The Industrial Vagina: The Political Economy of the Global Sex Trade

by Sheila Jeffreys

The industrialization of prostitution and the sex trade has created a multibillion-dollar global market, involving millions of women, that makes a substantial contribution to national and global economies. The Industrial Vagina examines how prostitution and other aspects of the sex industry have moved from being small-scale, clandestine, and socially despised practices to become very profitable legitimate market sectors that are being legalised and decriminalised by governments. Sheila Jeffreys demonstrates how prostitution has been globalized through an examination of: She argues that through these practices women’s subordination has been outsourced and that states that legalise this industry are acting as pimps, enabling male buyers in countries in which women’s equality threatens male dominance, to buy access to the bodies of women from poor countries who are paid for their sexual subservience. This major and provocative contribution is essential reading for all with an interest in feminist, gender and critical globalisation issues as well as students and scholars of international political economy.

Genres: Feminism, Nonfiction, Feminist Theory, Sociology, Sexuality, Politics, Womens

245 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Sheila Jeffreys writes and teaches in the areas of sexual politics, international gender politics, and lesbian and gay politics. She has written six books on the history and politics of sexuality. Originally from the UK, Sheila moved to Melbourne in 1991 to take up a position at the University of Melbourne. She has been actively involved in feminist and lesbian feminist politics, particularly around the issue of sexual violence, since 1973. She is involved with the international non-government organization, Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, in international organising.

She is the author of The Spinster and Her Enemies: Feminism and Sexuality, 1880-1930 (1985/1997) Anticlimax: A Feminist Perspective on the Sexual Revolution (1990), The Lesbian Heresy: A Feminist Perspective on the Lesbian Sexual Revolution (1993), The Idea of Prostitution (1997), Unpacking Queer Politics: a lesbian feminist perspective (2003) and Beauty and Misogyny: Harmful Cultural Practices in the West (2005).

Reviews

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am working on a project on human trafficking in the early modern Mediterranean, and came across this fascinating and provocative book that examines the burgeoning, contemporary sex industry from a radical feminist perspective. The author looks at trafficking, prostitution, pornography and shows the ways in which postfeminist scholars and the sex industry are redefining these in terms of women's agency and choice, rather than seeing such practices as examples of extreme violence against women. The examples mobilized here are highly disturbing, but examples of successful political responses to prostitution in Sweden and other countries provide some hope in what is otherwise a very dismal crawl through some of the darkest corners of modern, global society. I was especially struck by how closely many of the ideas towards morality that Jeffries presents parallel those of Mormons and other religious communities. There is a certain irony in this, given the reflexive anti-feminist position adopted by many in these communities.

[Zaira S. Luna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cuando comencé a leer el libro pensé que solo hablaría de la prostitución pero me sorprendió completamente ya que Sheila abarcó todo, desde prostitución, pornografia, pole dance hasta la trata y como toda la sociedad está involucrada afectando siempre a las mujeres. Excelente libro.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I muscled my way through this book, alternately daydreaming, not paying attention to what I was reading and learning new information. It is on the dry side but in moments can be quite readable and informative. I think there are better books out there that do a better job at holding one's interests while putting forth the information. If you like research and dry reading about the global economy and the trafficking of women and children then then this is the book for you.

[Towhidul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book on political economy of sex trade.

This book shows how prostitution, pornography, strip club, sex tourism, trafficking and legalization of prostitution are antithetical to gender equality. It is scholarly work and has much to inform a reader, bringing inside out of the sex industry. At first, Sheila Jeffreys shows how striping, sex tourism, pornography are akin to prostitution. Some marriage practices are not very different from prostitution, as shown in the book.


The contemporary dominant discourse is that legalizing/decriminalizing prostitution minimizes the harms caused by prostitution. She shows that legalization of prostitution increases the harms of prostitution. Therefore, decriminalization of prostitution should be replaced by effective legislation geared towards the prevention of this long lasting exploitative sex crime.

[Corinne Baum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dense, but worth it! It's really necessary in deconstructing what western feminism has presented to us as "empowering". I learned a lot and my views have certainly shifted regarding the legalization of prostitution and the nature of choice feminism.

[Estefy Yánez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Estaba buscando un libro que hable acerca de la ahora famosa y aceptada industria sexual y me encontré con este que ha pesar de haber sido publicado en 2008 sigue retratando y relatando de manera actual la forma en la que se da la industria global del sexo, hay cosas que ya están fuera de tiempo evidentemente pero hay otras que podemos incluso ver su evolución desde la pornografía, que ha pasado a estar presente e incluso a ser normalizada en plataformas como onlyfans producida por cualquier persona o el modelaje webcam. Solo me queda decir que a través de los años podemos ver como esta muy lucrativa industria se mantiene vigente y más fuerte que nunca incluso apropiándose de discursos de empoderamiento y convirtiéndolos en espacios de hipersexualización de las mujeres.

[Nukta_ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very dry and unsentimental. By turns bleak and pessimistic, it's not a book to read when you're looking for hope. Still, it's been a source of information and much food for thought.

[Mahdi Zaidan]

Very intriguing and important work on the political economy of sex trade, something that is continuously marginalized by non-feminist marxists. Her positions definitely belong to an older generation of feminists who have never done participatory work with sex workers which allows for her harsh stances on sex work. Yet the information presented in the book is invaluable.

[emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

very good analysis on the global scale of sex exploitation and the deep harm it causes towards woman and girls.

“It is hard to pretty up an industry which depends to a large extent on the continual rape of girls and women who are numbed with shock and pain. This unrealistic belief is ideological. It depends upon a liberal determination to respect the free will of the individual and the market above all other values, and on a respect for the power and inevitability of men's sex right.”

[karolina · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 invaluable book on the subject. Great at helping to understand the mechanisms & harms that surround the industry. Everything provided in this book solidifies and supports my stance on the matter. Genuinely an informative and easy read. It’s a shame that it was written in the 2000’s because the timeline ends there and it would have been interesting to have read how the industry exists in all of its forms as of right now.

[Ross Williamson]

[02192020] reason stricken: sheila jeffreys is a terf.

[Cecilia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book to get a glance of what the sex industry nowadays implies.

[Rosie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such an important book to read.

[Júlia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enlightening.

[Isaabel19 · Rating 4 out of 5]

4🌟

A veces creo que las abolicionistas y feministas radicales nos interesamos tanto por leer libros o ensayos que comparten nuestros mismos argumentos u opiniones que luego nos cuesta mucho leer algo sobre la oposición. Este libro es la demostración de por qué.

Leer un libro con perspectiva abolicionista donde te muestra los argumentos de las personas a favor es una ida de olla. Te cabreas, te ríes de lo ridículo que suena todo... y en el fondo lo peor es que tú ya sabias como piensa esa gente. Leerlo y contrastarlo con datos solo hace ver la legalización como algo más estúpido y egoísta de lo que pensabas en un principio.

Creo que es un libro complicado de leer, con oraciones complejas y un vocabulario muy específico. Además, está un poco desactualizado en cuanto a las conclusiones o soluciones propuestas. Me gustaría saber cuánto hemos avanzado en ese sentido ahora en 2025.

Sin embargo, nada de eso importa realmente. Siempre se puede aprender algo nuevo, aunque creas que ya sabes todo sobre un tema. Eso es lo que me ha enseñado este libro.

No le doy más estrellas porque, aunque en la introducción dice que se va a referir a las prostitutas como "mujeres prostituidas" y a los puteros como "prostituidores", a los cinco minutos se le olvida y no sigue ese vocabulario en ninguna otra parte del libro. De hecho es lo contrario, sobretodo habla de "trabajo sexual", aunque sea y sepa ella que es erróneo y ese sea el objetivo del libro en sí.

[Faria Basher]

Some great points on prostitution and liberal feminism, marriage as repackaged prostitution, pornography as transgressive, and neocolonial global sex markets. I liked that Jeffreys highlighted how sex work disproportionately harms WOC and women in the global south. I was anti-sex-work before reading this and it only further cemented that belief for me.

[Kaileen McGourty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but slightly narrow, look at sex work and sex workers.

[chia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lettura fondamentale per tutti i paladini della legalizzazione della prostituzione e dell'approccio "sex work"

[Mickey Dubs · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the most depressing book I have ever read.

[Tamara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Te da muchos datos que son re útiles y que a veces una intuye, pero no tiene como fundamentarlos porque los asume por la realidad que la rodea.
Genia. Muy buen trabajo.

[phoebe · Rating 4 out of 5]

everyone should read

[Millie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jesus mother of libertarian/cultural radical feminism. Sheila Jeffreys is from that crazy school of feminism that makes the rest of us look loco. I am anti-prostitution but I don't go to the extremes of arguing it on the basis of say it is a continuation of other oppressive structures like marriage - I mean really???!!-. Some cultural context please. Marriage as institution differs greatly between cultures. In some cultures it is rooted in patriarchy, in others its pretty darn equal. Anyways basically I found her arguments against prostitution a bit extremist. And Sheila jeffreys is transphobic. I fight for my sisters, not just my cisters.

[Misha · Rating 5 out of 5]

.

[Sarch · Rating 3 out of 5]

dis book killed me