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Prostitute in rivolta. La lotta per i diritti delle sex worker
"Prostitute in rivolta" libera la prostituzione da quelle parole cui di solito è legata - intimità, perdita di sé, depravazione morale - per ancorarla a una tesi tanto semplice quanto corretta: il lavoro sessuale esiste in un mondo in cui le risorse non sono equamente accessibili. Come ogni altro lavoro, non è né buono né cattivo in sé, ma la vita di chi lo pratica può cambiare a seconda della possibilità di rivendicare dei diritti. Per capirlo basta adottare la prospettiva delle dirette interessate, come le autrici Juno Mac e Molly Smith, sex worker e attiviste femministe. Il libro spinge a porsi importanti quesiti sui significati attribuiti a parole come «sesso», «lavoro», «sfruttamento», «libera scelta», e mette chi legge davanti agli effetti materiali che le frontiere, il carcere e le politiche su decoro, casa e salute hanno sulla parte più marginale della società. Questo volume colma un importante spazio vuoto della riflessione critica in Italia su violenza di genere, migrazioni, lavoro e discriminazioni, con un respiro globale (guardando a realtà diverse, tra nord e sud del mondo) e una potente solidità argomentativa. Prefazione di Barbara Bonomi Romagnoli e Giulia Garofalo Geymonat, postfazione di Ombre rosse.
429 pages, Paperback
First published June 26, 2018
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20811 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 619 reviews
August 10, 2019
Radical, lucid, a masterpiece of feminist nonfiction I would recommend to everyone. In Revolting Prostitutes: The Fight for Sex Workers’ Rights, sex workers Juno Mac and Molly Smith create an incisive, brilliant manifesto for why we need to decriminalize sex work right now. From the beginning of this book, they make their agenda clear: to advocate for sex workers’ rights, not to glorify sex work as some “empowering” deed or to describe it as a horrific act that people should strive to ban. Rather, in practical, intelligent terms, they describe how our current capitalist system has made sex work an unfortunate necessity for the most marginalized in our society and what we can do to improve these sex workers’ conditions. Here is a quote that captures these Juno Mac and Molly Smiths’ sharp thinking and clear writing, about how sex work stems more from poverty than a lack of criminalization:
”If criminalization was the key factor in the size of a country’s sex industry, the US would have a tiny sex industry. As chapter 5 details, in many states, penalties for purchasing sex far exceed those in Scandinavia – and of course sex workers themselves, along with managers, landlords, taxi drivers, and colleagues, can all be swept into prosecution. Yet the US has a huge sex industry. That’s because the key determinant is not criminal law but poverty and people’s access to resources. When a country has no social safety net, or when the social safety next excludes some, people struggling to avoid homelessness or to pay for healthcare might well sell sex in order to get housing or medication. People who are undocumented struggle to enter the mainstream labour market or to assert any labour rights. In these contexts, some people sell sex – often under conditions that are, to a greater or lesser degree, exploitative or abusive. But the solution isn’t to criminalize commercial sex; if it was, the US would have zero trafficking. Instead, it is to ensure that people have access to the resources that they need, including the right to safe migration and the right for migrants to work and assert labour rights without fearing deportation.”
Juno Mac and Molly Smith analyze every model of regulating sex work – criminalizing the seller, criminalizing the buyer, government legalization and regulations, full decriminalization, etc. – with great thoughtfulness and care both to sex workers’ lived experiences as well to their surrounding economic context. I most loved how they incorporated intersectionality into their work. They name their privilege and they speak multiple times to how the criminalization of sex work affects the most marginalized sex workers, like sex workers of color (specifically black sex workers), trans sex workers, and migrant sex workers. Their chapter on border policing and how it intersects with trafficking and sex work blew my mind, I felt so impressed and inspired by the depth of their analysis and the connections they drew. Juno Mac and Molly Smith call out liberal feminists and carceral feminists for advocating for solutions that, while at times perhaps good-intentioned, only serve to reinforce the degradation and devaluing of sex workers instead of actually providing them with the safety and resources they need to make a living wage and take care of themselves and their loved ones. Here is another paragraph, a brief one in which they name their own privilege, which I wish more writers and people would do:
”The authors of this book could certainly not be described as representative of all people selling sex. Both of us are cisgender and white, born and raised in the global north, working in a country where the sex work we do is less crimalised, with middle-class educations and the access to power and capital that brings. It is not by accident that opportunities to speak on television, publish articles, and be appointed to salaried activist positions come to us or people like us. Just as in any radical movement, a select few activists often receive unfair credit for doing the same work that more marginalized sex workers, who cannot risk being public in their activism, are doing alongside them.”
Such a thoroughly well-researched, important, and well-written book. There is so much we as a broad society do not know about sex work and there is no one better to learn from than sex workers themselves. Thank you to Juno Mac and Molly Smith for writing Revolting Prostitutes. I am still so impressed by this book, in particular the quality of the authors’ writing and their excellent economic analysis. Again, highly recommended to all.
”If criminalization was the key factor in the size of a country’s sex industry, the US would have a tiny sex industry. As chapter 5 details, in many states, penalties for purchasing sex far exceed those in Scandinavia – and of course sex workers themselves, along with managers, landlords, taxi drivers, and colleagues, can all be swept into prosecution. Yet the US has a huge sex industry. That’s because the key determinant is not criminal law but poverty and people’s access to resources. When a country has no social safety net, or when the social safety next excludes some, people struggling to avoid homelessness or to pay for healthcare might well sell sex in order to get housing or medication. People who are undocumented struggle to enter the mainstream labour market or to assert any labour rights. In these contexts, some people sell sex – often under conditions that are, to a greater or lesser degree, exploitative or abusive. But the solution isn’t to criminalize commercial sex; if it was, the US would have zero trafficking. Instead, it is to ensure that people have access to the resources that they need, including the right to safe migration and the right for migrants to work and assert labour rights without fearing deportation.”
Juno Mac and Molly Smith analyze every model of regulating sex work – criminalizing the seller, criminalizing the buyer, government legalization and regulations, full decriminalization, etc. – with great thoughtfulness and care both to sex workers’ lived experiences as well to their surrounding economic context. I most loved how they incorporated intersectionality into their work. They name their privilege and they speak multiple times to how the criminalization of sex work affects the most marginalized sex workers, like sex workers of color (specifically black sex workers), trans sex workers, and migrant sex workers. Their chapter on border policing and how it intersects with trafficking and sex work blew my mind, I felt so impressed and inspired by the depth of their analysis and the connections they drew. Juno Mac and Molly Smith call out liberal feminists and carceral feminists for advocating for solutions that, while at times perhaps good-intentioned, only serve to reinforce the degradation and devaluing of sex workers instead of actually providing them with the safety and resources they need to make a living wage and take care of themselves and their loved ones. Here is another paragraph, a brief one in which they name their own privilege, which I wish more writers and people would do:
”The authors of this book could certainly not be described as representative of all people selling sex. Both of us are cisgender and white, born and raised in the global north, working in a country where the sex work we do is less crimalised, with middle-class educations and the access to power and capital that brings. It is not by accident that opportunities to speak on television, publish articles, and be appointed to salaried activist positions come to us or people like us. Just as in any radical movement, a select few activists often receive unfair credit for doing the same work that more marginalized sex workers, who cannot risk being public in their activism, are doing alongside them.”
Such a thoroughly well-researched, important, and well-written book. There is so much we as a broad society do not know about sex work and there is no one better to learn from than sex workers themselves. Thank you to Juno Mac and Molly Smith for writing Revolting Prostitutes. I am still so impressed by this book, in particular the quality of the authors’ writing and their excellent economic analysis. Again, highly recommended to all.
July 19, 2025
Excellent! Thoroughly convincing and well-argued. This book works to synthesize and historicize prostitution / the sex industry within feminism, marxism, abolition, decolonialism etc in such a critical and necessary way. Why does criminalization fail to produce feminist results? What’s the difference between legalizing and decriminalizing prostitution? What does the wages for housework movement have to do with any of this? Revolting Prostitutes answers all these questions and more.
March 20, 2019
I am a sex trade survivor, and I am disgusted that - once again - two privileged white women are defending an industry that primarily preys upon Black and Indigenous girls (and contrary to popular myth - Indigenous women have NO tradition of prostitution). This is not hard, folks: Sexual Consent Can Never Be Bought; Only Sexual Submission Can Be Bought. Women in the sex trade need Exit Services - but as long as p*mp lobby propaganda like this is allowed to spread, there will be no Exit Services or any specialized help for women stuck in the sex trade. We need the Nordic Model, which has been adopted by the most progressive countries in the world: Sweden, Iceland, Norway, France, and Canada among others. We MUST decriminalize sexually exploited women and girls (and boys). But decriminalize P*MPS? And sex buyers? People act as if "sex workers" are buying themselves. The creeps who use "sex workers" use us to act bizarre kinks that their wives and girlfriends won't tolerate. We are not disposable. We are not public toilets. Please do not be fooled by this P*mp Lobby propaganda. If you wouldn't want a woman you love doing this, you shouldn't want any woman doing this - even poor women of color.
January 11, 2019
'On the back cover of Revolting Prostitutes, Silvia Federici (the acclaimed Italian theorist and radical Marxist feminist who gave us Caliban and the Witch) claims that this is the book that she has been waiting for. Finally, a book about sex workers by sex workers. Whilst there have, of course, been books written by sex workers about sex work in the past, they have often taken the form of memoir. Juno Mac and Molly Smith purposefully stray from this narrative. They are not in the business of recounting the horrifying biographies of sex workers or tale after tale of deportation, abuse, and murder. Instead they take a systematic approach to sex work, identifying why it exists, how it continues to exist, and investigating the different forms of sex work legislation around the planet.'
Continue reading my review on my blog: https://liquidays.wordpress.com/2019/...
Continue reading my review on my blog: https://liquidays.wordpress.com/2019/...
October 29, 2018
If you consider yourself a feminist, if you’ve ever expressed an opinion about sex work laws, hell if you’re a thinking human - please please read this book.
A rare book written by actual sex workers discussing the actual real life impact of prostitution laws, legalization and criminalisation from a worker’s rights and harm-reduction perspective. It’s neither pro nor anti-sex work, but instead advocates for looking practically at the situation, including the way that the prison system, the police and borders impact sex workers (with specific reference to the most vulnerable and marginalized sex workers, including black, trans and migrant individuals).
It made me realize that despite us all having some opinions on these issues, so few of us know anything about it - and it specifically challenges carceral and “liberal” feminists who fail to take into account the actual effects of the things they advocate for.
I have not learned so much from a book in a long time. Please order this from your local indie bookshop immediately.
A rare book written by actual sex workers discussing the actual real life impact of prostitution laws, legalization and criminalisation from a worker’s rights and harm-reduction perspective. It’s neither pro nor anti-sex work, but instead advocates for looking practically at the situation, including the way that the prison system, the police and borders impact sex workers (with specific reference to the most vulnerable and marginalized sex workers, including black, trans and migrant individuals).
It made me realize that despite us all having some opinions on these issues, so few of us know anything about it - and it specifically challenges carceral and “liberal” feminists who fail to take into account the actual effects of the things they advocate for.
I have not learned so much from a book in a long time. Please order this from your local indie bookshop immediately.
September 15, 2025
I mean, it's true: The regulation of sex work is a huge topic, but sex workers are hardly ever consulted when it comes to crafting laws, which, unsurprisingly, leads to often well-intentioned, but ultimately harmful norms. The core of the debate is mostly the connection between prostitution and morality, i.e. who gets to define what is immoral, and whether something can be potentially immoral and legal at the same time - don't come for me, I don't think that sex work is immoral, but this is the point that gets people heated when it comes to the legalization of prostitution. That and the question whether there is something like consent in sex work: Especially second-wave feminists frequently deny that there are women (and men) who freely decide to provide sexual and erotic services, thus generally questioning agency and bodily autonomy of sex workers (looking at you, Alice Schwarzer).
The authors of "Revolting Prostitutes" are sex workers and activists in the Sex Worker Advocacy and Resistance Movement (SWARM), fighting for the decriminalization of sex work to heighten the safety of prostitutes of all genders and to strengthen their workers' rights. They do not condemn or glamorize sex work, they are not interested in arguing sex positivity - they open up the conversation about the commodification of time, bodies, and minds in capitalist dependent work, about the many faces of sex work and diverse experiences including exploitation and human trafficking, and about the problems of policing, both due to factual reasons and due to policemen weaponizing their powers - again, don't come for me, I'm the daughter of a policeman and know that this is extremely tough, underpaid work, but some policemen, like in every line of work, are terrible people, and they use their power against vulnerable people instead of protecting them. Which leads us to another major factor that puts sex workers under duress: The cultural climate that dehumanizes them, and which becomes an even greater danger when someone is non-white, queer, trans, disabled or addicted to drugs.
This book, while certainly taking a clear, activist stance, is extremely well-research and nuanced, looking at different models of regulation, especially the often lauded Nordic model that criminalizes clients and aims to abolish the sex industry. It shows how important it is to listen to the workers instead of telling them who they are and what they need, and how beneficial it is to tune down the moral grandstanding in favor of acknowledging and critically examining reality, and then improving it.
The authors of "Revolting Prostitutes" are sex workers and activists in the Sex Worker Advocacy and Resistance Movement (SWARM), fighting for the decriminalization of sex work to heighten the safety of prostitutes of all genders and to strengthen their workers' rights. They do not condemn or glamorize sex work, they are not interested in arguing sex positivity - they open up the conversation about the commodification of time, bodies, and minds in capitalist dependent work, about the many faces of sex work and diverse experiences including exploitation and human trafficking, and about the problems of policing, both due to factual reasons and due to policemen weaponizing their powers - again, don't come for me, I'm the daughter of a policeman and know that this is extremely tough, underpaid work, but some policemen, like in every line of work, are terrible people, and they use their power against vulnerable people instead of protecting them. Which leads us to another major factor that puts sex workers under duress: The cultural climate that dehumanizes them, and which becomes an even greater danger when someone is non-white, queer, trans, disabled or addicted to drugs.
This book, while certainly taking a clear, activist stance, is extremely well-research and nuanced, looking at different models of regulation, especially the often lauded Nordic model that criminalizes clients and aims to abolish the sex industry. It shows how important it is to listen to the workers instead of telling them who they are and what they need, and how beneficial it is to tune down the moral grandstanding in favor of acknowledging and critically examining reality, and then improving it.
April 25, 2019
I want to throw this book at every politician
April 10, 2020
I must have read dozens of papers on sex work policies and certainly a few very long books. This one is so far the best and the most comprehensive one that is out there.
March 15, 2019
I picked this up for a book discussion I attended. It was hosted by a book club that discusses philosophy, psychology, and social issues. For every discussion, they try to get the author to skype in to answer questions. The discussion on Revolting Prostitutes: The Fight for Sex Workers' Rights is hosted jointly with our only local sex workers activist group, Project X. It was a close-up, cozy session with the director Vanessa and staff of Project X, and we got to break down the book and understand it in the local context, provided by Vanessa.
The book argues that the discourse on sex work should first and foremost acknowledge that it is work. It talks about the difficulty trying to move the feminist movement away from what sex work symbolises - "Sex work is the vault in which society stores some of its keenest fears and anxieties." - and move towards discourse within material arguments, such as safety and income.
The authors are extremely critical of carceral feminism, which is feminism focused on using law enforcement to abolish sex work or to enforce gender quality. They argue that the system perpetuates patriarchy and violence against women, and law enforcement is basically the opposite of what this movement needs.
The authors argue that decriminalisation is not sufficient as the only solution, it does not address structures of poverty. The issue of immigration and trafficking is extensively discussed as well. The book argues that no human being is legal when there are borders in the world. Anyone who crosses a border is vulnerable, and that immigration creates distinction between various groups of power differences: racial, economical, gender, and so on.
The Nordic system, where buyers of sexual services are criminalized and not sex workers, is often quoted by feminists, lawmakers, and the general public to be the best model to regulate sex work in a way that doesn't harm sex workers. However, there is evidence that suggests that this takes away power from sex workers and gives it to the system. One of such more observable consequences is that clients become more scarce, and those who still want to buy sex increasingly become more jittery. Sex workers find it increasingly hard to get work, and they often have to give in to demands that they will not usually give in to if they had sufficient money for the day, such as being asked to perform her services in a dark alley rather than a motel room for fear of the client being caught. This, the authors say, have actually made sex workers more vulnerable.
There are more but these are just my thoughts on a few of the ideas discussed. Also, the ideas and discussion around gender issues, borders, workers' rights, discrimination, capitalism, and the patriarchy is not just applicable to the issue of sex work. It applies to the feminist movement, discourse on race, on immigration, on everything else. You will not just gain a better understanding on sex work and its politics, but a good insight into how these issues weave together in today's climate.
Overall, an extremely well-written and accessible piece on such a nuanced and complex topic. The authors are passionate and they provided clear and balanced views on all the arguments you can think of for this issue. This is a necessary read for anyone who are invested in the rights of sex workers and who identifies as a feminist. Amazing!
The book argues that the discourse on sex work should first and foremost acknowledge that it is work. It talks about the difficulty trying to move the feminist movement away from what sex work symbolises - "Sex work is the vault in which society stores some of its keenest fears and anxieties." - and move towards discourse within material arguments, such as safety and income.
"People sells sex to get money. This simple fact is often missed, forgotten, or overlooked... Pathologising sex workers as unable to make 'good' decisions, rather than seeing them as people largely motivated by familiar, mundane needs, can lead to disastrous consequences."
The authors are extremely critical of carceral feminism, which is feminism focused on using law enforcement to abolish sex work or to enforce gender quality. They argue that the system perpetuates patriarchy and violence against women, and law enforcement is basically the opposite of what this movement needs.
The authors argue that decriminalisation is not sufficient as the only solution, it does not address structures of poverty. The issue of immigration and trafficking is extensively discussed as well. The book argues that no human being is legal when there are borders in the world. Anyone who crosses a border is vulnerable, and that immigration creates distinction between various groups of power differences: racial, economical, gender, and so on.
The Nordic system, where buyers of sexual services are criminalized and not sex workers, is often quoted by feminists, lawmakers, and the general public to be the best model to regulate sex work in a way that doesn't harm sex workers. However, there is evidence that suggests that this takes away power from sex workers and gives it to the system. One of such more observable consequences is that clients become more scarce, and those who still want to buy sex increasingly become more jittery. Sex workers find it increasingly hard to get work, and they often have to give in to demands that they will not usually give in to if they had sufficient money for the day, such as being asked to perform her services in a dark alley rather than a motel room for fear of the client being caught. This, the authors say, have actually made sex workers more vulnerable.
There are more but these are just my thoughts on a few of the ideas discussed. Also, the ideas and discussion around gender issues, borders, workers' rights, discrimination, capitalism, and the patriarchy is not just applicable to the issue of sex work. It applies to the feminist movement, discourse on race, on immigration, on everything else. You will not just gain a better understanding on sex work and its politics, but a good insight into how these issues weave together in today's climate.
Overall, an extremely well-written and accessible piece on such a nuanced and complex topic. The authors are passionate and they provided clear and balanced views on all the arguments you can think of for this issue. This is a necessary read for anyone who are invested in the rights of sex workers and who identifies as a feminist. Amazing!
February 24, 2025
If I could recommend a single source on this topic, it would be this one. I hate the cover because it looks too cartoonish and happy. "We're not asking you to love the sex trade. We certainly don't." (I am not sure if that's the exact wording. This book manages to speak to everyone of any opinion on sex workers from anti sex work carceral "feminists" to ex sex workers who want abolition of the trade to anti trafficking groups to johns and managers to governments and cops to girlboss sex workers and so on. They combine it all together and make an undeniable case for decriminalization, regardless of your opinion on the industry itself or those who work in it. Except for people who don't actually care about sex workers or see them as human.
January 30, 2023
A friend whose taste in non-fiction I respect recommended Revolting Prostitutes: The Fight for Sex Workers’ Rights, so I decided to give it a try. I knew nothing about the law and politics around sex work so had no opinions about it, just awareness that sex work and poverty are linked. This clearly written and well-structured book provides a thorough introduction to the systematic problems that different legal regimes cause for sex workers. The authors are sex workers and take a pragmatic view: most people working in the sex industry would rather not do so, but their alternative is destitution or even worse work:
Sex workers need safe working conditions and freedom from police harassment now, in the absence of a social safety net that genuinely guards everyone against absolute poverty. Unfortunately law and policy around sex work is shaped by a history of moral panics, rather than practical concern for the wellbeing of sex workers. At present, there is particular panic about trafficking which, as the book explains, is used as cover for the rise of racist anti-immigration politics and militarisation of national borders:
The way to prevent trafficking is to allow legal free movement across borders. I found this chapter on the interconnection between migrant-hostile policies and sex work especially enlightening, with wider implications beyond the sex industry. More than half of the book conducts a detailed comparison of legal regimes around sex work. Drawing upon accounts from a range of different countries, the authors demonstrate the effect laws have on sex workers and how the results differ from the stated aims. In this case, the Nordic model of making it legal to sell sex but not to buy it:
The book also makes a strong arguments against carceral feminism that are highly salient to sex work but apply beyond it:
The analysis of legal regimes builds up a systematic and powerful indictment of how laws, institutions, politicians, and campaigners fail to protect sex workers from harm. The authors argue firmly and with conviction for decriminalisation and reform based on what sex workers actually want - protection from violence, imprisonment, harassment, and deportation:
Revolting Prostitutes: The Fight for Sex Workers’ Rights does not just provide an excellent introduction to the variety of legal regimes around sex work and the changes that sex workers are fighting for. It also connects their advocacy with immigration policies, the war on drugs, sexism, and poverty. I found it original and deeply thought-provoking.
To say that prostitution is work is not to say it is good work, or that we should be uncritical of it. To be better than poverty or a lower paid job is an abysmally low bar, especially for anyone who claims to be part of any movement towards liberation. People who sell or trade sex are among the world's least powerful people, the people often forced to do the worst jobs. But that is precisely why anti-prostitution campaigners should take seriously the fact that sex work is a way people get the resources they need. [...]
People with relatively little are right to be fearful when their means of survival is taken away. British miners in the 1980s didn't strike on the basis that mining was the most wonderful job - they were simply correct in their belief that, once mining was taken away from them, Thatcher's government would abandon their communities to desperate poverty. Likewise, few sex workers would object if you sought to abolish the sex industry by ensuring that they got the resources they need without having to sell sex.
Sex workers need safe working conditions and freedom from police harassment now, in the absence of a social safety net that genuinely guards everyone against absolute poverty. Unfortunately law and policy around sex work is shaped by a history of moral panics, rather than practical concern for the wellbeing of sex workers. At present, there is particular panic about trafficking which, as the book explains, is used as cover for the rise of racist anti-immigration politics and militarisation of national borders:
Hard-right politicians are keen to enact anti-trafficking agendas. [...] Theresa May is positioning the 2015 Modern Slavery Act (passed when she was home secretary) as central to her image and legacy. Uncritical use of the term trafficking is doing the ideological work required for these contradictions to 'make sense'; it hides how anti-migrant policies produce the harm that we call trafficking, enabling anti-migrant politicians to posture as anti-trafficking heroes even as they enact their anti-migrant policies.
The way to prevent trafficking is to allow legal free movement across borders. I found this chapter on the interconnection between migrant-hostile policies and sex work especially enlightening, with wider implications beyond the sex industry. More than half of the book conducts a detailed comparison of legal regimes around sex work. Drawing upon accounts from a range of different countries, the authors demonstrate the effect laws have on sex workers and how the results differ from the stated aims. In this case, the Nordic model of making it legal to sell sex but not to buy it:
Those who advocate for the Nordic model are correct that the client benefits from a huge power imbalance; what they miss is that client criminalisation worsens this power imbalance. This can seem surprising; as human rights lawyer Wendy Lyon writes, 'The criminalisation of only one party to a transaction might intuitively be expected to benefit the other party.' However, this overlooks that crucial fact - which cannot be repeated enough! - that the sex worker needs to sell sex much more than the client 'needs' to buy it. This 'asymmetry of need' is essential to understanding the actual impact of the Nordic model. [...] [The sex worker] will take on the burden of [the client's] need for safety from arrest, which will entail compromising any safety strategies she might otherwise seek to deploy. After all, he is safer from arrest when he is more anonymous, and when their rendezvous is more clandestine. [...] She needs his custom more than he needs to buy sex, right? The Norwegian government itself acknowledges that the situation for sex workers is now a 'buyer's market'.
The book also makes a strong arguments against carceral feminism that are highly salient to sex work but apply beyond it:
We can work towards a more feminist world by making women less poor - but not through bolstering the patriarchal power of the carceral state. [...] When journalists write that the Nordic model 'decriminalises women who sell sex' and campaigning organisations repeat the claim that Sweden's law 'completely decriminalises all those who are prostituted', it's hard to draw any other conclusion than mainstream feminism simply doesn't count the criminalisation or deportation of mostly Black migrant sex workers in Nordic countries.
[...]
Time and again, sex workers watch as mainstream feminist intervention and commentary neglects workplace power relations and the need to earn a living. In these analyses, forced health examinations are nothing to worry about, and making sex workers carry an ID around that reveals their real name to potential predators is fine.
The analysis of legal regimes builds up a systematic and powerful indictment of how laws, institutions, politicians, and campaigners fail to protect sex workers from harm. The authors argue firmly and with conviction for decriminalisation and reform based on what sex workers actually want - protection from violence, imprisonment, harassment, and deportation:
Real, daily violence against sex workers happening all over the world today cannot be held up for comparison with a feminist forecast of a yet-to-happen future. Compare these concerns to the reality under prohibition, in which criminalising sex work has come nowhere near eradicating commercial sex, and violence is seen as a hazard of the job. The criminalisation of sex work and the 'messaging' flowing from it - that 'women's bodies are not for sale' - clearly has not prevented people from Stockholm to New York to Harare from selling sex. It should be obvious that the real message of criminalisation is that people who sell sex exist outside of safety, rights, or justice.
Revolting Prostitutes: The Fight for Sex Workers’ Rights does not just provide an excellent introduction to the variety of legal regimes around sex work and the changes that sex workers are fighting for. It also connects their advocacy with immigration policies, the war on drugs, sexism, and poverty. I found it original and deeply thought-provoking.
November 7, 2018
An exceptional piece of work. It's both radical and lucid, which is a difficult combination (and one rarely achieved!). It's a perfect antidote to mainstream feminism's ongoing rejection women of colour, trans women, sex working women and queer women. Essential reading.
March 28, 2021
as someone who is simultaneously thrown off by the “sex work is empowering” discourse on one side and the “all sex work is rape” discourse on the other, this was the best book I could pick up, and the most enlightening read. as the authors stress over and over again: this book does not aim to discuss the symbolics of prostitution but rather the material realities of sex workers, looking - always through a leftist lens - at 5 different law models applied in the world today and the palpable implications each one has on the lives of the women they claim to want to protect. this was an absolute crucial read that I would recommend to everyone.
August 19, 2022
would give 0 stars if i could. 89% of women in prostitution state that their primary goal is to leave prostitution. globally, the vast majority of women in prostitution are women of color in the global south - they are not white women in the global north. Smith and Mac say that this book is rooted in Marxism - however, i have never once heard of a Marxist or any anti-capitalist advocating for the complete deregulation of any industry in order to "make it safer". deregulation of industry has historically made conditions for workers unsafe and put them in harm's way. in what world would sex workers unionize with pimps and brothel owners? in what other industry are workers expected to organize for better conditions with their bosses? the material interests of prostituted people are inherently AGAINST the interests of pimps and brothel owners.
many of the "sex worker led" organizations in the global South they cite as being at the forefront of the decrim movement are astroturfed organizations that get funding from the IMF and World Bank. did you know that both of those institutions encourage indebted countries to decriminalize the sex trade so that they can pay off their debts? Mac and Smith conveniently leave that part out. it is incredibly chauvinistic to put the demands of an extreme minority of the global population of prostitutes (white women in the global north who wish to expand the reach of the sex trade) above the demands of the global majority, women of color forced into the trade.
for actually Marxist and feminist takes on the sex trade, please read the works of Esperanza Fonseca. she's a trans woman of color who survived the sex trade and writes about the realities of being in the sex trade in a much more truthful way than Smith and Mac ever could.
many of the "sex worker led" organizations in the global South they cite as being at the forefront of the decrim movement are astroturfed organizations that get funding from the IMF and World Bank. did you know that both of those institutions encourage indebted countries to decriminalize the sex trade so that they can pay off their debts? Mac and Smith conveniently leave that part out. it is incredibly chauvinistic to put the demands of an extreme minority of the global population of prostitutes (white women in the global north who wish to expand the reach of the sex trade) above the demands of the global majority, women of color forced into the trade.
for actually Marxist and feminist takes on the sex trade, please read the works of Esperanza Fonseca. she's a trans woman of color who survived the sex trade and writes about the realities of being in the sex trade in a much more truthful way than Smith and Mac ever could.
February 27, 2020
A sprawling and unclear book that should have been about a hundred pages shorter. The authors deploy and rely heavily on the overused argument that prohibiting something merely makes it more “dangerous” or that people will keep doing it regardless of the prohibition. This is a ridiculous argument if you take more than three seconds to think about it: it could be made against literally any law. Behold: Prohibiting murder for hire won’t stop people from hiring people to commit murder; if we want to reduce harm, perhaps the best approach is to legalize and regulate it!
The use of this argument always belies and obscures a substantive disagreement about the ethics of the thing prohibited. Yet the authors of the book never really engage in any serious way with the MacKinnon-esque arguments about the harm of sex work. The result is a very thin treatment of the debate over sex work and a completely unconvincing response to sex critical feminism.
The use of this argument always belies and obscures a substantive disagreement about the ethics of the thing prohibited. Yet the authors of the book never really engage in any serious way with the MacKinnon-esque arguments about the harm of sex work. The result is a very thin treatment of the debate over sex work and a completely unconvincing response to sex critical feminism.
January 5, 2019
Such an impressive and nuanced book about sex work. Juno and Molly’s research and foot notes are truly impressive - they did not just make a book that’s a long version of incisive tweets and internet snark, when they very well could have. Revolting Prostitutes really sets the standard for critical analysis of sex work, and I will be recommending it and referring to it constantly in my sex worker rights advocacy work. I already bought five more copies, which I’ll be gifting to elected officials and their legislative directors as I ramp up the next stage of advocacy for decriminalization.
November 6, 2018
This book is AMAZING - so well researched and written. A must read if you’re interested in sex worker rights, and not just for those who already know a lot beforehand, please read if you’re new to the topic! It’s also great (and too rare) to read a book on sex work written by current sex workers!🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
September 15, 2020
So good! So glad I read this. Very intentionally researched and written. Really good primer for folks looking to understand the difference between legalization and decriminalization, why the Nordic model is still bad and sex work vs human trafficking. Great truly intersectional and systemic analysis. I just learned so much!
January 9, 2020
Before, I already believed that sex work is work and shouldn’t be illegal, because under capitalism we're all trying to make a living and who the hell am I, a non-sex worker, to tell them what to do, especially if they enthusiastically choose this job? (I also don't happen to think that any person wanting to buy sex is inherently a monster.)
What I hoped to gain from reading this book was a detailed knowledge about various laws and policies around the world, as well as learn about actual SWs' experiences. That's what I got, and more. This book is amazing.
Here are my main takeaways...
"Borders" was an incredible read in itself. If you care about migrant rights, Black rights, trans & queer rights, this chapter should be enough to convince you that the status quo on SW laws in most places is fucked-up. As stated later on in the book: 'Governments tend to use the term trafficking not to reflect actual harm, but in order to give a progressive gloss to anti-migrant and anti-prostitution policing.'
Britain's "brothel-keeping" law puts SWs in a double bind: work alone and risk violence, work with a friend (i.e. a "brothel") and risk arrest (eviction, deportation). Obviously, malicious clients and police can leverage this law.
The chapter about the US is too devastating and wholly unsurprising to repeat here.
The Nordic Model, often praised for criminalising clients but not SWs, is essentially everything wrong with white, Western feminism summed up in one policy:
- SWs can be much less picky about their clients when the respectful ones are scared about getting caught, thus exposing them to greater risk of poverty and violence at the hands of malicious ones.
- The NM was specifically developed to tackle "anxieties" about Black women on Norwegian streets. It thus empowers police to penalise SWs (especially SWs of colour) in ways that are not prosecution. - This includes eviction (after all, a landlord can become a criminalised third party for "promoting prostitution" if they house a SW) and deportation (with debt for unlawful passage, if applicable, left unpaid).
- None of this sits well with the claim that the NM treats SWs as victims of violence, when in fact it keeps them living in precarious conditions and does nothing to erase contempt for SWs from state power structures.
- Did you know Sweden has a recent history of forced sterilisation of trans people and incarceration without trial of HIV-positive people, as well as the second-highest number of drug-related deaths in Europe? Social utopia CANCELLED.
Then there are places such as Germany, where I live, where sex work is legal but under regulation (aka “legalisation” or regulationism). I hadn’t considered that the gulf between legal and non-legal SWs is increasingly wide, since many people cannot meet the government’s criteria for legal work (e.g. undocumented migrants).
- The fact that SWs basically cannot work independently without being neglected by the law leaves them dependent on abusive managers/pimps.
- ‘Regulating prostitution allows the state to have its cake and eat it, too. On the one hand, it can punish unacceptable sex workers and seize their money. On the other hand, it enjoys the financial perks of a legal sex industry: business taxes on licensed brothels, income from tourism, and a reputation as a fantastic lads’ holiday destination.’
Through its Prostitution Reform Act of 2003, New Zealand became the first nation to fully decriminalise sex work. The results that have been seen include:
- More SWs working independently or with friends (away from the exploitative power of a manager)
- Reduced police opportunity to harass and assault SWs (especially Māori and trans SWs)
- SWs have increased confidence by virtue of legitimacy, in that they don’t have to be as clandestine in order to evade police.
- SWs also have legal rights in terms of labour law, such as the right not to be sexually harassed by managers; in a criminalised workplace, no such law would apply.
- Workers quitting the sex industry can apply for benefits immediately; however, the effectiveness of resources helping people go into new lines of work is of yet unclear.
- Migrant SWs still tend to benefit very little from this law, many unprotected by dint of their "illegal" status.
- All in all, though, decriminalisation makes people safer doing what they need to to survive: 'Nobody can build a better, more feminist world by treating sex workers' current material needs — for income, for safety from eviction, for safety from immigration enforcement — as trivial'.
Things wouldn’t change overnight if everywhere adopted decriminalisation. It needs to be implemented in conjunction with other policies that make life less precarious for marginalised SWs, like people of colour and drug users; the criminal factor of sex work is far from the only problem if the police see other excuses to exercise their punitive power over SWs.
Overall, the aim of the SW rights movement is to make sex work unnecessary by providing better welfare alternatives, access to cheaper housing, etc. We should be asking who has taken power away from them and how they can reclaim it. SWs are not waiting to be invited into the feminist movement; they’ve always been here.
If you’re not inclined to read the book, I encourage you to watch the TED Talk by Juno Mac, one of the authors.
What I hoped to gain from reading this book was a detailed knowledge about various laws and policies around the world, as well as learn about actual SWs' experiences. That's what I got, and more. This book is amazing.
Here are my main takeaways...
"Borders" was an incredible read in itself. If you care about migrant rights, Black rights, trans & queer rights, this chapter should be enough to convince you that the status quo on SW laws in most places is fucked-up. As stated later on in the book: 'Governments tend to use the term trafficking not to reflect actual harm, but in order to give a progressive gloss to anti-migrant and anti-prostitution policing.'
Britain's "brothel-keeping" law puts SWs in a double bind: work alone and risk violence, work with a friend (i.e. a "brothel") and risk arrest (eviction, deportation). Obviously, malicious clients and police can leverage this law.
The chapter about the US is too devastating and wholly unsurprising to repeat here.
The Nordic Model, often praised for criminalising clients but not SWs, is essentially everything wrong with white, Western feminism summed up in one policy:
- SWs can be much less picky about their clients when the respectful ones are scared about getting caught, thus exposing them to greater risk of poverty and violence at the hands of malicious ones.
- The NM was specifically developed to tackle "anxieties" about Black women on Norwegian streets. It thus empowers police to penalise SWs (especially SWs of colour) in ways that are not prosecution. - This includes eviction (after all, a landlord can become a criminalised third party for "promoting prostitution" if they house a SW) and deportation (with debt for unlawful passage, if applicable, left unpaid).
- None of this sits well with the claim that the NM treats SWs as victims of violence, when in fact it keeps them living in precarious conditions and does nothing to erase contempt for SWs from state power structures.
- Did you know Sweden has a recent history of forced sterilisation of trans people and incarceration without trial of HIV-positive people, as well as the second-highest number of drug-related deaths in Europe? Social utopia CANCELLED.
Then there are places such as Germany, where I live, where sex work is legal but under regulation (aka “legalisation” or regulationism). I hadn’t considered that the gulf between legal and non-legal SWs is increasingly wide, since many people cannot meet the government’s criteria for legal work (e.g. undocumented migrants).
- The fact that SWs basically cannot work independently without being neglected by the law leaves them dependent on abusive managers/pimps.
- ‘Regulating prostitution allows the state to have its cake and eat it, too. On the one hand, it can punish unacceptable sex workers and seize their money. On the other hand, it enjoys the financial perks of a legal sex industry: business taxes on licensed brothels, income from tourism, and a reputation as a fantastic lads’ holiday destination.’
Through its Prostitution Reform Act of 2003, New Zealand became the first nation to fully decriminalise sex work. The results that have been seen include:
- More SWs working independently or with friends (away from the exploitative power of a manager)
- Reduced police opportunity to harass and assault SWs (especially Māori and trans SWs)
- SWs have increased confidence by virtue of legitimacy, in that they don’t have to be as clandestine in order to evade police.
- SWs also have legal rights in terms of labour law, such as the right not to be sexually harassed by managers; in a criminalised workplace, no such law would apply.
- Workers quitting the sex industry can apply for benefits immediately; however, the effectiveness of resources helping people go into new lines of work is of yet unclear.
- Migrant SWs still tend to benefit very little from this law, many unprotected by dint of their "illegal" status.
- All in all, though, decriminalisation makes people safer doing what they need to to survive: 'Nobody can build a better, more feminist world by treating sex workers' current material needs — for income, for safety from eviction, for safety from immigration enforcement — as trivial'.
Things wouldn’t change overnight if everywhere adopted decriminalisation. It needs to be implemented in conjunction with other policies that make life less precarious for marginalised SWs, like people of colour and drug users; the criminal factor of sex work is far from the only problem if the police see other excuses to exercise their punitive power over SWs.
Overall, the aim of the SW rights movement is to make sex work unnecessary by providing better welfare alternatives, access to cheaper housing, etc. We should be asking who has taken power away from them and how they can reclaim it. SWs are not waiting to be invited into the feminist movement; they’ve always been here.
If you’re not inclined to read the book, I encourage you to watch the TED Talk by Juno Mac, one of the authors.
December 31, 2018
Easily one of the best books of 2018, Revolting Prostitutes thoroughly examines the case for labour rights for sex workers. Mac and Smith engage with arguments raised by all sides of the issue, providing a critique of all that centres the material needs of the real people currently engaged in sexualized labour. Not only out to dismantle their detractors, Mac and Smith even push back against reductive or unhelpful arguments made by those who believe themselves to be on the side of workers. Revolting Prostitutes is a must-read for everyone who has a stake in the topic of sex work.
August 3, 2019
I really wanted to like this book. The biggest plus is how it compares major legal models on sex work, shows evidence that full decriminalization works best for safety and labor rights.
But ..
The first thing I noticed is that the authors have this contradictory way of presenting the views of sex workers. They criticize how the "erotic professional" view led to other views within sex work being ignored, which is a very good point .. then they dismiss that view in favor of more negative ones, even suggesting that any sex worker who doesn't hate her job should hate her job because, well, the authors believe that every worker ought to hate their job because capitalism sucks.
That leads to my next question .. Why have Mac and Smith surrendered so much to the other side of the debate??? Seriously, I keep imagining the exchange ..
M&S: Decriminalization works better because it makes sex work safer.
Opponents: But sex work is icky and degrading and exploitative and misogynistic!
M&S: Well, yeah, but ..
Forget that this seems a major tactical error. It also ignores that sex workers don't 100 percent agree with that. There are sex workers who love their jobs, who don't think it's icky or degrading, who argue that exploitation and misogyny are more a result of criminalizing and stigmatizing their work .. but M&S just wash over all of that, because capitalism sucks.
Don't get me wrong, this book presents really good evidence for decriminalization. It just comes across as so heavily tinged with a dogmatic political standpoint that only serves to weaken their argument (unless you already agree with that standpoint).
But ..
The first thing I noticed is that the authors have this contradictory way of presenting the views of sex workers. They criticize how the "erotic professional" view led to other views within sex work being ignored, which is a very good point .. then they dismiss that view in favor of more negative ones, even suggesting that any sex worker who doesn't hate her job should hate her job because, well, the authors believe that every worker ought to hate their job because capitalism sucks.
That leads to my next question .. Why have Mac and Smith surrendered so much to the other side of the debate??? Seriously, I keep imagining the exchange ..
M&S: Decriminalization works better because it makes sex work safer.
Opponents: But sex work is icky and degrading and exploitative and misogynistic!
M&S: Well, yeah, but ..
Forget that this seems a major tactical error. It also ignores that sex workers don't 100 percent agree with that. There are sex workers who love their jobs, who don't think it's icky or degrading, who argue that exploitation and misogyny are more a result of criminalizing and stigmatizing their work .. but M&S just wash over all of that, because capitalism sucks.
Don't get me wrong, this book presents really good evidence for decriminalization. It just comes across as so heavily tinged with a dogmatic political standpoint that only serves to weaken their argument (unless you already agree with that standpoint).
April 13, 2025
could feel the neurones connecting with this one
January 25, 2023
First and foremost, I have no experience in the sex work industry myself. My interest in this topic comes from my overall feminist leaning. I say this just to preface my review of this book as one coming from that lens.
Overall, I found this book very informative. It was written by former sex workers, so the point-of-view you're getting isn't just some abstract generalizations about the sex work industry from feminists who have no idea of how the policies they advocate for affect the women who are actual sex workers. Their discussions about the intertwining issues within society that push women into sex work is very comprehensive and thoughtful. Though, I did find some of their explanations about what anti-prostitution feminists believe to be a bit lacking in nuance in some places, and they painted these feminists as women who lack empathy. That said, I do think that what this book has going for it is the overall narrative that sex work does not often come out of an abundance of choice for the women who enter it but a lack thereof. I find the third wave feminist narrative that calls sex work "empowering" unconvincing at best and straight up misleading at worst.
To me, the authors' point that the only way to eliminate prostitution is to eliminate the underlying reasons women (and others, but this book focuses on women) turn to sex work makes complete sense. At some level, in order to provide for themselves or their families, there will always be women willing to turn to sex work in order to do that. So if society provided better for those who feel they have no other choices it would eliminate their need to turn to such work. The authors are in favor of socialist policy and open borders as a way to eliminate that need. While to some degree this makes sense, I kind of think it's a pipe dream. That they don't lay out any way the policies for which they advocate can be realistically implemented doesn't help.
The authors are clearly in favor of decriminalization as the current best method that results in a safer environment for sex workers in society as it is today. And they have some very convincing evidence.
A glaring omission from this book was the failure to discuss in any depth the wider implications that has for women as a whole within society if men selling and buying sex is normalized. This book closes with the quote "When prostitutes win, all women win." However, there is a correlation in New Zealand with decriminalization of prostitution and an increase in rape and domestic violence overall despite a decrease in other crimes. The authors of this book do agree that the consumers of prostitution are generally not great people, but fail to quantify exactly by how much (i.e., they are much more likely to ADMIT to having committed sexual assault, rape, domestic violence, etc.) While the Nordic Model means some would-be punters end up not buying sex as they have much to lose if caught, which means that sex workers end up having to take more dangerous clients than they would otherwise, there's no discussion about whether decriminalization means more men view women as a whole in ways they otherwise wouldn't, and there is some evidence that that's exactly what happens, though this book leaves that out entirely.
Unfortunately, without structural changes to society, decriminalization of prostitution seems to end up in worse outcomes for women as a whole. I absolutely agree that the safety of sex workers should be a main concern when discussing sex work, however, should that necessarily come at the expense of all other women? This is a hard question for me to grapple with, and it sort of puts women who do engage in sex work and women who don't at odds with each other in this discussion. The authors didn't seem interested in addressing that at all. I do think that decriminalization should be considered for the well-being of sex workers, but clearly decriminalization in itself is not enough and doesn't address the underlying reasons women enter sex work in the first place, and the authors themselves admit all this. They don't mention the correlation of increase in violence against women as a whole with decriminalization, however, and my guess is they either were unaware of this correlation, or they themselves don't know how that could possibly be addressed through policy.
I appreciated reading a book on this topic from the point of view of former sex workers. I believe that sex workers deserve safety. I agree that they should be included as leaders of groups that advocate for policy changes. I agree that society needs to do much more to provide for marginalized people, particularly women of color, migrants, and LGBT people so that they don't end up feeling as if they have no other options but sex work. I agree that criminalization, and creating a narrative where cops are "heros" freeing sex workers from sex work is dangerous for those very people. But, ultimately, I am underwhelmed with the answers that this book provides.
Overall, I found this book very informative. It was written by former sex workers, so the point-of-view you're getting isn't just some abstract generalizations about the sex work industry from feminists who have no idea of how the policies they advocate for affect the women who are actual sex workers. Their discussions about the intertwining issues within society that push women into sex work is very comprehensive and thoughtful. Though, I did find some of their explanations about what anti-prostitution feminists believe to be a bit lacking in nuance in some places, and they painted these feminists as women who lack empathy. That said, I do think that what this book has going for it is the overall narrative that sex work does not often come out of an abundance of choice for the women who enter it but a lack thereof. I find the third wave feminist narrative that calls sex work "empowering" unconvincing at best and straight up misleading at worst.
To me, the authors' point that the only way to eliminate prostitution is to eliminate the underlying reasons women (and others, but this book focuses on women) turn to sex work makes complete sense. At some level, in order to provide for themselves or their families, there will always be women willing to turn to sex work in order to do that. So if society provided better for those who feel they have no other choices it would eliminate their need to turn to such work. The authors are in favor of socialist policy and open borders as a way to eliminate that need. While to some degree this makes sense, I kind of think it's a pipe dream. That they don't lay out any way the policies for which they advocate can be realistically implemented doesn't help.
The authors are clearly in favor of decriminalization as the current best method that results in a safer environment for sex workers in society as it is today. And they have some very convincing evidence.
A glaring omission from this book was the failure to discuss in any depth the wider implications that has for women as a whole within society if men selling and buying sex is normalized. This book closes with the quote "When prostitutes win, all women win." However, there is a correlation in New Zealand with decriminalization of prostitution and an increase in rape and domestic violence overall despite a decrease in other crimes. The authors of this book do agree that the consumers of prostitution are generally not great people, but fail to quantify exactly by how much (i.e., they are much more likely to ADMIT to having committed sexual assault, rape, domestic violence, etc.) While the Nordic Model means some would-be punters end up not buying sex as they have much to lose if caught, which means that sex workers end up having to take more dangerous clients than they would otherwise, there's no discussion about whether decriminalization means more men view women as a whole in ways they otherwise wouldn't, and there is some evidence that that's exactly what happens, though this book leaves that out entirely.
Unfortunately, without structural changes to society, decriminalization of prostitution seems to end up in worse outcomes for women as a whole. I absolutely agree that the safety of sex workers should be a main concern when discussing sex work, however, should that necessarily come at the expense of all other women? This is a hard question for me to grapple with, and it sort of puts women who do engage in sex work and women who don't at odds with each other in this discussion. The authors didn't seem interested in addressing that at all. I do think that decriminalization should be considered for the well-being of sex workers, but clearly decriminalization in itself is not enough and doesn't address the underlying reasons women enter sex work in the first place, and the authors themselves admit all this. They don't mention the correlation of increase in violence against women as a whole with decriminalization, however, and my guess is they either were unaware of this correlation, or they themselves don't know how that could possibly be addressed through policy.
I appreciated reading a book on this topic from the point of view of former sex workers. I believe that sex workers deserve safety. I agree that they should be included as leaders of groups that advocate for policy changes. I agree that society needs to do much more to provide for marginalized people, particularly women of color, migrants, and LGBT people so that they don't end up feeling as if they have no other options but sex work. I agree that criminalization, and creating a narrative where cops are "heros" freeing sex workers from sex work is dangerous for those very people. But, ultimately, I am underwhelmed with the answers that this book provides.
November 18, 2025
“the police appear as the most benevolent protectors in the minds of those who encounter them the least.”
anyone who knows me should know that I have always been a very political individual in regards to sex, sex workers and intersectional feminism when discussing how class / race / ethnicity and criminal justice can all interlink together.
my favourite thing about this book was it didn’t discuss the morality of if we think sex workers should exist, it stated there was enough conversations regarding this- they took the approach that it does exist, what can we do to make it safer for workers. what institutional barriers are in place that are making it so women feel forced into sex work or for the people who choose to do it, how can we make it safer and give them better access to rights, freedoms and protection.
I think I loved this book so much because it focussed on intersectionality in such a great way. It discussed how black women have the double barrier of racism / misogyny when needing support from the police, how trans people are more likely to fall into sex work and also die as a result of this. I just think it looked at all of the potential political contributions and discussed them in such detail. I would highly recommend this.
anyone who knows me should know that I have always been a very political individual in regards to sex, sex workers and intersectional feminism when discussing how class / race / ethnicity and criminal justice can all interlink together.
my favourite thing about this book was it didn’t discuss the morality of if we think sex workers should exist, it stated there was enough conversations regarding this- they took the approach that it does exist, what can we do to make it safer for workers. what institutional barriers are in place that are making it so women feel forced into sex work or for the people who choose to do it, how can we make it safer and give them better access to rights, freedoms and protection.
I think I loved this book so much because it focussed on intersectionality in such a great way. It discussed how black women have the double barrier of racism / misogyny when needing support from the police, how trans people are more likely to fall into sex work and also die as a result of this. I just think it looked at all of the potential political contributions and discussed them in such detail. I would highly recommend this.
April 4, 2023
I went into this book thinking I already agreed with its premise: sex work is legitimate labor and it should be legal, right?
The authors spend the first few chapters arguing against criminalizing sex work, as this doesn’t really stop people from pursing sex work; it just makes their lives more dangerous and unstable. They also do a great job critiquing the Nordic model, in which sex workers aren’t punished but buying sex or running a brothel is illegal.
The whole time I was reading, I nodded along, smugly thinking “Yeah, duh, this is why sex work should be legal like it is in Las Vegas and the Netherlands.”
Well, it turns out that, contrary to what you might think, legalization is ALSO bad for sex workers.
This surprised me, but the authors make a compelling case. Legalized sex work gives the state a huge role to play in the regulation of sex work, and in the (often cruel) enforcement of said regulations. Legalizing sex work still sucks because (a) it doesn’t do anything to help undocumented sex workers who may not have the legal right to work in a government-sanctioned brothel and (b) it forces all sex workers to be beholden to a manager or other person running an authorized sex club. Sex workers can’t just head out on their own and start their own business if their club owner is terrible. Plus, legalized sex work keeps the cops involved in policing the rules around sex work, which is bad for everyone involved.
So, okay, if making sex work illegal is bad, but making sex work legal is also bad, what’s the solution? The answer, the authors argue, is decriminalization, not legalization. Did I think these were the same thing before reading this book? Yeah, I totally did. I’ll admit it. Turns out they are different things and that decriminalization is a much better situation for sex workers. I won’t spoil the authors’ whole argument for why this is, but their case study on the life of sex workers in New Zealand, where sex work is decriminalized, was especially interesting.
This book is great: well researched, persuasive, and (critically) actually written by real sex workers. The authors completely changed my way of thinking about sex work and which policies are actually best for people working in the sex industry. I started this book thinking that the Dutch had it all figured out, but I’m now pretty convinced that having the state (and the police) intimately involved in sex workers’ day to day work is not the way to go.
I especially appreciated the authors’ emphasis on sex workers’ material conditions (their wages, their autonomy, their control over their own schedule and how they will work) as opposed to abstract ideas like positive representation in pop culture or “empowerment.” The arguments in this book are 100% grounded in real, material terms. Why should we care about sex workers? Why should sex work not only be allowed but also decriminalized? Why should sex workers have access to labor law protections? Why are national borders bad for sex workers? This book answers all of these questions with concrete explanations of the social and economic reality of being a sex worker (legally or illegally).
Finally, the authors do a great job threading a needle between not shaming sex work but also not holding it up as a paragon of feminist empowerment. Rather, they take a calm, measured look at the socioeconomic circumstances that might cause someone to choose sex work—and how we might change those socioeconomic circumstances so that the person doesn’t have to choose sex work anymore. Sex work is treated neutrally—it’s not a great thing, but it’s not a terrible thing. And it certainly won’t be stopped by aggressively policing or regulating it.
Much like how if people are really pro-life, they should support policies that make it easier for parents and children to have good lives, the authors assert that if you really want to stop people from pursuing sex work, you should support policies that make it easier for them to have good lives without needing to resort to sex work.
This is a really eye-opening book, and it’s definitely worth your attention.
The authors spend the first few chapters arguing against criminalizing sex work, as this doesn’t really stop people from pursing sex work; it just makes their lives more dangerous and unstable. They also do a great job critiquing the Nordic model, in which sex workers aren’t punished but buying sex or running a brothel is illegal.
The whole time I was reading, I nodded along, smugly thinking “Yeah, duh, this is why sex work should be legal like it is in Las Vegas and the Netherlands.”
Well, it turns out that, contrary to what you might think, legalization is ALSO bad for sex workers.
This surprised me, but the authors make a compelling case. Legalized sex work gives the state a huge role to play in the regulation of sex work, and in the (often cruel) enforcement of said regulations. Legalizing sex work still sucks because (a) it doesn’t do anything to help undocumented sex workers who may not have the legal right to work in a government-sanctioned brothel and (b) it forces all sex workers to be beholden to a manager or other person running an authorized sex club. Sex workers can’t just head out on their own and start their own business if their club owner is terrible. Plus, legalized sex work keeps the cops involved in policing the rules around sex work, which is bad for everyone involved.
So, okay, if making sex work illegal is bad, but making sex work legal is also bad, what’s the solution? The answer, the authors argue, is decriminalization, not legalization. Did I think these were the same thing before reading this book? Yeah, I totally did. I’ll admit it. Turns out they are different things and that decriminalization is a much better situation for sex workers. I won’t spoil the authors’ whole argument for why this is, but their case study on the life of sex workers in New Zealand, where sex work is decriminalized, was especially interesting.
This book is great: well researched, persuasive, and (critically) actually written by real sex workers. The authors completely changed my way of thinking about sex work and which policies are actually best for people working in the sex industry. I started this book thinking that the Dutch had it all figured out, but I’m now pretty convinced that having the state (and the police) intimately involved in sex workers’ day to day work is not the way to go.
I especially appreciated the authors’ emphasis on sex workers’ material conditions (their wages, their autonomy, their control over their own schedule and how they will work) as opposed to abstract ideas like positive representation in pop culture or “empowerment.” The arguments in this book are 100% grounded in real, material terms. Why should we care about sex workers? Why should sex work not only be allowed but also decriminalized? Why should sex workers have access to labor law protections? Why are national borders bad for sex workers? This book answers all of these questions with concrete explanations of the social and economic reality of being a sex worker (legally or illegally).
Finally, the authors do a great job threading a needle between not shaming sex work but also not holding it up as a paragon of feminist empowerment. Rather, they take a calm, measured look at the socioeconomic circumstances that might cause someone to choose sex work—and how we might change those socioeconomic circumstances so that the person doesn’t have to choose sex work anymore. Sex work is treated neutrally—it’s not a great thing, but it’s not a terrible thing. And it certainly won’t be stopped by aggressively policing or regulating it.
Much like how if people are really pro-life, they should support policies that make it easier for parents and children to have good lives, the authors assert that if you really want to stop people from pursuing sex work, you should support policies that make it easier for them to have good lives without needing to resort to sex work.
This is a really eye-opening book, and it’s definitely worth your attention.
March 20, 2021
This is, hands down, the most convincing, compassionate, and sensible thing I’ve ever read on how to make people who sell sex safer.
November 4, 2020
This is one of the best feminist books I have ever read.
April 7, 2024
This is a MUST READ! This is my fourth attempt at a review now and I can’t quite get it out right. But, essential read to refine your feminism and to quote the book “A win for prostitutes, is a win for all women”
September 3, 2021
I just couldn’t love this more if I tried.
Have called myself a feminist since fertilisation and have always tried to advocate for ALL women within this but knowledge of sex workers and sex workers rights was ashamedly lacking.
A perfect blend of information, introspection and humble deference.
Yeah, this book banged.
Have called myself a feminist since fertilisation and have always tried to advocate for ALL women within this but knowledge of sex workers and sex workers rights was ashamedly lacking.
A perfect blend of information, introspection and humble deference.
Yeah, this book banged.
October 10, 2021
Well written, well researched, moving and so enlightening.
One of the best books I’ve read this year, and one of the most engaging non-fiction books I’ve ever read. Highly recommend to anyone curious about the debate around sex work.
Took a while bc there was a lot to process, but dang.
One of the best books I’ve read this year, and one of the most engaging non-fiction books I’ve ever read. Highly recommend to anyone curious about the debate around sex work.
Took a while bc there was a lot to process, but dang.
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