Sex Work

by Frédérique Delacoste

  ———. “P.I.M.P. (Prostitutes in Municipal Politics).” In Policing Public Sex: Queer Politics and the Future of AIDS Activism, edited by E. G. Colter, W. Hoffman, E. Pendleton, A. Redick, and D. Serlin. Boston: South End Press, 1996.

  McClintock, Anne, guest ed. Social Text, Number 37 (Winter 1993). A special issue devoted to sex work issues. Includes articles covering such issues as stigma, feminism, and power relations, written by sex workers, clients, sociologists, psychologists.

  Murray, Alison. “Femme on the Streets, Butch in the Sheets (a play on whores)” In Mapping Desire: Geographies of Sexualities, edited by David Bell & Gill Valentine. London: Routledge, 1995.

  Nagle, Jill, ed. Whores and Other Feminists. New York: Routledge, 1997.

  Perkins, Roberta. Working Girls: Prostitutes, Their Life and Social Control. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 1991.

  ———, and G. Bennett. Being a Prostitute: Prostitute Women and Prostitute Men. Boston: Allen & Unwin, Inc., 1985.

  Pheterson, Gail, ed. A Vindication of the Rights of Whores. Seattle: Seal Press, 1989. Available in Spanish: Nosotros, Las Putas. Madrid: Talasa Ediciones, 1992. Includes the proceedings of the Second World Whores’ Congress held in Brussels, Belgium, in 1986.

  Queen, Carol. Real, Live, Nude Girl: Chronicles of Sex-Positive Culture. San Francisco: Cleis Press, 1997.

  Réal, Grisélidis. La Passe Imaginaire. Levallois-Perret, France: Editions Manya, 1992.

  Roberts, Nickie. The Front Line: Women in the Sex Industry Speak. London: Grafton Books, a division of Collins Pulbishers, 1986.

  Voices of Allies

  Alexander, Priscilla, “Feminism, Sex Workers, and Human Rights.” In Whores and Other Feminists., edited by Jill Nagle. New York: Routledge, 1997.

  ———. “Who Counts the Women: Prostitution and Homelessness.” Unpublished paper, 1996. Available from the NTFP.

  Bell, Shannon. Reading, Writing, and Rewriting the Prostitute Body. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994.

  Califia, Pat. Public Sex: The Culture of Radical Sex. San Francisco: Cleis Press, 1994. See “Whoring in Utopia,” pp. 242-248

  Chapkis, Wendy. Live Sex Acts: Women Performing Erotic Labor. New York: Routledge, 1997.

  Chancer, Lynn Sharon. “Prostitution, Feminist Theory, and Ambivalence: Notes from the Sociological Underground.” Social Text 37 (Winter 1993): 143-172.

  Jenness, Valerie. Making It Work: The Prostitutes’ Rights Movement in Perspective. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 1993.

  McElroy, Wendy. XXX: A Woman’s Right to Pornography. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1995. See Chapter 7, “Interviews with Women in Porn,” pp. 146-191, and Chapter 9, “A Coyote Meeting,” pp. 202-230.

  McIntosh, Mary. “Feminist Debates on Prostitution.” In Sexualizing the Social: Power and the Organization of Sexuality, edited by Lisa Adkins and Vicki Merchant. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1996.

  Pearl, Julie. “The Highest Paying Customers: America’s Cities and the Costs of Prostitution Control.” The Hastings Law Journal Vol. 38, No. 4 (April 1987): 769-800.

  Pheterson, Gail. The Prostitution Prism. Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam Press, 1996.

  Plachy, Sylvia, and James Ridgeway. Red Light: Inside the Sex Industry. New York: Powerhouse Books, 1996.

  Reynolds, Helen. The Economics of Prostitution. Charles Thomas Publishers, 1986.

  Shaver, Frances M. “The Regulation of Prostitution: Avoiding the Morality Traps.” CJLS/RCDS 9(1) (Spring 1994): 123-145.

  ———. “Prostitution: A Female Crime?” In In Conflict with the Law: Women and the Canadian Justice System, edited by Ellen Adelberg and Claudia Currie Vancouver: Press Gang Publishers, 1993.

  ———. “Prostitution: A Critical Analysis of Three Policy Approaches.” Canadian Public Policy XI(3) (1985): 493-503.

  ———. “A Critique of the Feminist Charges Against Prostitution.” Atlantis 14(1) (Fall 1988): 82.

  Shrage, Lauri. Moral Dilemmas of Feminism: Prostitution, Adultery, and Abortion. New York: Routledge, 1994.

  Taylor, Allegra. Prostitution: What’s Love Got to Do with It? London: Optima, Macdonald & Co. (Publishers) Ltd., 1991.

  Tisdale, Sallie. Talk Dirty to Me: An Intimate Philosophy of Sex. New York: Doubleday, 1994. See especially, pp. 167-207.

  Sociology of the Street

  Carmen, Arlene and Howard Moody. Working Women: The Subterranean World of Street Prostitution. New York: Harper & Row, 1985.

  Cohen, Bernard. Deviant Street Networks: Prostitution in New York City. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1980.

  McKeganey, Neil, and Marina Barnard. Working the Streets: Sex Workers and Their Clients. Foreword by Priscilla Alexander. London: Open University Press, 1996.

  McLeon, Eileen. Women Working: Prostitution Now. London: Croom Helm, 1982.

  Miller, E. M. Street Woman. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1986.

  Zausner, Michael. The Streets: A Factual Portrait of Six Prostitutes as Told in Their Own Words. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1986.

  Male Sex Workers

  Gibson, Barbara. Male Order: Life Stories from Boys Who Sell Sex. London: Cassell, 1995.

  Steward, Sam. Understanding the Male Hustler. New York: Harrington Park Press, 1991.

  West, Donald J., and Buz de Villiers. Male Prostitution. Binghamton, NY: Harrington Park Press, 1993.

  The Client

  de Graaf, Ron. Prostitutes and Their Clients: Sexual Networks and Determinants of Condom Use. Den Haag: CIP-Gegevens Koninklijke Bibliotheek, 1995.

  Leonard, Terri L. “Male Clients of Female Street Prostitutes: Unseen Partners in Sexual Disease Transmission.” Medical Anthropology Quarterly 4(1) (March 1990): 41-55.

  McKeganey, N. P. “Why Do Men Buy Sex and What Are Their Assessments of the HIV Related Risks When They Do?” AIDS Care 6(3) (1994).

  Voice of the Anti-Prostitute (Abolitionist) Feminists

  Abrams, Kathryn. “Sex Wars Redux: Agency and Coercion in Feminist Legal Theory.” Columbia Law Review 95(2) (March 1995): 304-376.

  Anthony, Jane. “Prostitution as ‘Choice.’ Ms. Magazine, (January/February 1992): 86-87.

  Barry, Kathleen. Female Sexual Slavery. New York: New York University Press, 1979.

  ———. The Prostitution of Sexuality: The Global Exploitation of Women. New York: New York University Press, 1995.

  Giobbe, Evalina. “Prostitution: Buying the Right to Rape.” In Rape and Sexual Assault III: A Research Handbook, edited by AnnWolbert Burgess. New York: Garland Press, 1991.

  Høgard, Cecilie and Liv Finstad. Backstreets: Prostitution, Money and Love. Translated by Katherine Hanson, Nancy Sipe, and Barbara Wilson. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 1992.

  O’Connell Davidson, Julia. “Prostitution and the Contours of Control.” In Sexual Cultures: Communities, Values and Intimacy, by Jeffrey Weeks and Janet Holland. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1996.

  Overall, Christine. “What’s Wrong with Prostitution? Evaluating Sex Work.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. 17(4) (1992): 705-724.

  Sarah Wynter (aka Evelina Giobbe). “Whisper: Women Hurt in Systems of Prostitution Engaged in Revolt.” In Sex Work: Writings by Women in the Sex Industry, edited by Frederique Delacoste and Priscilla Alexander, 266-270. San Francisco: Cleis Press, 1987.

  The Laws and Their Enforcement

  SOURCES OF ARREST STATISTICS

  1993 Crime and Justice Annual Report. Albany: New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, Office of Justice Systems Analysis, Bureau of Statistical Services, 1994. Every state publishes an annual report like this, compiling criminal justice statistics from local jurisdictions. This data is, in turn, reported to the United States Department of Justice. Every city also produces statistics, which are a part of the public record and therefore available to anyone who wants to study them.

  Federal Bureau of Investigation. Uniform Crime Reports. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, published annually.
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br />   U.S. Department of Justice. Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, published annually.

  DEVELOPMENT AND ENFORCEMENT OF THE LAWS

  Decker, John R. Prostitution: Regulation and Control. Littleton, CO: Fred B. Rothman & Co., 1979.

  Lowman, John. “Prostitution Law in Canada.” Comparative Law Review 23(3) (1989): 13-48

  ———. “Street Prostitution Control: Some Canadian Reflections on the Finsbury Park Experience.” The British Journal of Criminology 32(1) (Winter 1992): 1-17.

  McLaren, John, and John Lowman. “Enforcing Canada’s Prostitution Laws, 1892-1920: Rhetoric and Practice.” In Securing Compliance: Seven Case Studies, edited by M.L. Friedland. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1990.

  Sex Work in Africa, Asia, and Latin America

  AFRICA

  Hall, Laurel Meredith. “‘Night Life’ in Kenya.” In A Vindication of the Rights of Whores, edited by Gail Pheterson. Seattle: Seal Press, 1989.

  Moodie, T. Dunbar (with Vivienne Ndatshe and British Sibuyi). “Migrancy and Male Sexuality on the South African Gold Mines.” In Hidden from History: Reclaiming the Gay and Lesbian Past, edited by Martin Bauml Duberman, Martha Vicinius, and George Chauncey, Jr. New York: New American Library, 1989.

  Neequaye, Alfred. “Prostitution in Accra.” AIDS, Drugs, and Prostitution, edited by Martin Plant. London: Tavistock Publications, 1987.

  Nelson, Nici. “‘Selling Her Kiosk’: Kikuyu Notions of Sexuality and Sex for Sale in Mathare Valley, Kenya.” In The Cultural Construction of Sexuality, edited by Pat Caplan. London: Tavistock Publications, 1987.

  Oostenk, Annemiek. “A Visit to Burkina Faso.” In A Vindication of the Rights of Whores, edited by Gail Pheterson. Seattle: Seal Press, 1989.

  Pickering, Helen. “Social Science Methods Used in a Study of Prostitutes in the Gambia.” In Challenge and Innovation: Methodological Advances in Social Research on HIV/AIDS, edited by Mary Boulton. London: Taylor & Francis, 1994.

  ———, et al. “Prostitutes and Their Clients: A Gambian Survey.” Soc. Sci. Med Vol. 34 No. 1 (1992): 75-88.

  Tabet, Paola. “I’m the Meat, I’m the Knife: Sexual Service, Migration, and Repression in Some African Societies.” In A Vindication of the Rights of Whores, edited by Gail Pheterson. Seattle: Seal Press, 1989.

  White, Luise. The Comforts of Home: Prostitution in Colonial Nairobi. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1990.

  ———. “Prostitution, Identity, and Class Consciousness During World War II.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 11,2 (1986): 255-73.

  Wilson, David, et al. “A Pilot Study for an HIV Prevention Programme Among Commercial Sex Workers in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.” Soc Sci Med Vol. 31, No. 5 (1990): 609-618.

  ASIA

  Desquitado, Marivic R. Behind the Shadows: Towards a Better Understanding of Prostituted Women. Davao City: Talikala, Inc., 1992. Published by a community organizing project in Davao City, the Philippines. The project was formed by a group that included social workers and prostitutes.

  Enloe, Cynthia. Bananas, Beaches & Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics. London: Pandora Press, 1989. See the chapters, “On the Beach: Sexism and Tourism,” and “Base Women.”

  ———. Does Khaki Become You? The Militarisation of Women’s Lives. Boston: South End Press, 1983. See the chapters, “The Military Needs Camp Followers” and “The Militarisation of Prostitution.”

  Gronewold, Sue. Beautiful Merchandise: Prostitution in China 1860-1936. New York: Harrington Park Press, 1985.

  Haeri, Shahla. Law of Desire: Temporary Marriage in Shi’i Iran. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1989.

  Kapur, Promilla. The Indian Call Girls. New Delhi: Orient Paperbacks, 1979. This book comes with an insert that says, “This book has now been exonerated from obscenity charge by Delhi High Court.”

  Nanda, Serena. Neither Man Nor Woman: The Hijras of India. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1990.

  Odzer, Cleo. Patpong Sisters: An American Woman’s View of the Bangkok Sex World New York: Blue Moon Books/Arcade Publishing, 1994.

  Phongpaichit, Pasuk. From Peasant Girls to Bangkok Masseuses. Geneva: International Labour Office, 1982.

  Raghuramaiah, K. Lakshmi. Night Birds: Indian Prostitutes from Devadasis to Call Girls. Delhi: Chankya Publications, 1991.

  Sleightholme, Carolyn, & Indrani Sinha. Guilty Without Trial: Women in the Sex Trade in Calcutta. Calcutta: Stree, 1996. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1996.

  Sturdevant, Saundra Pollack, & Brenda Stoltzfus. Let the Good Times Roll: Prostitution and the U.S. Military in Asia. New York: The New Press, 1992.

  Thorbek, Suzanne. Voices from the City: Women of Bangkok. London: Zed Books, 1987.

  Truong, Thanh-Dam. Sex, Money and Morality: Prostitution and Tourism in South-East Asia. London: Zed Books, 1990.

  ———. Virtue, Order, Health and Money: Towards a Comprehensive Perspective on Female Prostitution in Asia. Bangkok: United Nations, Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, 1986.

  LATIN AMERICA

  Gomezjara, Francisco, and Estanislao Barrera. Sociologia de la Prostitucion. Mexico, DF: Fontamara, S.A., 1978.

  Guider, Margaret Eletta. Daughters of Rahab: Prostitution and the Church of Liberation in Brazil. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995.

  Guy, Donna. Sex and Danger in Buenos Aires: Prostitution, Family, and Nation in Argentina. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990.

  ———. “White Slavery,” Citizenship and Nationality in Argentina.” In Nationalisms & Sexualities, edited by Andrew Parker, Mary Russo, Doris Sommer, and Patricia Yaeger. New York: Routledge, 1992.

  “Trafficking” vs. Sex Work Migration

  Altink, Sietske. Stolen Lives: Trading Women into Sex and Slavery. London: Scarlet Press/New York: Harrington Park Press, 1995. Altink distinguishes between forced prostitution and prostitution that is the result of individual decision.

  Asia Watch and The Women’s Rights Project. A Modern Form of Slavery: Trafficking of Burmese Women and Girls into Brothels in Thailand. New York: Human Rights Watch, 1993.

  Barry, Kathleen, Charlotte Bunch, and Shirley Castley. International Feminism: Networking against Female Sexual Slavery, Report of the Global Feminist Workshop to Organize Against Traffic in Women, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, April 6-15, 1983. New York: The International Women’s Tribune Center, 1984. This book views all prostitution as slavery/forced, and does not recognize women’s agency.

  Klap, Marieke, Yvonne Klerk, and Jacqueline Smith. Combatting Traffic in Persons. Utrecht: Netherlands Institute of Human Rights, 1995. Presentations and submitted papers from the Conference on Traffic in Persons, Utrecht and Maastricht, the Netherlands, 15-19 November 1994.

  Langum, David J. Crossing Over the Line: Legislating Morality and the Mann Act. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994.

  Pheterson, Gail. “Right to Asylum, Migration and Prostitution.” In The Prostitution Prism, by Gail Pheterson. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 1996.

  Sex Work and Public Health

  OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH

  Alegría, M., M. Vera, D. H. Freeman, R. Robles, M. C. del Santos, C. L. Rivera. “HIV Infection, Risk Behaviors, and Depressive Symptoms Among Puerto Rican Sex Workers.” American Journal of Public Health 84 (1994): 2000-2002.

  Alexander, Priscilla. “Sex Work and Health: A Question of Safety in the Workplace.” Journal of the American Medical Women’s Association. (In press).

  ———. “Sex Work.” In Encyclopedia of Occupational Health and Safety, edited by Jeanne Stellman. Geneva: International Labour Office, 1997.

  ———. “Prostitution is Sex Work: Occupational Safety and Health.” Unpublished paper, 1995. Available from the NTFP.

  Barnard, Marina A. “Violence and Vulnerability: Conditions of Work for Streetworking Prostitutes.” Sociology of Health and Illness 15:5 (November 1993): 683-705. />
  de Graaf, Ron. Prostitutes and Their Clients: Sexual Networks and Determinants of Condom Use. Den Haag: CIP-Gegevens Koninklijke Bibliotheek, 1995.

  El-Bassel N, R. F. Schilling, K. L. Irwin, S. Faruque, L. Gilbert, J. Von Bargen, Y. Serrano, and B. R. Edlin. “Sex Trading and Psychological Distress Among Women Recruited from the Streets of Harlem.” Am J Public Health 87(1) (1997): 66-70.

  Goss, D., and D. Adam-Smith. Organizing AIDS: Workplace and Organizational Responses to the HIV/AIDS Epidemic. London: Taylor & Francis, 1995.

  Levine, Philippa. “Consistent Contradictions: Prostitution and Protective Labour Legislation in Nineteenth-Century England.” Social History 19(1) (January 1994): 18-35.

  McKeganey, Neil, Marina Barnard, and Michael Bloor. “A Comparison of HIV-Related Risk Behaviour and Risk Reduction Between Female Street Working Prostitutes and Male Rent Boys in Glasgow.” Sociology of Health and Illness 12 (1992): 247-292.

  Shaver, Frances M. “Prostitution: On the Dark Side of the Service Industry.” In Post Critical Criminology, edited by Tom Fleming. Scarborough, Ontario: Prentice Hall, 1995.

  Vanwesenbeeck, Ine. Prostitutes’ Well-Being and Risk. Amsterdam: VU University Press, 1994.

  ———, G. van Zessen, R. de Graaf, C. J. Straver. “Contextual and Interactional Factors Influencing Condom Use in Heterosexual Prostitution Contacts.” Patient Education & Counseling 24(3) (December 1994): 307-322.

  THE QUESTION OF DRUGS

  Goldstein, Paul J. Prostitution and Drugs. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1979.

  James, Jennifer. “Prostitution and Addiction: An Interdisciplinary Approach.” Unpublished paper, 1975.

  ———, “Prostitutes and Prostitution.” In Deviants: Voluntary Actors in a Hostile World, edited by Edward Sagarin and Fred Montanino. General Learning Press, Scott, Foresman & Co., 1977.

  Plant, Martin, ed. AIDS, Drugs, and Prostitution. London: Tavistock/Routledge, 1990. A series of papers on the epidemiology of HIV infection among prostitutes and the impact of AIDS prevention and community organizing interventions in Europe, the United States, Australia, and Africa.