Sex Work Matters
Power and Intimacy in the Global Sex Industry

Contains essays on the economics and sociology of sex work. From insights by sex workers on how they handle money, intimate relationships and daily harassment by police, to the experience of male and transgender sex work, this book offers theoretical discussions as well empirical case studies, providing ways to link theory with lived experiences.

"Sex Work Matters" brings sex workers, scholars and activists together to present pioneering essays on the economics and sociology of sex work. From insights by sex workers on how they handle money, intimate relationships and daily harassment by police, to the experience of male and transgender sex work, this fascinating and original book offers theoretical discussions as well empirical case studies, providing new ways to link theory with lived experiences. The result is a vital new contribution to sex-worker rights that readers weary of the sensational and often salacious treatment of the sex industry in the media and literature will find refreshing. The book will equip any reader with new theoretical frameworks for understanding the sex industry, challenging readers to explore the topic of sex work in new ways, especially its cultural, economic and political dimensions.

Introduction: New Perspectives on the "Oldest Profession" - Antonia Levy and Alys Willman.
A. Beyond Divides: New Frameworks for Understanding the Sex Industry
1. Sex Work Now: What the blurring boundaries around the sex industry means for sex work, research and activism - Barbara G. Brents and Kathryn Hausbeck, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
2. The Cultural Study of Commercial Sex - Laura Agustin, University of Liverpool 3. The Meaning of the Whore - Juline Koken, Center for HIV Educational Studies and Training (CHEST), New York B. Managing Multiple Roles
4. To Love, Honor, and Strip: An Investigation of Exotic Dancer Romantic Relationships - Mindy S. Bradley and Carrie Hobbs-Keith, Pennsylvania State University 5. Sex and the Unspoken in Male Street Prostitution - Kerwin Kaye, New York University 6. Enforced Ab/Normalcy: Sex Worker Hijras and the ReAppropriation of Identity in Bangladesh - Mashrur Hossain, Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka C. Money and Sex 7. Show Me the Money: A Sex Worker Reflects on Research Into the Sex Industry - Jo Weldon, burlesque performer, producer, and photographer 8. Selling Sex: Women's Participation in the Sex Industry - Melissa Petro, former erotic dancer and researcher, The New School University D. Sex Work and the State
9. Pimping the Pueblo: State Regulated Commercial Sex in Neoliberal Mexico - Patty Kelly, George Washington University 10. Poor girls, Empowered Professionals, Deviant Subjects: On the official Construction and Regulation of Sex Workers in Germany - Anne Dolemeyer, Rebecca Pates, Daniel Schmidt 11. Sex Work, Communities and Public Policy in the UK - Maggie O'Neill and Jane Pitcher, Loughborough University E. Organizing Across Borders
12. How a Gay Rights Activist Became a Sex Workers. Rights Activist - Michael Hendricks, STELLA Canada 13. The Brussels Conference: Orientations - Giulia Garofalo, European Conference on Sex Work, Human Rights, Labor and Migration Conclusion: Pushing Boundaries in Sex Work Activism and Research - Melissa Ditmore