Full Description
Despite being dubbed "the world's oldest profession," prostitution has rarely been viewed as a legitimate form of labour. Instead, it is often criminalized, sensationalized, and polemicized across the socio-political spectrum by everyone from politicians to journalists to women's groups.
In Selling Sex, Emily van der Meulen, Elya M. Durisin, and Victoria Love present a more nuanced, balanced, and realistic view of the sex industry. They bring together a vast collection of voices - including researchers, feminists, academics, and advocates, as well as sex workers of differing ages, genders, and sectors - to engage in a dialogue that challenges the dominant narratives surrounding the sex industry and advances the idea that sex work is in fact work. Presenting a variety of opinions and perspectives on such diverse topics as social stigma, police violence, labour organizing, anti-prostitution feminism, human trafficking, and harm reduction, Selling Sex is an eye-opening, challenging, and necessary book.
Contents
Introduction / Emily van der Meulen, Elya M. Durisin, and Victoria Love
Part 1: Realities, Experiences, and Perspectives
1 Work, Sex, or Theatre? A Brief History of Toronto Strippers and Sex Work Identity / Deborah Clipperton
2 Myths and Realities of Male Sex Work: A Personal Perspective / River Redwood
3 Champagne, Strawberries, and Truck-Stop Motels: On Subjectivity and Sex Work / Victoria Love
4 Trans Sex Workers: Negotiating Sex, Gender, and Non-Normative Desire / Tor Fletcher
5 We Speak for Ourselves: Anti-Colonial and Self-Determined Responses to Young People Involved in the Sex Trade / JJ
6 Decolonizing Sex Work: Developing an Intersectional Indigenous Approach / Sarah Hunt
7 Transitioning Out of Sex Work: Exploring Sex Workers' Experiences and Perspectives / Tuulia Law
Part 2: Organizing and Social Change
8 Working for Change: Sex Workers in the Union Struggle / Jenn Clamen, Kara Gillies, and Trish Salah
9 Overcoming Challenges: Vancouver's Sex Worker Movement / Joyce Arthur, Susan Davis, and Esther Shannon
10 Né dans le Redlight: The Sex Workers' Movement in Montreal / Anna-Louise Crago and Jenn Clamen
11 Stepping All Over the Stones: Negotiating Feminism and Harm Reduction in Halifax / Gayle MacDonald, Leslie Ann Jeffrey, Karolyn Martin, and Rene Ross
12 Are Feminists Leaving Women Behind? The Casting of Sexually Assaulted and Sex-Working Women / Jane Doe
13 Going 'round Again: The Persistence of Prostitution-Related Stigma / Jacqueline Lewis, Frances M. Shaver, and Eleanor Maticka-Tyndale
Part 3: The Politics of Regulation
14 Regulating Women's Sexuality: Social Movements and Internal Exclusion / Michael Goodyear and Cheryl Auger
15 Crown Expert-Witness Testimony in Bedford v. Canada: Evidence-Based Argument or Victim-Paradigm Hyperbole? / John Lowman
16 Repeat Performance? Human Trafficking and the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games / Annalee Lepp
17 A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: Canadian Anti-Pimping Law and How It Harms Sex Workers / Kara Gillies
18 Still Punishing to "Protect": Youth Prostitution Law and Policy Reform / Steven Bittle
19 To Serve and Protect? Structural Stigma, Social Profiling, and the Abuse of Police Power in Ottawa / Chris Bruckert and Stacey Hannem
20 Beyond the Criminal Code: Municipal Licensing and Zoning Bylaws / Emily van der Meulen and Mariana Valverde
Afterword / Alan Young
Index
