Costiproject
The cost of stigma
Project
Overview
Global challenges in fostering university education free from discrimination are on the rise. Many students face bias based on their class, gender, origin, 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 LGTBIQA+ 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. For some, sex work offers a more flexible, higher-paid alternative, but not without cost. The stigma surrounding sex work leads many students to keep their involvement secret, fearing judgment and potential repercussions from peers or academic staff. On many occasions, in fact, students involved in the sex industry who disclosed their occupation suffered sanctions or expulsions due to morality clauses.
Situated at the intersection of stigmatisation processes, sex work, education, and social transformation, COSTI is therefore a pioneering action research project.
Research Objectives
The principal research objective of COSTI is to analyse, by utilising a participatory methodology, the emerging but under-researched phenomenon of student sex work, focusing on the stigmatising mechanisms within universities, in order to enhance the social inclusion of student sex workers. Specific objectives are:
• To map the phenomenon of sex work in Europe through a comprehensive literature review. This will be the foundation for generating the first results on student sex work across Spain and Italy.
• To understand, by using an intersectional perspective, the motivations that drive some students to enter the sex industry, and the social and political factors that determine the institutional stigma against them in Spain and Italy.
• To identify, together with experts in institutional stigma toward sex workers, the needs of student sex workers in Spain and Italy.
• To create, together with student sex workers, recommendations that will help prevent discrimination within the university community, by increasing awareness of the issue of student sex work within universities and society at large.
Methodology
COSTI is based on a multi-sited ethnography conducted at universities in Southern Europe, specifically in Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, and Bologna. The project combines ethnographic research, quantitative methods, and action research. It includes online anonymous questionnaires for students and academic staff, in-depth interviews and focus groups with student sex workers, as well as the co-creation of a report containing recommendations.