Navigating Vulnerability: Lived Experiences, Deviance, and Resilience among Female Sex Workers in Northeastern, Philippines

Abstract

Sex work remains one of the most contested forms of labor globally oscillating between criminalization, victimization, and agency. In the Philippines, despite legal prohibitions, the sex trade persists under conditions of poverty, gendered inequality, and social stigma. This qualitative criminological study examines how female sex workers (FSWs) in Salug Valley, Zamboanga del Sur navigate vulnerability, social control, and deviance through coping strategies that reflect resilience within constrained socio-legal systems. Using a transcendental phenomenological design, six legally adult FSWs were interviewed through semi-structured, in-depth interviews. Thematic analysis revealed twelve interrelated themes clustered into three dimensions: structural vulnerabilities (economic precarity, client exploitation, social marginalization, health risks), adaptive coping strategies (forbearance, secrecy, selective disregard, healthcare access), and aspirational goals (children’s education, financial stability, personal transformation). The findings revealed that sex work operates as both a survival mechanism and a locus of structural control where law, morality, and gendered power intersect. Despite experiencing stigmatization and violence, participants exhibited agency and resilience, constructing moral rationalities to reclaim dignity. This study contributes to criminological discourse by illuminating how deviance, as socially defined, becomes intertwined with survival strategies in marginalized communities. It advocates for harm-reduction and rights-based policies that treat sex workers as social agents rather than offenders, emphasizing welfare, mental health, and safety within frameworks of social justice.