From Vanderbilt's Collection
The Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Prostitution by
Prostitution bears the unique title of being both the "world's oldest profession" and one of the least understood occupations. Unlike most of the crime and family literature, prostitution appears to be have all the features of traditional markets: prices, supply and demand considerations,variety in the organizational structure, and policy relevance. Despite this, economists have largely ignored prostitution in their research and writings. This has been changing, however, over the last twenty years as greater access to data has enabled economists to build better theories and gain abetter understanding of the organization of sex market. The Oxford Hanbook of the Economics of Prostitution fills the gap in our understanding. It brings together many of the top researchers in the field who explain how the prostitution markets are organized across space and time, the role of technology in shaping labor supply and demand, theintersection of prostitution with trafficking, and the optimal use of law enforcement. What makes the material unique is its explicit focus on economics as the primary methodology for organizing our understanding of prostitution. The Handbook brings to scholars' attention for the first time acollection of original writings on prostitution that provides an overview of what is known and what is not known in this area. Researchers with an interest in underground markets, labor economics, risky behaviors, marriage, and gender will find the book's contents illuminating and path breaking.
Call Number: Central, HQ121 .O94 2016ISBN: 9780199915248
Sex Workers Unite by
A provocative history that reveals how sex workers have been at the vanguard of social justice movements for the past fifty years while building a movement of their own that challenges our ideas about labor, sexuality, feminism, and freedom Documenting five decades of sex-worker activism, Sex Workers Unite is a fresh history that places prostitutes, hustlers, escorts, call girls, strippers, and porn stars in the center of America's major civil rights struggles. Although their presence has largely been ignored and obscured, in this provocative history Melinda Chateauvert recasts sex workers as savvy political organizers--not as helpless victims in need of rescue. Even before transgender sex worker Sylvia Rivera threw a brick and sparked the Stonewall Riot in 1969, these trailblazing activists and allies challenged criminal sex laws and "whorephobia," and were active in struggles for gay liberation, women's rights, reproductive justice, union organizing, and prison abolition. Although the multibillion-dollar international sex industry thrives, the United States remains one of the few industrialized nations that continues to criminalize prostitution, and these discriminatory laws put workers at risk. In response, sex workers have organized to improve their working conditions and to challenge police and structural violence. Through individual confrontations and collective campaigns, they have pushed the boundaries of conventional organizing, called for decriminalization, and have reframed sex workers' rights as human rights. Telling stories of sex workers, from the frontlines of the 1970s sex wars to the modern-day streets of SlutWalk, Chateauvert illuminates an underrepresented movement, introducing skilled activists who have organized a global campaign for self-determination and sexual freedom that is as multifaceted as the sex industry and as diverse as human sexuality.
Call Number: Central, HQ144 .C46 2013ISBN: 9780807061398
Transgender Sex Work and Society by
Over 40 contributors from across the globe have contributed to this 400-page volume, which covers the major contemporary issues affecting both the transgender community and health, social service, and mental health agencies.Synthesizing introductions by the editor help organize and put into context a vast and scattered research and empirical literature. Topics range from HIV prevention efforts, criminal justice, transgender advocacy perspective, substance abuse issues, and health and social service programs.
Call Number: Available OnlineISBN: 9781939594235Publication Date: 2018
The Routledge Handbook of Male Sex Work, Culture, and Society by
Panoramic and provocative in its scope, this handbook is the definitive guide to contemporary issues associated with male sex work and a must read for those who study masculinities, male sexuality, sexual health, and sexual cultures. This groundbreaking volume will have a powerful impact on our understanding of this challenging, elusive subject. While the internet has brought the previously hidden worlds of male sex work more starkly into public view, academic research has often remained locked into descriptions of male sex workers and their clients as perverse. Drawing from a variety of regions, the chapters provide insights into the historical, popular cultural, social, and economic aspects of sex work, as well as demographic patterns, health outcomes, and policy issues. This approach shifts thought on male sex work from a hidden "social problem" to a publicly acknowledged "social phenomenon." The book challenges myths and reconceptualizes male sex work as a discrete field. Importantly, it provides a vehicle for the voices of male sex workers and new and established scholars. This richly detailed, humane, and innovative collection retrieves male sex work from silence and invisibility on the one hand and its association with scandal and stigma on the other. The findings within have profound implications for how governments approach public health and regulation of the sex industry and for how society can make sense of the complexities of human sexualities. A compelling scholarly read and a major contribution to a commercial sector that is often neglected in policy debates on sex work, this handbook will be of great interest to scholars of criminology, sociology, gender studies, and cultural studies and all those interested in male sex work.
Call Number: Available OnlineISBN: 9781003152835Publication Date: 2021
Organizations
- Coalition Against Trafficking in Women"[A] non-governmental organization that promotes women's human rights by working internationally to combat sexual exploitation in all its forms. Founded in 1988, CATW was the first international non-governmental organization to focus on human trafficking, especially sex trafficking of women and girls. "
- NSWP (Global Network of Sex Work Projects)"The Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) exists to uphold the voice of sex workers globally and connect regional networks advocating for the rights of female, male, and transgender sex workers." Includes multinational guides, reports, and other publications.
- Prostitution Research & EducationThis site, sponsored by the non-profit San Francisco Women's Centers, features facts, services, and information about activists, prostitution and violence, trafficking, and legal issues.
- Sex Workers Project"The Sex Workers Project (SWP)provides client-centered legal and social services to individuals who engage in sex work, regardless of whether they do so by choice, circumstance, or coercion. One of the first programs in the nation to assist survivors of human trafficking, the Sex Workers Project has pioneered an approach to service grounded in human rights, harm reduction and in the real life experiences of our clients"
Multiple Viewpoints
- Opposing Viewpoints in Context (OV or OVIC) This link opens in a new windowPro and con articles on important social, political, and economic issues. Reference articles that provide context, magazines, newspapers, primary source documents, government and organizational statistics, and links.
- Points of View Reference Center This link opens in a new windowEssays that present multiple sides of a current issue, each with an overview, point, and counterpoint. Contains: political magazines, newspapers, radio and TV news transcripts, primary source documents, and reference books.
Sex Workers and Disability
- Touching Base: Sex Workers and People with Disability Coming Together"Touching Base developed out of the need to assist people with disability and sex workers to connect with each other, focusing on access, discrimination, human rights and legal issues and the attitudinal barriers that these two marginalised communities can face."
Useful Library of Congress Subject Headings
To get a sense of what we might have on the topic of prostitution, try a "SUBJECT begins with" search in Library Catalog using one of the sample Library of Congress Subject Headings listed below:
- Child prostitution
- Prostitution History
- Prostitutes Civil Rights
- Sex-oriented businesses
