Women's Health, Studies, and Feminism

Sex Work: Suggested Books

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Index

Feminism

General

Markets

Migration, trafficking and exploitation

Global perspectives 

Health

History

Criminal law

Criminology

Organisation

Philosophy

Public policy

Sexuality, intimacy and desire  

Social movements  

Literature 

Sex workers' voices 

Forthcoming   

Selected chapters from other books  

Book reviews   

 


 

GENERAL

 

Bell S. Reading, Writing and Rewriting the Prostitute Body. Indiana University, Bloomington, 1994

Excerpts

 

Benjamin H, Masters R. Prostitution and Morality: A definitive report on prostitution in contemporary society and an analysis of the causes and effects of suppressing of prostitution. Julian Press, NY; Souvenir Press, London 1964

Sources

 

Bernstein E. Temporarily Yours: Intimacy, Authenticity, and the Commerce of Sex. University of Chicago Press 2007.

Excerpts

 

Brewis J, Linsted S. Sex, Work and Sex Work: Eroticizing organization. Routledge, London 2000

 

Brooks-Gordon B. The Price of Sex: Prostitution, Policy and Society. Willan, Cullompton 2006

Excerpts

Review: Kim Stevenson: Internet Law Book Review

Review: Reshad Suffee: Critical Social Policy (pdf)  

 

Campbell R, O'Neill M (eds.) Sex Work Now. Willan, Cullompton 2006

Excerpts

Chapter 5: Migration and the sex industry. L Agustin

Review: see below (Robinson)

                     

 

Day S. On The Game: Women and sex work. Pluto, London 2007

Review: Sariola Critique of Anthropology 2009

Review: see below (Robinson)

 

Ditmore M (ed.) Encyclopaedia of Prostitution and Sex Work. Greenwood Press, N.Y. 2006

 

Ditmore M, Levy A, Willman A (eds.) Sex Work Matters: Power and intimacy in the sex industry. Zed, 2009

 

Gangoli G, Westmarland N. International Approaches to Prostitution. The Policy Press, London 2006

Excerpts

 

Hardy K, Kingston S, Sanders T (eds.) New Sociologies of Sex Work. Ashgate, Aldershot 2010    

 

Jeffreys S. The idea of prostitution. Spinifex, Melbourne 1997

 

Kinell H. Violence and sex work in Britain. Willan 2008

 

Law L. Sex Work in South Asia: The place of desire in a Time of HIV/AIDS. Routledge, London 2000

 

McLeod E. Women Working: Prostitution now. Croom Helm, London 1982

Sources

Extracts

Review: BJSW 1984

 

Murray A. Pink Fits: Sex, Subcultures and Discourses in the Asia Pacific (Monash Papers on Southeast Asia, No. 53). Monash Asia Institute Press, Melbourne 2001

 

Matthews R, O'Neill M. Prostitution. Ashgate, Aldershot 2003

 

Matthews R. Prostitution, Politics and Policy. Routledge, London 2008

 

Munro V, Della Giusta M. Demanding Sex: Critical reflections on the regulation of prostitution. Ashgate, Aldershot 2008

          Excerpts

          Katie Cruz: Feminist Legal Studies 2009

          Paul Hamilton: Internet J Criminol 2009

 

O'Connell Davidson J. Prostitution, Power and Freedom. Polity Press, Cambridge 1998

Review: see below (Nagle)

 

Outshoorn J (ed.) The Politics of Prostitution: Women's movements, democratic states, and the globalisation of sex commerce. Cambridge 2004

Excerpts

 

Pheterson G (ed.) A Vindication of the Rights of Whores. Seal Press, Seattle 1989

 

Pheterson G. The Prostitution Prism. Amsterdam University Press 1996

Excerpts (French edition)

 

Phoenix J. Making Sense of Prostitution. 2nd ed. Palgrave, London 2001

Excerpts

 

Scambler G, Scambler A (eds.) Rethinking Prostitution. Routledge, London 1996  

Excerpts (Amazon)  Excerpts (Google)

Chapter 1. Prostitute women now. M O'Neill

 

Sanders T. Paying for Pleasure. Men who buy sex. Willan, Cullompton 2008

Review Rachela Calosi. Crime Prevention Community Safety (citation only) 

 

Sanders T, O’Neill M, Pitcher J. Prostitution: Sex work, policy and politics. Sage, London 2009

 

Self H. Prostitution, Women and Misuse of the Law: The fallen daughters of Eve: Routledge, London 2003

Excerpts

 

Spector J (ed.) Prostitution and Pornography: Philosophical debates about the sex industry. Stanford, Palo Alto 2006

 

Sullivan ML. Making Sex Work: A failed experiment with legalised prostitution. Spinifex, Melbourne 2007

 

Weitzer R (ed.) Sex for sale: Prostitution, pornography and the sex industry. Routledge, London 1999.  Second edition 2009

Excerpts

Review: see below (Nagle)

 

MARKETS

          Indoor (invisible)

 

Sanders T. Sex Work: A risky business. Willan, Cullompton 2005

Reviews (abstracts)

Scoular: Sexualities 2006

 

                      Stripping and dancing

 

Colosi R. Dirty Dancing? An ethnography of lap dancing. Willan,  Cullompton 2010  

 

          Outdoor (visible)

 

Canter D, Ioannou M, Youngs D (Eds.) Safer Sex in the City: The Experience and Management of Street Prostitution. Ashgate, Aldershot 2009

          Review

 

 

MIGRATION, TRAFFICKING AND EXPLOITATION

 

Agathangelou A. The Global Political Economy of Sex: Desire, violence and insecurity in Mediterranean Nation States. Palgrave, NY 2006

 

Agustin LA. Sex at the Margins: Migration, labour markets and the rescue industry. Zed, London 2007

Excerpts                                                                                                                                        

Interview with Laura: Susie Bright Oct 9 2007

Behind the News: Radio interview with Laura, WBAI New York,  Nov 15th 2007 (audio file)

The sex in 'sex trafficking': Augustin, American Sexuality Dec 2007

Brendan O'Neill: The myth of trafficking. New Statesman 27 March 2008     

 

Andrijasevic R. Migration, Agency and Citizenship in Sex Trafficking. Palgrave, Basingstoke 2010

          Excerpts

 

Brown L. Sex Slaves: The trafficking of women in Asia. Virago Press, London 2001

 

Davies J. My name is not Natasha: How Albanian women in France use trafficking to overcome social exclusion (1998-2001). University of Amsterdam 2009  

 

Dewey S. Hollow Bodies: Institutional Responses to Sex Trafficking in Armenia, Bosnia, and India. Kumarian, Sterling VA 2008  

 

Doezema J. Sex Slaves and Discourse Masters: The Construction of Trafficking. Zed, London 2010

 

Farr K. Sex Trafficking: The global market in women and children. Worth Publishing, N.Y. 2006

 

FitzGerald S (ed.) Regulating the International Movement of Women: From Protection to Control. Routledge, Abingdon 2011 

 

Flowers RB. The Prostitution of Women and Children. McFarland, Jefferson N.C. 1998

 

Kempadoo K (ed.) Trafficking and Prostitution Reconsidered: new perspectives on migration, sex work and human rights. Paradigm Publishers, Boulder CO 2005

 

O'Connell Davidson J. Children in the Global Sex Trade. Polity Press, Cambridge 2005

 

Zheng T. (ed.) Sex Trafficking, Human Rights, and Social Justice. Routledge, Abingdon 2010

 

 

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

 

Kempadoo K, Doezema J (eds.) Global Sex Workers: Rights, Resistance, and Redefinition. Routledge, New York 1998

Excerpts

 

 

HEALTH

 

Pisani E. The Wisdom of Whores:, Bureaucrats, Brothels and the Business of AIDS. Granta, London 2006

Excerpts

Reviews: Guardian 2009, New England Journal of Medicine 2009

 

 

HISTORY

 

Bartley P. Prostitution Prevention and Reform in England, 1860-1914. Routledge, London 2000

Excerpts

Excerpts

 

Karras RM. Common Women: Prostitution and sexuality in mediaeval England. Oxford 1996

Excerpts

 

 

Matlock J. Scenes of Seduction: Prostitution, Hysteria and Reading Difference in Nineteenth-Century France. Columbia, NY 1994

Excerpts

 

McHugh P. Prostitution and Victorian Social Reform. Croom Helm, London 1980

 

Pullen K. Actresses and Whores: On Stage and in Society. Cambridge 2005

Excerpts

 

Roberts N. Whores in History: Prostitution in Western history. Harper Collins, London 1992

Sources

 

Rossiaud J. Medieval Prostitution. Blackwell, Oxford 1988

Sources

 

Sharp I, Jordan J. Josephine Butler and the Prostitution Campaigns: Diseases of the body politic. Routledge 2003

Excerpts

 

Walkowitz JR. Prostitution and Victorian Society: Women, class, and the State. Cambridge 1980

 

Walkowitz JR. City of Dreadful Delight: Narratives of sexual danger in late-Victorian London. University of Chicago 1992

 

 

CRIMINAL LAW

 

Ashworth A. Principles of Criminal Law. 5th ed. Oxford 2006

 

Brown D, Farrier D, McNamara L, Egger S, Steel A. Criminal Laws: Materials and commentary on criminal law in NSW. 4th ed. Federation Press 2006, Sydney 2006

          Chapter 8 Public Order Offences

                      Excerpt: 8.7 Prostitution pp 885-905[1]

 

Feinberg J. The Moral Limits of the Criminal Law. 4 vols. Oxford 1987-90

 

Nicolson D, Bibbings L (eds.) Feminist Perspectives on Criminal Law. Routledge, London 2000

          Excerpts

 

Norrie A. Crime, Reason and History: A critical introduction to criminal law. 2nd ed. Butterworths (Cambridge), London 2001

 

 

CRIMINOLOGY

 

Hutter B, Williams G (eds.) Controlling women: the normal and the deviant. Croom Helm, London 1981 (extracts)

 

Letherby G, Birch P, Cain M, Williams K (eds.) Sex as Crime. Willan, Cullompton 2008

Chapter 2. Sanders T, Campbell R. What's criminal about female indoor sex work?

Chapter 3. Earle S, Sharp K. Intimacy, pleasure and the men who pay for sex

Chapter 4. O'Neill M. Sex, violence and work (Word)

 

Phoenix J, Oerton S. Illicit and Illegal: Sex, regulation and social control. Willan, Cullompton 2005 

Excerpts

 

Phoenix J (ed.) Regulating Sex for Sale: Prostitution policy reform in the UK. Policy 2009

Review: Rachela Colosi THE 2009  

 

Smart C. Women, crime, and criminology: a feminist critique. Routledge, London 1976

 

Smart C, Smart B (eds.) Women, sexuality, and social control. Routledge, London 1978

 

Smart C. Feminism and the power of law. Routledge, London 1989 

Excerpts

 

Smart C (ed.) Regulating Womanhood. Routledge, London 1992

Excerpts 

 

Smart C. Law, Crime and Sexuality: Essays in feminism. Sage, London 1995

 

 

LEGAL THEORY

 

Devlin P. The Enforcement of Morals. Oxford 1959

 

Dworkin R. Taking Rights Seriously. Harvard University Press, Cambridge 1977

 

Hart HLA. Law, Liberty and Morality. Stanford 1963

 

 

ORGANISATION

 

Gall G. Sex Worker Union Organising. Palgrave, Basingstoke 2006

Review: Work, Employment and Society (pdf)

 

 

PHILOSOPHY

 

LeMoncheck L. Loose Women, Lecherous Men: A feminist philosophy of sex. Oxford 1997

 

de Marneffe P. Liberalism and Prostitution. Oxford 2009

 

Spector J (ed.) Prostitution and pornography: philosophical debate about the sex industry, Stanford 2006

Excerpts

 

 

PUBLIC POLICY

Meadowcroft J. Prohibitions. IEA, London 2008

          (Downloadable)

 

 

SEXUALITY, INTIMACY AND DESIRE

 

Altman D. Global Sex. University of Chicago 2001

Excerpts

 

Collins A. Cities of Pleasure: Sex and the urban socialscape. Routledge 2006

Excerpts

 

Hawkes G. Sex and Pleasure in Western Society. Polity Press, Cambridge 2004

Excerpts

 

Illouz E. Consuming the Romantic Utopia: Love and the cultural contradictions of capitalism. University of California, Berkeley 1997

 

McNair B. Striptease Culture: Sex, media and the democratisation of desire. Routledge, London 2002

 

Zelizer VA. The Purchase of Intimacy. Princetown 2005

 

 

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

 

Cohen S. Folk devils and moral panics: The creation of the Mods and the Rockers. MacGibbon, London 1972

Excerpts

 

Jenness V. Making it work: the Prostitute's Rights Movement in perspective. Aldine de Gruyter: Hawthorne 1993

Excerpts

 

Zald M, McCarthy J (eds.) 1987. Social Movements in an Organizational Society. Transaction Books, New Brunswick 1987

Excerpts

 

 

LITERATURE

 

Ipsen A. Sex Working and the Bible. Equinox, London 2008

 

 

SEX WORKERS' VOICES

 

Delacoste F, Alexander P (eds.) Sex Work: Writings by Women in the Sex Industry, 2nd Ed. Cleis, San Francisco 1998

Excerpt

 

Hanson J. The Business of Sex. Lulu, Surry Hills 2007

Excerpts

 

Jaget C. Prostitutes: Our life. Falling Wall, Bristol 1980[2]

 

Lopez-Jones N (ed.) Some Mother's Daughter: the Hidden Movement of Prostitute Women Against Violence. Crossroads, London 1999

          Review

 

Nagle J. Whores and other feminists. Routledge, NY 1997

 

 

 

FORTHCOMING

 

Scoular J. The Subject of Prostitution: Sex/work, law and social theory. Cavendish, Glasshouse Press 2010

 

Smith N. Rough Trade: The Political Economy of Male Sex Work. Cornell University Press

 

 

SELECTED CHAPTERS FROM OTHER BOOKS

 

Edwards S. Selling the body, keeping the soul : Sexuality, power, the theories and realities of prostitution, in

Scott S, Morgan D (eds.): Body matters : Essays on the sociology of the body. Falmer Press, London 1993

 

Jenkins S. Exploitation - The role of law in regulating prostitution, in SD Sclater, et al. (eds.): Regulating Autonomy: sex, reproduction and family. Hart, Oxford 2009

 

McLeod E. Man-Made Laws For Men? The Street Prostitutes' Campaign Against Control, in Bridget Hutter, Gillian Williams (eds.) Controlling Women: the normal and the deviant. Croom Helm, London 1981 (excerpts)

 

Smart C. Researching prostitution: Some problems for feminist research, in Nebraska Sociological Feminist Collective (eds.) A Feminist ethic for social science research, Edwin Mellen, Lewiston 1988

 

Walkowitz JR. Male vice and female virtue: Feminism and politics of prostitution in Nineteenth-Century Britain, in:

A Snitow, C Stansell, S Thompson (eds.): Powers of Desire: The politics of sexuality. Virago, London 1983

Source

 

Wilson E. The City of the floating world: Paris, in The Sphinx in the City: Urban Life, the Control of Disorder, and Women. U California 1992 

Excerpts 

 

 

MULTIPLE BOOK REVIEWS

William Acton: Prostitution, Considered in its Moral, Social, and Sanitary Aspects 1857; Kellow Chesney: The Anti-society - An account of the Victorian Underworld 1991; Henry Mayhew: London labour and the London Poor 1861; Ronald Pearsall: The Worm in the Bud - The world of Victorian sexuality 1969. (Judith Walkowitz 1972) (pdf)

Deborah Brock: Making Work, Making Trouble - Prostitution as a Social Problem 1998; Julia O’Connell Davidson: Prostitution, Power and Freedom 1998; Dank and Refinetti: Sex Work and Sex Workers 1998; Ronald Weitzer: Sex for Sale 2000. (Jill Nagle 2002) (pdf)

Sophie Day: On the Game; Campbell and O'Neill: Sex Work Now. (Anne Robinson 2008)

 

Regulation and the Nation: Comparative Perspectives on Prostitution and Public Policy. (Holloway, Pippa. Journal of Women's History Volume 15, Number 1, Spring 2003, pp. 202-211)

 

Patty Kelly: Lydia's Open Door; Yasmina Katsulis: Sex Work and the City; Mark Padilla: Caribbean Pleasure Industry; Henry Trotter: Sugar Girls and Seaman; Tiantian Zheng: Red Lights (Weitzer, Ron. Contemporary Sociology 2010, 39: 3 262-9)

 

Svati Shah: Prostitution, Sex Work and Violence: Discursive and political contexts for five texts on paid sex, 1987-2001. Gend Hist 2004 (pdf) 

 

 

BOOKS BY COUNTRY

See:

Canada, Australia, New Zealand etc. by individual countries

 

 

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Last updated: October 20, 2011

 

 

 

Dr Michael Goodyear, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada

For any problems, please contact: mgoodyear@dal.ca



[1] Reproduced by permission

[2] Trans. From Une vie de putain