Womens participation in the sex trade industry has always been a subject of contention, with conflicting representations. In this study, drawing on in-depth, face-to-face interviews with ten independent in-call and/or out-call sex workers, I seek to understand the distinctive names and meanings attributed to the identities of sex workers. Drawing on divergent analytical concepts such as legal consciousness, respectability, self creation and the intersection between gender, race, class and sexuality I chart participants perceptions and interpretations of the classifications inscribed to them...