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Abstract
Commercial sex work is a high-risk job and individuals who desire to leave the sex industry find the process of exiting complex and full of obstacles. This qualitative and explorative study identified the barriers to exiting and factors contributing to the cycle of enter/exit/re-entering commercial sex work. Unstructured face to face interviews were conducted to collect data from ten individuals who have been or are currently involved in the indoor legal commercial sex industry. This study found barriers in the individual, social, relational, and structural domains. The results validated the use of the polymorphous paradigm and the concept of reciprocal causation to comprehend the challenges of exit and factors that reinforce the cycle of enter/exit/re-entering the industry. The expanded knowledge from this study yielded insight for service providers to develop appropriate programs and services. The additional questions generated by this study established a framework for researchers to broaden the knowledge on the topic of exiting sex work.