Overview

In the early twentieth century, abolitionists sought to stamp out sex work by penalizing all involved. In the generation that followed, neo-abolitionists looked at the sex industry from a feminist perspective, claiming that workers were victims caught in a patriarchal matrix. Yet both agreed that sex work was a destructive and corrupting force that should be eliminated. In this lucid and fearless volume, five academics and activists convey their vision of prostitution as work, albeit stigmatized and marginalized labour. In chapters that consider the nature of sex work, the legal framework that seeks to control the sex industry, the historical debates over its existence, the spectre of human trafficking, and community-based activism from within the industry, the authors assert the central place of sex workers in discussions about their lives and work. This book opposes discourses that position sex workers as victims without agency.

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9780774826112

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Colette Parent is a professor in the Department of Criminology at the University of Ottawa. Chris Bruckert and Patrice Corriveau are associate professors in the Department of Criminology at the University of Ottawa. Maria Nengeh Mensah is a professor at the École de travail social and the Institut de recherches et d’études féministes at the Université du Québec à Montréal. Louise Toupin is an independent researcher and lecturer on feminist studies in the Department of Political Science at the Université du Québec à Montréal. Käthe Roth has been a literary translator, working mainly in historical non-fiction, for more than twenty years.

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