ABSTRACT
The problem of prostitution, sex work or sex for sale can often be misunderstood, if we do not take into consideration its spatial, temporal and political context.
Understanding Sex for Sale aims to understand how prostitution, sex work or sex for sale are delineated, contested and understood in different spaces, places and times; with a particular focus on identifying how the relation between sex and money is interpreted and enacted. Divided into three parts, this interdisciplinary volume offers contributions that discuss ongoing theoretical issues and analytical challenges. Some chapters focus on how prostitution, sex work, or sex for sale have been regulated by the authorities and on the understandings that regulations are built upon. Other chapters investigate the experiences of sex workers and sex buyers, examining how these actors adjust to or resist the categorisation processes, control and stigma they are subjected to. Finally, a third group of chapters discuss contemporary definitional issues produced by various actors tasked with controlling prostitution or offering social services to its participants.
Advancing and placing analytical tools at the forefront of the discussion, Understanding Sex for Sale appeals to undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as researchers interested in fields such as, sociology, anthropology, criminology, history, human geography and gender studies.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|61 pages
Historically speaking
chapter 2|19 pages
What’s the problem with prostitution?
chapter 4|21 pages
The production and transformation of prostitution spaces
part II|80 pages
Speaking from experience
chapter 5|16 pages
Intensive mothering as cultural script
chapter 8|16 pages
A ‘continuum of sexual economic exchanges’ or ‘weak agency’?
part III|56 pages
Speaking about control