ABSTRACT
This chapter considers how the relationship between prostitution and violence has been theorised and how the prevailing fault lines within the research on the normative status of prostitution are reflected in identifying the causes of, and responses to, violence. Before exploring the theoretical frameworks, it reviews some of the existing evidence on types of violence within prostitution, the perpetrators and context. The academic literature on prostitution has been dominated by two often conflicting perspectives. First, that prostitution is violence against women and is rooted in patriarchal relations. Second, that prostitution is work, for which women and men should be afforded labour rights and legal protections. An alternative understanding of prostitution is that it is a 'harmful cultural practice originating in the subordination of women', which both enables and itself constitutes a form of men's violence against women. Within the sex work perspective, the legal status and policing of selling and buying sex is a key factor in accounting for violence.
