History of Dockside Prostitution in South Africa

While preparing my forthcoming book, Sugar Girls & Seamen, I researched and wrote an article about the history of dockside prostitution in South Africa. This exercise gave me greater insights into the reality I was encountering at the seamen's clubs of today. Just published by the journal History Compass, it is titled "Dockside Prostitution in South African Ports."

Here's the abstract:
Prostitution has been a staple of dockside social life for centuries. In South Africa, it dates from the Dutch East India Company's establishment of a refreshment station at the Cape of Good Hope. But unlike other prostitution sectors—streets, brothels, agencies—the women of the dockside sex trade in Cape Town and Durban participate in a global traffic of ideas, diseases, DNA, contraband, and currency through their ceaseless interactions with foreign sailors. They exploit their knowledge of the seamen's languages and cultures so as to more effectively solicit their marks in a competitive and cosmopolitan environment.

Social historians provide passing glimpses of dockside prostitution in their consideration of larger historical themes—Company rule, slavery, British colonial governance, the Mineral Revolution, the Anglo-Boer War, and apartheid—but they have yet to treat it as a distinct analytical category through which to view the past. Yet popular intellectual trends suggest that research into the dockside sex trade would add new dimensions to the histories of cosmopolitanism, gender, globalization, maritime recreation, and the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

This article provides a quick and accessible introduction to the historiography of dockside prostitution in South Africa.

Note: This article is available for subscribers to History Compass. If you are a student, you will be able to download the article through a university computer if your institution has an account with History Compass.

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Click on the PDF icon to go to the History Compass article page:

Trotter, Henry. "Dockside Prostitution in South African Ports," History Compass Vol.6, No.3 (2008): 673-690.

Navigating Risk

Lessons From the Dockside Sex Trade for Reducing Violence in South Africa's Prostitution Industry

During my research into dockside prostitution in Cape Town and Durban, I found that sex workers who catered to foreign sailors faced a reduced risk of violence compared to their streetwalker, truck-stop, and brothel colleagues. After conducting comparative research on the different prostitution sectors in South Africa, I published an academic article on why dockside prostitutes are relatively safer than their peers. In it, I discuss the different sex sectors and then make policy recommendations that would enhance the safety of sex workers throughout the industry.

This is the abstract to the article:

The diversity of South Africa's prostitution industry exposes sex workers to varying levels of violence. The street, truck stop, hotel, agency, brothel, and dockside trades are characterized by different structural features that determine the prevalence of client, police, and third-party abuse against prostitutes. Comparing the structural elements of each sector allows not only gauging the likelihood of violence within a given niche but also devising more precise policy instruments to reduce violence at an industry-wide level.

This article, "Navigating Risk," focuses on the dockside prostitution sector in Cape Town and Durban, showing how its structural features enhance the women's power vis-à-vis their clients and the police. It discusses 5 key variables that influence the likelihood of violence within each prostitution sector:

- the social and legal status of the client
- the location of negotiation
- the location of the sexual act
- the level of discretion in the solicitation process
- and the role of third-party involvement

Detailed policy recommendations conclude the argument.

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Click on the PDF icon to download article:

Trotter, Henry, "Navigating Risk: Lessons From the Dockside Sex Trade for Reducing Violence in South Africa's Prostitution Industry" Sexuality Research & Social Policy: Journal of NSRC Vol. 4, No. 4 (Dec 2007): 106-119.

Gentoos—"Whores" of Distinction

In South Africa, the Cape Afrikaans term gentoo is a harsh, disparaging term for a prostitute. It's like "whore" in English, but with more bite and venom.

At the dockside nightclubs of Cape Town, where the prostitutes entertain foreign sailors, the ladies call themselves "club girls". If they use the term gentoo, it is usually to attack the character of a rival.

But the other night, one of the ladies offered a novel interpretation of the word. While chatting up a Filipino seamen, she told him that he "should never confuse us gentoos with prostitutes who walk the streets and work in brothels." She said, "we're sea-ladies. We go with seamen. But the prostitutes, they go with locals."

Then she added, "the main difference is that we gentoos clean ourselves. We're clean."

The Filipino said he'd never heard the word "gentoo" before. "Where does it come from?" he asked.

She said, "You see, the Gentoo was a ship that came to Cape Town over a hundred years ago with a bunch of prostitutes. They ended up working the dockside with the sailors. So the locals took the word to mean 'ladies who go with seamen.' So you see, that's us. We sea-ladies are gentoos".

(This explanation actually approximates historical accounts).

As I listened to the conversation, it struck me that, perhaps it was just a matter of time before someone claimed the term "gentoo" with pride. After all, many black American youth call themselves "niggas"; some macho gay men call themselves "fags"; some co-eds of the Girls Gone Wild variety call themselves "sluts" or "bitches"; and a mixed-race ethnic group in Namibia even calls themselves "Bastards." Though all were initially terms of denigration, each group appropriated them—inverting their power—and now use them with pride.

Perhaps a Gentoo Pride campaign is in the offing. We'll see.

Should prostitutes form a union?

We all know that prostitutes can face difficult circumstances—client abuse, pimp violence, police harassment, disease, robbery, pregnancy, alcoholism, drug abuse, etc. And no matter what we think about the morality of commodified sex, we understand that these women should not have to face such risks.

In the Weekend Argus article, "Forget the sex, a worker is just a worker" (2 June 2007), Michael Schmidt dicusses the possibility of unionizing sex workers. He cites the International Union of Sex Workers (IUSW) in Britain as a case-in-point. In Cape Town, he mentions the Sex Worker Education & Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT) which spearheads the union initiative amongst streetwalkers and brothel workers.

Schmidt and SWEAT take inspiration from the powerful union and workerist movement in South Africa: they talk about sex workers being "workers" like in any other "industry." This language emanates from a factory floor model in which "workers" organize collectively, as a union, to press for greater rights, protections & benefits.

While this image—of collectively organized sex workers standing up for the rights, voicing their concerns, mobilizing, etc.—is powerful, and historically resonant, is it appropriate for prostitution in South Africa?

On first blush, it is quite attractive. But there are some practical difficulties:

FIRST, the sheer diversity of sex trade makes union-like cohesion problematic. The women who work in the various sectors—streets, brothels, dockside clubs, truck-stops, mineworker taverns, agencies, freelance—face quite different experiences. And their sources of trouble differ.

Unions typically have clear opponents, like "management." But who do prostitutes organize against?: clients? pimps? brothel owners? police officers? the government? society-at-large? All of these groups bear a certain responsibility for prostitutes' difficulties. Not just one of them.

The value of a union is that it can put pressure on a group that has the power to do something about their conditions. But who would the prostitutes represent their grievances to? In South Africa, activists would say "the government," as it is the source of onerous legislation criminalizing the sale of sex. They want this law repealed because it allows for unchecked abuses by clients, pimps, and police against the women. But even if repealed, society still sanctions the abuse of women (in general) and prostitutes in particular. Rights-bearing South African women still suffer under one of the highest rape rates in the world, so it is hard to see how prostitutes will achieve protection, health and welfare through a purely legal correction.

And if their demands were not met, what would they do? Strike? This in unlikely. Which makes it hard to see what value the union strategy has if cannot take advantage of its most strategic weapons: mass action, boycotts, strikes.

SECOND, most prostitutes do not look at sex work as a life-long career. Few embrace the "sex worker" moniker and even less want to be publicly known as such. The problem is that, even if women work as prostitutes for years, most refuse to claim it as an identity. Unlike working-class industrial laborers, who construct their lives around a plant or a job, prostitutes usually avoid such committed identifications due to shame, stigma & fear.

Because of this, sex worker unions assure their members of anonymity. But how powerful can a union be if its members refuse to identify themselves? The greatest power unions leverage is not numbers, but the ability to present an actual physical mass of members to the public when rights are threatened. Such displays—especially with media coverage—demand social acknowledgment and offer a road to change. But anonymous membership—though necessary in this case—radically weakens the utility of a "union." (In South Africa, how many sex workers would actually march with a banner for their rights?)

THIRD, does the transplanted union model adequately address prostitutes' particular circumstances by framing them as "workers"? On the one hand, yes, of course, they are workers. They work. But many of the problems they face result from their work being moralized, stigmatized, criminalized, dangerous & gendered. To take women from multiple sex sectors—who face unique challenges in each—and reduce them to an undifferentiated mass of "workers" may not do justice to their needs. And it is doubtful that their problems can be overcome by romantic rhetoric like: "Sex Workers of the World Unite!"

Essentially, I wonder about the feasibility of the union strategy. I understand its appeal, and I agree with union activists' concerns, especially the de/criminalization issue. But the diversity of concerns & experiences facing prostitutes in the numerous sex sectors militates against a one-size-fits-all response.

A better beginning might be to ask: how do sex workers in some sectors (courtesans, call girls, dockside women) achieve higher levels of safety & well-being than women in others? Might the strategies these women employ—or the structural conditions they enjoy—be exported to the more exposed sectors (streets, truck-stops)?

Rather than going outside prostitution to find models for strategic action, we could start by looking at successful strategies within different sectors. If we take the agency of prostitutes seriously—which most activists do—then we should start by understanding indigenous strategies, those developed by sex workers.

Beyond that, we need to initiate a real social dialogue about gender, prostitution, and sex that will get at the foundations of violence against women, social stigmatization, and institutional neglect (by government, health care providers & social services). This should not be left to a union vanguard, but should be engaged with by all citizens.

Solicitation in Different Prostitution Sectors

Prostitutes spend more time soliciting than actually servicing clients. Solicitation has a major impact on the experiences women face in sex work. But each prostitution sector is structured differently. I will briefly compare solicitation features of the various sex sectors in South Africa so that we gain a more complex understanding of the industry.

My previous post on dockside solicitation strategies reveals some of the key features of that niche. I showed how solicitation is the primary work of dockside prostitutes, that it is socially complex, that it is done in nightclubs, and that it focuses on a unique clientele—transient foreign seamen. If we compare the dockside to other sex sectors, we see that each niche is quite unique.

LOCATION: Dockside solicitation contrasts to streetwalkers who stand on sidewalks, to truck-stop women who hang around transport corridors, to courtesans who advertise through the internet, to agency ladies who solicit through newspaper ads, to 'beer prostitutes' who sit in working-class taverns, and to brothel women who wait for clients in the brothel's lounge.

Space is complicit with solicitation. Streetwalkers congregate on sidewalks that are publicly known for solicitation: their status is unambiguous due to the context of their loitering. Brothel women also work in spaces that are known—at least in certain circles—for prostitution. But the fact that they work indoors helps protect them, and to a certain degree, their clients from public view. Dockside women work at seamen's nightclubs, a space that is both "straight" and known for prostitution. However, since locals stay away from dockside dives, the women and the men are assured of a certain modicum of discretion.

A general rule is: the more that a space is known for prostitution, the less socially intensive solicitation will be. For streetwalkers and brothel women, solicitation amounts to "showing up" in the right space. They might dress sexy or make provocative gestures from the curbs, but solicitation in these contexts is often little more than "being available" for clients who have already made up their mind to buy sex. At nightclubs or tourist bars, the men are not yet clients, but "potential clients," because they may be there for other pleasures—drinking, dancing, socializing—not prostitution. For women who work from these "open" establishments, they must use a variety of social skills to entice a man to become a client.

DISCRETION: The more discretion a prostitute employs for solicitation, the greater status she will enjoy as a sex worker. Hence, streetwalkers—who offer almost no discretion—rank lower in the sexual services hierarchy than agency ladies or courtesans who rarely advertise in a way that protects their identities and the clients'.

Each niche is characterized by a certain standard of discretion, revenue, legal exposure, vulnerability, and violence (for both the prostitutes and the client). According to this formula, the hierarchy of South African prostitutes might be (from lowest status to highest): streetwalkers - truck-stop women - beer prostitutes - brothel women - dockside sugar girls - massage parlor ladies - agency girls - courtesans.

This is not an exact list—and some women move between these sectors during their careers—but each sector provides increasing layers of discretion for the seller and the buyer. The ability to provide discretion is usually linked to the class and education background of the women, their dependence upon drugs, their sense of autonomy, and their level of financial desperation.

CLIENTELE: Each prostitution sector is determined by the needs and constraints of an occupationally similar male clientele. It is they, not the women, who ultimately determine the shape, structure, and logic of each sector.

Docksiders cater to foreign seamen; courtesans look for international businessmen and tourists; truck-stop women go with long-distance truckers; 'beer prostitutes' hang out with mineworkers; agency ladies treat local middle and upper class professionals; streetwalkers handle local guys; and brothel women cater to a mix of local and foreign middle-class types.

This helps us understand why solicitation—and vulnerability, exposure, likelihood of violence, and stigmatization—differs from sector to sector.

Legal Prostitution at South Africa's World Cup?

South Africa's National Police Commissioner, Jackie Selebi, wants to legalize public drinking and prostitution for the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

According to the Cape Times (20 March 2007), "he suggested that the government adopt innovative ways of 'controlling' public drinking and prostitution." Selebi's deputy, Andre Prius, also proposed the creation of "red light" districts for fans' enjoyment. They both worry that, if the police must enforce this vice legislation, they will be overworked with petty concerns and the fans will be made to suffer.

While the idea of legalizing sex work is not new, the World Cup gives the proposal a sense of urgency and possibility.

But let's unpack some of the assumptions in the Commissioner's proposal:

FIRST, Selebi does not seek to legalize prostitution for the sake of the sex workers themselves. He bases his proposal on the convenience and happiness of a foreign sex-buying men.

This reveals a troubling gender bias. Since the Commissioner's rationale is not based on the rights or welfare of sex workers, it is not clear how legalization would benefit them in the long-run. Their needs are never mentioned. According to his public statements, a legalized sex industry would cater solely to the convenience of sex-buying men.

Though legalization would presumably free prostitutes from many abuses by police officers—and it might even offer some protection from client predations—the rationale behind the proposal reinforces their subordination to male desire.

SECOND, the timing of the proposal reveals that it is the hallowed status of the World Cup in South African discourse that makes Selebi's ideas seem practical and even desirable. But what about after the event?

Since the idea is motivated to deal with the circumstances of a unique situation, it is difficult to see what benefits will accrue to South Africans themselves. Will legalization be a special exception for a limited time, as some hope? Will it lead to substantive changes in the sex industry? Currently, the proposal panders to assumed foreign sexual inclinations but does not address the real concerns of South Africans for whom prostitution remains a difficult subject.

THIRD, by tying the legalization of prostitution to the legalization of public drinking, Selebi has the convenience a particular type of World Cup visitor in mind. He names them: soccer hooligans. Ostensibly, he wants to relieve the police of having to arrest masses of revelers.

But he need not "legalize" these activities to achieve his goals. A simpler solution would be "decriminalization." What's the difference? Decriminalization would allow prostitutes to ply their trade without legal interruption while legalization would add an element of government control and regulation to that work. Hence Prius' call for "controlled red light districts" (on the German World Cup model) rather than free reign for the sex workers (or public drinkers).

For many South Africans, Selebi's approach sounds reasonable. He links these proposals to the unique circumstances of the World Cup, which suggest that these laws might be temporary. And he promotes legalization rather than decriminalization, allowing the government to become "regulators"—rather than bystanders of—the vice industry. Thus, morally concerned citizens can trust that the police will not let things "get out of hand," but will in fact be "controlling" these dangerous trades.

My analysis here concerns the rights and welfare of vulnerable prostitutes. At the moment, Selebi's proposals hint at answering some of the long-standing problems facing sex workers, like the criminalization of their work that leads to police abuse and harassment. But the timing and rationale of his proposal shows that sex workers are not his main concern. He worries more about the happiness of free-wheeling, drunken, foreign johns.

However, just as the World Cup offers an opportunity for Selebi to forward the agenda of johns, so too does it offer sex worker activists the chance to push for the rights of a newly-valued class of laborers: prostitutes. It will be interesting to see how this debate continues, how parties uses the caché of the World Cup to advance their cause, and how soccer, sex and alcohol will continue to co-exist in the national imagination.

Dockside Solicitation Strategies

One of the key aspects of my upcoming book, Sugar Girls & Seamen, concerns solicitation strategies employed by dockside prostitutes. This blog entry offers a brief look at what's involved.

Dockside prostitution is a specialized niche in the sex trade. This is because the clientele—transient foreign seamen—face different constraints than the clients of other sectors (streets, brothels, truck-stops, and agencies). Prostitutes must cater to these salty waifs in unique ways, taking into account their transience, foreignness (legally & culturally), and social needs (for male-bonding & female companionship). This blog entry highlights some of the solicitation strategies used by Cape Town & Durban sugar girls.

First, imagine the scene: a South African dockside nightclub. On any given night you'll find dozens of foreign sailors sitting around enjoying themselves with beers and whiskeys. They sit in booths, at tables, or at the bar. Every club has a dance floor, a pool-table room, and a couple of them have karaoke rooms. They meander between them throughout the evening.

From 8pm, prostitutes start to stream in. In Cape Town, they tend to be 'mixed-race' coloureds and in Durban they're mostly provincial Zulus. When they arrive, they greet their friends, ignore their rivals, and order up their first drink from their favorite spot. They chill for a few minutes, usually in pairs or small groups, and survey the scene.

As they talk, they establish what kind of action is available for the night: Chinese, Koreans, Filipinos, Croatians, Germans, Senegalese, Samoans, etc. Then they chat about what ships are supposed to be in the harbor and whether this will impact their evening's activities. Perhaps a returning client is on one of the ships. That would definitely raise hopes.

After awhile, some of the girls head to the dance floor to show off their curves and availability. They make sure they're visible to any promising clients. Other women head straight for a table to join a group of men, asking for a light to initiate the connection. Then they're able check them out up-close and personal. Others sit alone at the bar, looking mysterious, above the fray. If a sailor likes a challenge, he'll be enticed by the seeming disinterest such aloof women display.

This is only the first move, part of a marketing campaign to get the attention of the seamen. Once contact is established, a woman will usually settle in at a booth with a sailor and his mates. They'll greet and incorporate her into the group, offering her drinks and cigarettes. She'll oblige.

For the next 3 or 4 hours, the woman will work hard to keep her man's attention. AND she will continue checking out other options while gauging whether this guy is worth the time. Throughout the evening, she'll make provisional claims on a number of men—with one guy typically being the primary—while the men also make make claims on multiple women. A promiscuous flirtation saturates the flitty relationships at the clubs.

Conversation, dancing, drinking, smoking, and touching fill the hours. But throughout, a woman guides the sailor toward a negotiation for a sexual contract after the club. For even if the seaman treats her to drinks and cigarettes, maybe even proffering 'taxi fare' or some cash for the good times, the real money is made through a sexual rendezvous. She might score some 'taxi fare' (R30/$5) or a hundred rands ($16) for the companionship but if they can the chance to provide sexual services, they can demand R200-300 ($30-50) for poorer crewmen and R500-1000 ($80-160) for wealthier officers.

Most sailors resist the offer, stumbling back to the bosom of their ships instead. Many go to the clubs for male-bonding with their mates or for some casual comfort and companionship from a lady. Drinking is crucial too. And if they're not very well-paid crewmen, then they may be even more reluctant. But most sailors do, at some point, take advantage of the sexual services provided by the port sugar girls.

Thus, even though many women go to the clubs 6-7 nights per week, they may average about 2 or 3 post-club hook-ups. The rate is higher for Durban because the women deal with overnight container-ship sailors while Cape Town women deal mainly with long-stay fishing trawler seamen. In other words, Durban provides more sailors for shorter durations, allowing for more potential clients. In Cape Town, the fewer sailors tend to stay longer. But, even though Durban women get more clients, they also charge less, making monthly earnings between the C.T. and Durban women about the same.

In conclusion, solicitation takes hours, requiring a range of social skills. Conversational abilities are important, foreign language skills can be a big plus, willingness to touch and caress on the spot is crucial, attractiveness is a bonus (but not necessary), and savvy clientele choices are de rigeur.

Unlike other sex sectors, it's not enough to just show up and be 'available.' The women have to actively solicit in a competitive atmosphere. The difference between success and failure is hundreds of rands on any given night. Hence, in-club skills makes up the most important aspect of sugar girls' work (more than actual sexual skills). Though it is not formally paid for, solicitation not only makes the sailors feel great at the clubs, but it steers their attention toward the girls for post-club extravaganzas.

These interpersonal club activities have a big impact on the women's social lives, cultural investments, and sense of identity as prostitutes. Obviously their work incorporates so much more than just sex. Their solicitation techniques are socially complex and culturally sophisticated.

The next blog entry will compare solicitation at the dockside to that of other prostitution sectors.