicted as poor and illiterate with no marketable skills, and inferior to men in a patriarchal society. As myth goes, Mizrahi street prostitutes have been working in deserted industrial or commercial zones in Israel are too old and too wilted to be employed in any other branch of the sex industry. Oppressed by a pimp and enduring severe economic hardship, the majority of these women are unable to leave the streets despite their expressed desire to do so (Gur, 2004; Lotan, 2006; Zommer, 2000). Psychiatry reinforces the sociological discourse of victimization by attributing the sexual perversity of street prostitutes to early childhood traumas resulting from severe physical and sexual abuse in the family (Gur, 2004; Farley, & Barkan, 1998; Farley & Kelly, 2000; Lotan, 2006; Widom & Kuhn, 1996; Zommer, 2000). The chain of destructive and traumatic events which often served to explain the dehumanized and inferior status of prostitutes was, arguably, part of the auto biography of 63 to 90 percent of street prostitutes in Israel (Caspi, 1998; Gur, 2004). Pity, once added to the moral psychiatric discourse on sexual perversity entitled helping professionals to forgive and rehabilitate these misguided women by saving them from the streets, the customers, and the pimps (Farley, & Barkan, 1998; Farley & Kelly, 2000; Gur, 2004; Weldon, 2006; Willman-Navarro 2006). Within the top-down paradigm of power relations women's engagement in prostitution was, at most, regarded as an economic survival or coping strategy that perpetuates rather than challenges domination, oppression, and subjugation.

Therefore, in order to comprehend the engagement in prostitution in terms of resistance, power, and agency one must listen to women's voices at the micro social level within a bottom-up paradigm of power relations manifested in the Mizrahi extended family (Foucault, 1983; Matusda, 1996). Viewed bottom-up, power is not owned but exercised. It circulates between individuals (Foucault, 1983). Individuals are always in a position of being subjected to and exercising power. Thus, even the seemingly most destitute subjects in power relations are not totally devoid of power. The relative autonomy of the subjects in power relations is evidenced in their ability to resist and determine their destiny. Foucault (1983) explains, "As soon as there is a relation of power, there is a possibility of resistance” (p.13). Acts of resistance, therefore, become the diagnostic tools that bring into light relations of power and their "ultimate capillary destinations" (Foucault 1983:209). Bandura (1986) also argued that persons are far from being the passive victims even in a potentially dangerous environment as in street prostitution. Cognitive processes such as self-efficacy perception, empowerment, the ability to exercise agency, and successful actions in a dangerous environment influence each other in a process that Bandura (1986) calls reciprocal determinism. Agency refers to a person's actions that will generate self-efficacy perception or empowerment (Anderson, 2005; Bandura, 1986). Perceived self-efficacy refers to a person's beliefs about her capabilities to influence events that affect her life. Resilient self-efficacy perception develops in the process of overcoming obstacles and successfully exercising agency in controlling potentially threatening and dangerous situations. Reciprocally, resilient self-efficacy perception diminishes the sensation of vulnerability, enhances motivation, and triggers the cognitive resources to exercise agency, which ultimately result in the adoption of efficient and successful strategies of action in a hazardous environment (Bandura & Adams, 1977).

Ozer & Bandura's research (1990) on physical assaults shows that women’s subjective appraisal of their ability to cope with hazardous environmental demands improved their ability to successfully confront and prevent such assaults. By bringing the voices of Mizrahi women out of silence, this qualitative study aims at uncovering the various dimensions of agency, empowerment and resilient self efficacy perception derived from their engagement in prostitution.

Methodology

Sample

To be recruited in the sample, participants had to (a) be of Mizrahi origin, and (b) not be currently addicted to drugs which could have tainted the interpretation of these women's experiences. A sample of 18 women was obtained by approaching street prostitutes in two areas notorious for street prostitution in the north of Israel, one of which was an industrial zone, and the other along the seashore. The age of these women ranged from 31 to 52 years, with a median age of 40 years. Except for two Arab women, all other research participants were Jewish and originated from North African countries such as Egypt, Morocco, and Iraq. The number of years these women worked in the streets ranged from 8 to 37 years, with a mean of 14 years, and median of 20 years. All these women worked independently and did not have any pimp to "protect" them. Most of these women were mothers of between one to three children, with a median of one child. Although with a past of substance abuse such as marijuana, heroine, and cocaine, these women satisfied the selection criterion for this research by being drug free or currently enrolled in a methadone treatment regimen. In the words of two of the research participants: I have used drugs. Today I am treated at MAAMATZ. I used heroin, cocaine -- there I drink methadone. I work twice a week and run away from here. I no longer make the big bucks! I do not need it. No drugs, no need! (Mia) I am treated with methadone; it calms me down. (Mica)

Instrument and Procedure

The main research tool of this study was a semi-structured qualitative interview that started as an informal conversation with the opening sentence: "Could you please tell me your story and how you decided to work here". As the conversation progressed, the interview became more focused and semi-structured. An interview guide insured that the same topic would be covered by all interviewees. Some questions in the interview guide inquired about the reasons for engaging in prostitution, the job requirements, the dangers of the streets, and the ways they had succeeded to protect themselves from disease and assault. Additional questions inquired about the abuse they may have endured inside and outside the family, how they resisted, and the help they had received from the police and Social Services. Finally, the participants were asked to speak of the way they perceived themselves, and their future plans and their dreams. Questions concerning background information, to be unobtrusive, were dispersed throughout the interview. The open-ended non-directive style of the questionnaire made it easier for interviewees to convey in their own words their experiences while attempting to make sense of them. Rapport was enhanced when the interviewer expressed great interest to listen to these women and stressed the importance of their contribution to this research. Amazed by the kindness she exhibited when she consented to be interviewed, one of the interviewees stated: It is hard for me to believe, but I thought to let you to interview me for your study. (Nava) All the interviews were conducted in Hebrew, at night, in-between clients, at the worksite of research participants. Time restrictions set by the job requirements had therefore to be taken into consideration. Consequently, the interviews which usually lasted between 45 minutes to one hour, were often divided into two time periods− before and after a client. Confidentiality was guaranteed. All identifying places and names were, at the research writing stage, replaced by pseudonyms. Permission to tape record the interviews was obtained.

Content Analysis

Each taped interview was transcribed by the researcher just after the interview took place. Consequently, data collection and analysis proceeded simultaneously (Plummer, 1995). Content analysis of the narratives was inductive and relied on Glaser & Strauss’ (1967) constant comparative method. Comparing and contrasting, and looking for similarities and differences in the interviewees' narratives, allowed to inductively draw major themes of empowerment and self-efficacy perception while relying only on the subjective meaning and interpretation interviewees attributed to significant events in their life. The question of "objectivity" and fact validation did not arise in this study (Bruner, 2004; Denzin, 1989). The specification of the sensitizing concepts of power, resistance and agency, empowerment, and resilient self-efficacy perception indicated to the reader the direction in which the author approached the narratives. Furthermore, by supporting all inductively drawn themes by direct quotes from information-rich narratives (Lincoln & Guba, 1985), the author gave the readers the opportunity to understand the world view and subjective experiences of the Mizrahi street prostitutes participating in this research while simultaneously verifying for themselves the validity of the author’s inferences (Patton, 2002).

Results

Based on their narratives, all the women interviewed had chosen, on their own free will, to work in sex in the streets. They stressed that they did not have any pimp to "rule over them" or take "their money". I work alone. I am my own master. (Nava) I do not have an employer. I never had one. (Nitza) What do you think! I am not anyone's property! (Mia) These women emphasized that it was not by force, but by choice, that they had come up with the decision to engage in prostitution. In their own words, I do not have a pimp. No one is holding me here by force. I do not have a pimp who watches me. I pushed myself because of my situation. No one bought me with money. I have to provide for three children. Two of my neighbors are also working as prostitutes. (Romi) I do not have an employer. I do not have a pimp. No one pushed me. I chose the oldest profession in the world on my own. (Nurit) I chose this job. I pushed myself. (Isi) The interviewees often compared themselves to drug-addicted prostitutes to show the degree of freedom and autonomy they enjoyed on the job. Unlike the drug addicted, they could decide the number of days they wanted to work and with whom and when to have sex. They specified that they never worked during their menstrual periods and never had sex without condoms.

In contrast, drug-addicted prostitutes did both since they did not have the luxury to choose. In the words of these women, I am not a classical example. I have the privilege to choose who to get in the car with. The addicted, they have no choice! They need the money to break their crisis. They work when they have their periods, without rubbers−and I don't! (Nana) I already told you I do not go with those I do not like. I do not need the money like the drug addicts. (Nitza) These women managed to make between 250 to 1500 NIS a night. Since prostitution is not institutionalized, these women were not registered in the Internal Revenue Service. They could avoid paying taxes and, at times, managed to obtain an income supplement from welfare. The money gained depended on the number of clients a day, which could range from 5 to 30 clients, and the demand for specific sexual acts. The price for vaginal intercourse in the streets was 50 NIS; for anal or oral intercourse the price was double, 100 NIS. Dina explained: Normal 50 shekels, oral 100 shekels, and if they ask me something else, I take more. (Dina)

It is interesting to note that these women rarely if ever mentioned the word "client" or "man". They counted their clients by the number of condoms they had used and the money they made. Asked to report how many customers, Miri answered, The more the better, until I finish the box of rubbers. You see, a box of rubbers contains 12 condoms. I do not always finish it. The women interviewed also mentioned that work shift and turf were divided based on seniority. The older interviewees perceived themselves as seniors who had gained the privilege to work on an earlier shift from dusk to 10 pm. Younger sex workers worked on a late shift from 10 pm. until dawn. Any street worker who ignored or purposely infringed these rules was “put back in place” by being beaten up until she understood and cooperated. Nava recounts, I can tell you that most of the young girls and the new girls come after 10 pm to give to their seniors the possibility to make a living. Yesterday there was a fight between the girls because a young one came. I gave her the chance to make 100-200 NIS and I told her to go so that they do not beat her up even more. (Nava) All the women interviewed explained that they performed sexual intercourse solely for money.

None of them mentioned enjoying sex or had an orgasm with the customers. I do not enjoy sex; I do not have any excitement. I see only money in front of my eyes. (Dana) I wait that the time goes by and that the client finishes as fast as possible. I do that only for money. (Miri) These women felt that sex in the streets was disgusting. In their own words, I do not enjoy it. I feel disgusting. (Iris) It is a disgusting and humiliating job. (Romi) Many of them felt like a sex machine and often succeeded to dissociate their feelings from the act. At times, some of them managed to also annihilate the man they had sex with. In their own words, It is really disgusting. I just disconnect myself, as if I was not there at all. As if I do not even see the man who is across me. I close my eyes. I never had an orgasm with a client. (Poli) Disgusting, sex machine, but this is the only option I have (Isi) I do not feel! I distance myself from my body! No girl feels good in this job. I do not enjoy it. Everyone wants to do it as fast as possible. (Aria) The women interviewed shared with the interviewers the dangers of paid sex in the streets and the potential hazards of working at night in such environment.

The first hazard on their job was to be exposed to venereal diseases brought by the clients. In the past, before they became aware of the importance of using condoms, all the research participants reported having been contaminated by warts, yeast infection, lice, and other sexually transmitted diseases. Dina and Nava explained, Without going into details, of course I had diseases. I am many years in the job. I had all the diseases that one gets when you do not use condoms: infections, warts, herpes, and even lice. That was disgusting! That's what you get when you do not use condoms! I am lucky that I did not get a terrible disease like AIDS. (Dina) No one who works the streets is safe. It is not such a clean job you know! You understand there are a lot of infections. (Nava) At the time of the interview these women had been using protective devices during any form of sexual encounters to successfully prevent any risk of venereal contamination. Their motto was "No condoms, no sex!” I always hang around with condoms. But in the past I did not think about it and I was not aware that there were diseases like AIDS and other diseases.

Today most of the girls use condoms. The ones who do not are taking a very high risk. It is not worth it! (Vered) It is very important to keep safe. There a lot of dangers with a dirty or sick customer who could infect me with something. It is a problem because I cannot know what he has and what he does not have, therefore I use condoms. I do not want to deal with diseases! (Iris) I do not have sex without condoms. Without rubbers I am not doing anything. If he says: "Without condoms!" I say: "No! I am not ready to do that.” (Nava) The interviewees mentioned additional hazards and dangers beside sexual transmitted diseases. Robbery, assault, rape, and murder were part of the reality of working at night in the streets. In the words of the interviewees reporting their experiences, Once I was attacked, he wanted to kill me. I told him: "Take your money back!", but he did not want to! I don’t understand what happened to him. He was very fat, but I succeeded to escape. I was robbed. Three Arabs jumped on me. I was with one Arab and his two friends jumped on me and robbed the 450 shekels that were in my pocketbook. (Nitsa) Interviewer: Do you feel alone? Nava: Alone! Interviewer: Are you scared? Nava: Scared! Twice they attacked me. What can I do! No one watches for me. Any car you go in, you can disappear. One of my friends got in a car and up to this day we do not find her. For these women calling the police was of no help.

To the contrary, police encounters often resulted in harassment, sarcasm, and humiliation. In these women's words: I once went to the police. They did not take me seriously. (Mia) Once I went to the police; they laughed at me. (Vered) Once I called the police, but they laughed at me in my face! (Romi) Despite the fact that prostitution is not illegal in Israel, street prostitutes reported being often harassed by police: The police come sometimes and they kick the leftover of their food with their foot towards me. I never complain to the police. They can only harm me. (Naissa 31) The police harass all the time me. A week ago the police stopped me next to the bridge of Kyriat Moshe. They undressed me and I stayed naked in the middle of the road. (Niza) Unable to rely on the police to protect them, the women interviewed often managed to protect themselves from the physical dangers of the streets without outside help. One of the most common strategies of self protection was the use of mace, which is legal for most citizens to possess in Israel. Some of these women would have liked to carry a knife or a gun, but were scared of being searched and arrested by the police. Dana recounted how the police would grab her purse and search in it: I have mace, but I cannot, "God forbid", have a knife because of the police. The policeman comes here and checks. Sometimes he tells me: "Give me your purse!" and if he finds a knife, I could go to jail. (Dana) Other women took turns to watch over each other. In the words of Mia “Here, one watches for the other. My friend and I help each other with the customers.” When telling their life stories, the interviewees often related their engagement in prostitution to a history of poverty, violence, and sexual abuse in the family of origin.

Like many street prostitutes around the world, the Mizrahi women interviewed in this research were economically and socially destitute (Hoigard and Finstad, 1992). Prostitution was, for them, a way to struggle against severe deprivation, poverty, and oppressive socioeconomic conditions. My parents were unemployed, they had been fired. My father started to drink and to beat us up. I was running away from home. My brothers and sister also suffered. They threw me to the dogs. They did not help me! We were a large family. Dad did not work. We had to take care of ourselves. For Eva, street prostitution was not only a way to survive material deprivation, but also a strategy to fight the tyranny of her emotionally abusive mother: I want to tell you something, my mother never called me by my name. She only called me sharmuta [whore in Arabic]. When she saw me in the streets, she would yell at me “sharmuta”, come here. So, I said, "I am a sharmuta! So be it. I will be a sharmuta! There is nothing you can do!" Engagement in prostitution since she was 14 years old, Eva protested with her body and ultimately took her revenge against an emotionally abusive mother who constantly called her Whore. Eva recounted how she preferred to remain in the streets rather than to return home. I would sleep at one guy's home for two months, then run away, then go to another guy's house. Prostitution was for the Mizrahi women interviewed a body protest (Alexandre, 2006), the ultimate way to condemn the hypocrisy of a Mizrahi culture dominated by men who defamed and debased women's body, including that of their sisters and daughters. In their own words, You see, in my family boys are worth more than girls. They [my brothers] did things to us that you are not supposed to do to sisters. You understand me! I could not say anything because he was my brother. I also think they did it to my sisters, but no one spoke about it. (Nava) Since I was 10 years old my brother would touch me. I did not tell my parents. I was scared. I was scared that there would be a balagan [mess] at home. We are 12 brothers and sisters. (Adelia) He [Ossi's brother] would tell me:" I do not want you to wear pants; I do not want you to put make up on at all. I do not want to have boyfriends!" What am I, his dog? His garbage? I do not wish to anyone to feel what I felt. And what curses, what beatings! He also sexually abused me…. (Ossi) My father raped me when I was a child. (Isi)

Rather than perceiving themselves as passive victims, the women interviewed exercised agency to resist with their body and soul social, economic, and emotional deprivation. Their body, which was so often defamed, had become for them a tool of empowerment. It is this very body that they were able to use to make money and become autonomous. From the first client up to this day, I am 18 years and a half on the street, and I am now 42 years old. I learned to use my body to obtain material goods. (Nava) I pushed myself. The money also pushed me. Anyway, aren't we all whores! I make a lot of money! (Vered) I chose this job. I am a prostitute; I sell my body for money. (Mia) They buy me with money. (Eva) These women knew that the younger and the prettier they were, the more money they would make. In the words of these women: Once I was much prettier, I was not so beautiful that I could make the same money without sex. But I must tell you that it is very important that a girl takes care of herself, that she is well dressed with a good smell of shower and soap. This is very important. (Nava) Eva also remembers how in her teens every man was fighting over her young body. "I was beautiful and tall with long black hair. They were all fighting over me."

For all the women interviewed street prostitution was a way to become financially autonomous. Paid sex was the fastest and best way to make money. In their own words: I started to work because of the money. This is the fastest way to make the most money. (Gila) I chose this job; I wanted cash, immediate cash in my hands. (Romi) Lacking of skills and real employment opportunities, only two of these women had tried their luck in cleaning and waitressing. However, they very soon realized that the money they had earned from these unskilled jobs was not sufficient to independently sustain themselves. Nitza explained “I cleaned schools, but the money was not enough. It disappeared as if it never was.” All the other interviewees knew, without ever trying, that they could not make a sufficient income from cleaning. Street prostitution was the only occupation they had ever engaged. This was the only way to achieve economic independence. Work I did not have. In cleaning you make a little money. Social Security does not help me. (Maia) Older prostitutes mentioned not only the lack of skills, but age as an additional barrier limiting job opportunities. At my age no one would hire me! (Nava) It is a way to make a living. Who will take me in a normal job at my age? I chose this job. I did not have too much choice. (Vered)

In prostitution these women had acquired the power and the ability to function autonomously as independent agents in an informal sex economy. As they acquired money and became economically self sufficient, these women felt empowered and developed resilient self-efficacy perception. With the income gained from prostitution, they could pay their rent, bills, debts, and buy clothes, and no longer had to worry about how they would support themselves. In their own words, I make 250-300 NIS and leave. This month I had a problem with the rent, therefore, I had to work an extra day on Friday, even though I do not regularly work on Fridays. (Nava) I pay my rent, electricity, water, and all the expenses, and also buy myself clothes. (Mia) In prostitution they felt financially secure and resilient. Financial gains and economic stability also empowered the interviewees to provide for their children and other family members. Vered recounted how she had supported her family: I helped the family. We came from Morocco. It was really hard. There were no jobs and we had a lot of debts. I had to help at home. They thought that I was working in a factory night shift. They did not know that I am here in the street. Dina was also able to help her family and regularly sent money home for her daughter. In her own words: I got pregnant from a guy who ran away. I had to bring up my daughter. This was the fastest way to make a lot of money. My parents live in Dimona [depressed town in the south of Israel]. I told them that I work in daycare and from there I send them money. Nava had succeeded not only to provide for her family, but also to pay for her sister's studies at the university: I helped my family and my sister. I used my body to get money. The situation at home was not good with my parents. Both of my parents worked, but they did not make too much money. We are eight brothers and sisters. I am the fourth. I have a sister who studied. Today she is a senior worker in the Social Security office. Me and my parents gave my sister a lot of money so that she can study. (Dina) At times these women had a boyfriend whom they supported. I have a boyfriend. He knows about my work. He comes twice a night to check if everything is okay with me. (Nitza)

Paradoxically, rather than feeling contempt toward the social welfare system, the women interviewed often felt sorry for social workers who had approached them, but seldom were able to provide any help. In prostitution they had more power than helping professionals! Contrary to their experience with the welfare system, engagement in prostitution was for these women the sole stable source of income. The women recount, The social worker wants to help me, but she does not have any solution. (Nava) The social worker tries to help me, but it is a temporary solution. (Nurit) I tried to get help from agencies, but they cannot help me financially. (Vered) The women interviewed often rejected the image of the victim and the sticky label of "whore". They perceived themselves as simply human, as normal women who also have feelings. In their own words: I see myself as a normal woman! What do you think, I do not have feelings? (Aria 31) I may sometimes be a sex machine, but I am also a human being. (Nava) Many commented that they were not ashamed of their work in street prostitution. In the words of some of these women: I am not ashamed of my work. If I do not work, my kids will starve. I also take medicine and I pay for it. If I do not work, no one will pay for them. (Mia) I am not ashamed. It is a job after all. Everyone knows that I am working in prostitution. (Nurit) My parents know, but no one speaks about it. (Isi) Prostitution was paid sex and work. Comparing herself to her educated sister, Nava did not feel more humiliated or less respectable than her sister. In her own words, What is honor? I do not feel less or more respectable that my sister who is educated. I do not ask help from anyone. I do not feel that I am less human than she is! With a minimum of more than eight years in prostitution, these women had the same dreams as many other disfranchised women, that is, to pay their debts, buy a house, and even take a vacation! Prostitution was a tool to achieve these dreams. In the words of these women, I save money. I want to realize my dreams with the money I make. (Nitza) My future plan is to cover all my debts, to leave the streets and find a good job, and maybe finally take some vacation. (Nava) Getting married and having children who will go to school and become normative citizens rather than delinquents were central components of these women’s dreams and future plans. How do I see myself in 10 years? It is hard to say! I do not know. I hope that I will no longer be here and that I will be married to a rich man, Pretty Women style. (Romi) Husband, children, normal work, and make peace with my parents. (Dina) My dream is that my children grow to be alright, not be delinquent, and that they study at the university. (Miri ) Many of the women interviewed were ready to leave their job in sex work. They hope that one day they would be able to find a decent job that allowed them to support themselves and dependents: Get out of prostitution and get an honorable job. (Poli) Any woman who is not a drug addict wants to build a family and bring children to the world. (Aria) Find a good job with a good salary. With time I will save money and I will go out of this job. (Rosi) No one can help, but if I had another job, I would go out. (Nava)

Discussion

This qualitative study was based on semi-structured open-ended interviews with 18 Mizrahi women who had worked in street prostitution for an average of 14 years in two areas notorious in North of Israel. During informal conversations and more focused interviews these women broke the silence to tell their life stories. Despite time constraints, in between clients and the short laconic style of their sentences, these women reveal a hidden script of resistance and their experiences of empowerment in while engaging in street prostitution.

Rawls’ notion of agency, Foucault's concepts of power and resistance, and Bandura's notion of empowerment and resilient self-efficacy perception constituted the sensitizing concepts that directed the content analysis of the narratives. The multifaceted dimensions of power and agency, resistance, and resilient self–efficacy perception empowered the interviewees in their daily engagement in street prostitution and lead us to conclude that engagement in prostitution cannot be dismissed simply as a survival strategy. By relocating Mizrahi women's engagement in prostitution, at the micro social level, within the web of extended family relations of domination, subordination and exploitation this research enables us to comprehend prostitution as a hidden script of resistance. As such, prostitution becomes a diagnostic tool that brings to light power relations and its ultimate capillary destinations (Foucault, 1983:209).

Women’s experience of contradiction and inconsistencies between males' incestuous behavior and the cultural expectation of protection of women's honor and virginity result in the fissuring of a system of domination and emergence of resistance (Turton, 1986). With their body, in prostitution the women interviewed demystify the discourse of virginity and honor while condemning the hypocrisy of a Mizrahi patriarchal tradition in which males are entrusted to protect women's modesty and family honor, yet feel free to defame this very body by sexually abusing their sisters and daughters. Rejecting the rhetorical labels of "sharmuta" [whore] that invariably blamed women for being incestuously raped, these women rejected the double standard for male and female behavior that invariably reduced women to an inferior status. With their body, they rejected the rigid normative constraints imposed on the "Mizrahi good women" and struggled against male oppression. In prostitution, Mizrahi women used their body as a liberating force to become autonomous agents who determine their destiny (Alexandre, 2006).

The findings of this study revealed several sources of empowerment and agency much neglected in the past. One of the dimensions of power and agency emerging through the inductive bottom-up analysis of this study was related to the interviewees' ability to act autonomously on the job. With no pimps or boss supervising them, or drug addiction enslaving them, the women interviewed were free to refuse themselves to a client and choose their work schedule, including the number of days and hours they worked. Another source of empowerment was related to the interviewees' ability to successfully protect themselves from the dangers and hazards to which they were exposed in the streets. These women were aware of the threat of sexually transmitted diseases from unprotected sex, of potentially violent clients who perceived them as easy prey, and of police who harassed, and at times, abused them. Their ability to adopt risk avoidant strategies to successfully protect themselves from the dangers of the street, to use caution in sex, and avoid sexually transmitted diseases and successfully perform on the job in a dangerous environment, resulted in the development of self confidence and resilient self-efficacy. An additional dimension of empowerment and agency was related to these women's ability to financially and economically become self sufficient. Like other disfranchised, lower-class, and minority women (Belknap, 2007; Chesney-Lind & Pasko, 2004; El-Kholy, 2002; Weldon, 2006; Willman-Navarro 2006) the women interviewed in this study emerged as financially motivated agents in the sex market informal economy (Anderson, 2005; Weldon, 2006; Willman-Navarro 2006; Doar, 1990).

Street prostitution offered the women interviewed many financial incentives that no other jobs or welfare agencies could provide them with (Weldon, 2006; Willman-Navarro 2006)! Lacking of skills, education, and job opportunities, they knew that they would be last hired and first fired in unskilled jobs such as home cleaners or waitresses. Such jobs even when supplemented with social security benefits could not provide them with a stable or sufficient source of income. On the contrary, street prostitution offered these women a stable and abundant source of income which May, Hough & Edmunds (2000) related to men's constant need to purchase sex. By engaging in street prostitution, the women interviewed had the power to become economically self sufficient and independently manage their income to pay their bills and rent, and food and clothes. Like other lower class disfranchised women, the Mizrahi women interviewed in this study managed not only to support themselves, but also to provide for the sustenance of other family members including parents, sisters, and children (Dunlap, Johnson, & Mahler, 1997; Harding, 1991; Gal, 2001)

This conclusion parallels that of other researchers' (Anderson, 2005; Sommer, Baskin, & Fagan, 2000) findings regarding women's empowerment in the illicit drug economy. The findings of this study fit within the model of reciprocal determinism in which agency, successful actions in a hazardous environment, and empowerment reinforce each other to produce resilient self-efficacy perception (Bandura, 1999; Ozer & Bandura, 1990; Rappaport, Swift, & Hess, 1984). The interviewees' ability to exercise agency and successfully protect themselves in a dangerous environment, and to achieve economic independence and successfully provide for self and other family members resulted in the development of empowerment and resilient self-efficacy perception.

Foucault's bottom-up model of power relations and resistance and Bandura's model of empowerment and self-efficacy perception allow for the deconstruction of the negative scenarios of victimization concerning Mizrahi women engaging in street prostitution. As hidden script of resistance street prostitution helps correct the obsession with "morally loose and sexually perverse women", and condemn hypocritical adherence to the ideology of females' honor and virginity in the Mizrahi patriarchal family.

The discovery of the multiple sources of empowerment and resilient self-efficacy perception revealed in this research, therefore, leads to the rejection of the distorted image of the pitiful Mizrahi victim propelled into street prostitution with no agency of her own. The Mizrahi women in this study emerge as autonomous and responsible moral agents who have the power to determine their destiny as they struggle against abuse and discrimination, protect themselves from the dangers of the streets, and manage to become financially autonomous.

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