Et tú brutè? A qualitative analysis of streetwalking prostitutes' interpersonal support networks

Intensive interviews were conducted with 31 streetwalking prostitutes to examine their interpersonal support systems. Interviews focused on their relationships with parents or parental figures, partners, and children. Data were analyzed using phenomenological descriptive analysis. Results reveal the potentially dark side of human relationships and the destructive, lingering effects of such on individual development. Familial environments were characterized by parental alcoholism and drug abuse, domestic violence, parental absence and abandonment, and multiple forms of childhood abuse. Relationships between the women and their male partners were largely devoid of emotional content but rather based on sex and drugs. Few of the women retained custody of their children, although many were hopeful that they would be reunited with them in the future.