Feminist Criminology, Ahead of Print.
Through a three-month field investigation and qualitative interviews with 24 rural-to-urban migrant women aged 18–25 in Changsha, China, this study explores these women’s experiences entering the illegal online sex industry. Our findings indicate that inequality, arising from migration and gender issues, precludes rural-to-urban migrant women from earning higher salaries and social recognition, leading some to actively choose to participate in the online sex industry and express their resistance to stigmatization and strict regulations. This study contributes to sex-positive criminology, migrant crime studies, and the decriminalization of online sex workers.