Charting Sex Work in Malta: First Steps

Sex work is a contested issue in academic, political, and public discourse, often polarised between abolitionist and labour rights perspectives. In Malta, where local research remains scarce, legal ambiguities, criminalisation, and stigma push sex work underground, exacerbating precarious conditions and restricting access to healthcare, legal protection, and social support. Despite ongoing public debates on regulatory reform, the absence of local empirical evidence allows misconceptions and legal uncertainties to persist. This article provides the first descriptive mapping of Malta’s sex work landscape rooted in empirical research. It integrates data from two independent research projects based on interviews with 81 participants, including sex workers (n = 45), non-sex-working stakeholders (n = 35), and one ‘pimp’. The aim is to offer preliminary insights into sex work in Malta across four key dimensions – actors, spaces, tools, and time – and present a nuanced analytical framework beyond traditional hierarchical approaches to sex work. The findings highlight the diversity of sex workers’ backgrounds in Malta, spanning different genders, nationalities, and socioeconomic circumstances. While some participants operate independently, including through digital platforms, others work under varying degrees of third-party management, revealing a spectrum of autonomy and constraint. Street-based workers face heightened risks of violence and police scrutiny, whereas digital platforms present both new opportunities and emerging vulnerabilities. In addition, entrenched stigma, unclear legal frameworks, and exclusionary service provision further hinder sex workers’ access to essential healthcare and legal protection. This study contributes empirical evidence to inform policy and public debate by documenting these complexities, challenging moralistic narratives, and advocating for an evidence-based approach. We encourage future research to expand this framework, engage with larger and comparative samples, and centre policy discussions on the lived realities of sex work.