Full bibliography

With the expectation for mothers to participate in the paid labour market while also fulfilling unpaid responsibilities at home, working mothers are subject to “the burden of a double shift, that is, the burden of a life built exclusively on work” (51). This chapter examines the narrated and photographic experiences of 14 sex working mothers in Canada, with the overarching question: “How do these womxn navigate and negotiate the daily work of social reproduction and paid work in precarious conditions?” The chapter argues that the motivations of participants, as complexly positioned workers within capitalism, to pursue sex work are reflective of antiwork tendencies and Kathi Weeks’ proposition for a postwork society. Participants stress their occupational choice as best enabling them to negotiate some of the traditional constraints of working motherhood – granting some participants financial security, greater flexibility, fewer working hours compared to traditional full-time occupations, refusal to overwork, and/or having greater leisure time to invest in themselves and their families. In doing so, this chapter aims to expand current debates on sex work, working motherhood, and anti-capitalist ideologies.