Interestingly, the Prostitutes's Education Network - http://www.bayswan.org - cites a 1986 study which found that the vast majority of sex workers studied did indeed develop higher self-esteem after becoming sex workers :
Prince, Diana, "A Psychological Profile of Prostitutes in California and Nevada," San Diego: United States International University, PhD. dissertation, March 1986.
The article states:
?Some researchers suggest that prostitutes, in general, suffer from 'negative identities' or lack of self esteem. A 1986 study by Diane Prince, however, found call girls and brothel workers had higher self esteem than before they became prostitutes. 97% of call girls liked themselves 'more than before.' ?
This study is referenced in several articles and publications:
Prostitutes's Education Network:
Prostitution in The United States - The Statistics
( http://www.bayswan.org/stats.html )
San Francisco Task Force on Prostitution. Final Report 1996
( http://www.bayswan.org/15Resource.html )
Citizenshift. Media for Social Change:
Empowered sex workers: Do they exist?
By: Margo Caulfield In: Research for Sex Work 3, 2000
( http://citizenshift.org/blogs/mmlib/blog_BleuRouge/Empowered__sex.doc )
Sex, work and sex work: eroticizing organization
By Joanna Brewis, Stephen Linstead
( http://books.google.ca/books?id=ww72PkI_AqcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Sex,+work+and+sex+work:+eroticizing+organization&cd=1#v=onepage&q=&f=false )