Overview

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.

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9780774824484

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Reviews

Intellectually stimulating, emotionally engaging and beautifully written, Selling sex: Experience, advocacy and research on sex work in Canada weaves together the diverse voices and perspectives of sex workers, academics, and activists to present a multilayered, complex, and rich understanding of sex work practice, research, policy, and political organizing. This collection of chapters centers the lived experiences of sex workers who are experts in their own lives and who are critical to the knowledge production about sex work. I highly recommend this refreshing and inspiring book that positions itself as a form of activism and resistance against sensationalistic and mainstream narratives of sex work. It challenges unidimentional notions of sex work by highlighting often silenced communities, including male, trans, youth, and indigenous sex trade workers. This collection of voices is an essential read for anyone working in a practice setting with sex workers, for students engaging in a critical analysis of sex work, for researchers committed to privileging the lived experiences of marginalized communities, and for those interested advancing their human rights and engaging in activism for social change. -- Moshoula Capous-Desyllas, California State University Northridge Affilia The breadth of ethnographic data and theoretical insights explored in Selling Sex makes it an excellent resource for most courses in sociology, law, gender and sexuality studies, criminology, and anthropology interested in deconstructing the contingent nature of sexuality, labor, and gender identity, and its intersection with various state agencies and other mechanisms of regulation. Similarly, the timely nature of this publication in relation to the Bedford decision situates this text, and the contributing authors, as influential authorities on sex work research in the post-Bedford era. -- Marcus A. Sibley, Carleton University Canadian Review of Sociology Selling Sex is an impressive testament to the agency, activism, and theorizing of sex workers, drawing from a multiplicity of viewpoints, including trans, male, youth, and Indigenous experiences. It importantly shines light on histories of sex work, the politics of regulation, and organizing for change in Canada and is a critical intervention into debates on feminism, anti-racism, and decolonization. A deeply insightful collection and a vital new contribution to the field of sex work studies. -- Kamala Kempadoo, professor of Social Science at York University and co-editor of Global Sex Workers: Rights, Resistance and Redefinition A unique collection of sex workers and their allies describing and defending a timely subject. A very insightful read. -- Maria Nengeh Mensah, professor, School of Social Work, Universite du Quebec a Montreal As a Canadian sex worker, I know too well how hard it can be to find a balanced, nuanced analysis of the lived experiences of people in my profession and the complex legal and social realities we encounter. Selling Sex proved to be a notable exception ... this book is invaluable as a resource to help people understand the complexities of the sex trade and to see the people who work within it as competent and capable of making their own decisions, rather than victims in need of rescue or deviants in need of punishment and control. -- Kamala Mara Canadian Dimension

A unique collection of sex workers and their allies describing and defending a timely subject. A very insightful read. -- Maria Nengeh Mensah, professor, School of Social Work, Universite du Quebec a Montreal The breadth of ethnographic data and theoretical insights explored in Selling Sex makes it an excellent resource for most courses in sociology, law, gender and sexuality studies, criminology, and anthropology interested in deconstructing the contingent nature of sexuality, labor, and gender identity, and its intersection with various state agencies and other mechanisms of regulation. Similarly, the timely nature of this publication in relation to the Bedford decision situates this text, and the contributing authors, as influential authorities on sex work research in the post-Bedford era. -- Marcus A. Sibley, Carleton University * Canadian Review of Sociology * Selling Sex is an impressive testament to the agency, activism, and theorizing of sex workers, drawing from a multiplicity of viewpoints, including trans, male, youth, and Indigenous experiences. It importantly shines light on histories of sex work, the politics of regulation, and organizing for change in Canada and is a critical intervention into debates on feminism, anti-racism, and decolonization. A deeply insightful collection and a vital new contribution to the field of sex work studies. -- Kamala Kempadoo, professor of Social Science at York University and co-editor of Global Sex Workers: Rights, Resistance and Redefinition As a Canadian sex worker, I know too well how hard it can be to find a balanced, nuanced analysis of the lived experiences of people in my profession and the complex legal and social realities we encounter. Selling Sex proved to be a notable exception ... this book is invaluable as a resource to help people understand the complexities of the sex trade and to see the people who work within it as competent and capable of making their own decisions, rather than victims in need of rescue or deviants in need of punishment and control. -- Kamala Mara * Canadian Dimension * Intellectually stimulating, emotionally engaging and beautifully written, Selling sex: Experience, advocacy and research on sex work in Canada weaves together the diverse voices and perspectives of sex workers, academics, and activists to present a multilayered, complex, and rich understanding of sex work practice, research, policy, and political organizing. This collection of chapters centers the lived experiences of sex workers who are experts in their own lives and who are critical to the knowledge production about sex work. I highly recommend this refreshing and inspiring book that positions itself as a form of activism and resistance against sensationalistic and mainstream narratives of sex work. It challenges unidimentional notions of sex work by highlighting often silenced communities, including male, trans, youth, and indigenous sex trade workers. This collection of voices is an essential read for anyone working in a practice setting with sex workers, for students engaging in a critical analysis of sex work, for researchers committed to privileging the lived experiences of marginalized communities, and for those interested advancing their human rights and engaging in activism for social change. -- Moshoula Capous-Desyllas, California State University Northridge * Affilia *

Author Information

Emily van der Meulen is an assistant professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Ryerson University. Elya M. Durisin is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Political Science at York University. Victoria Love is a sex worker, activist, and member of Maggie's: The Toronto Sex Workers Action Project. Contributors: Joyce Arthur, Cheryl Auger, Steven Bittle, Chris Bruckert, Jenn Clamen, Deborah Clipperton, Anna-Louise Crago, Susan Davis, Jane Doe, Tor Fletcher, Kara Gillies, Michael Goodyear, Stacey Hannem, Sarah Hunt, JJ, Leslie Ann Jeffrey, Tuulia Law, Annalee Lepp, Jacqueline Lewis, John Lowman, Gayle MacDonald, Karolyn Martin, Eleanor Maticka-Tyndale, River Redwood, Rene Ross, Trish Salah, Esther Shannon, Frances M. Shaver, Mariana Valverde, and Alan Young

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