What we read: 6 titles about sex work
Sex work is still a contentious issue within the wider feminist discussion, with a history of being dominated by middle-class white women most concerned with protecting female modesty on behalf of the patriarchy. Within fictional media there’s certainly a repetitive depiction of sex workers, especially women, that often reduces them to damsels in distress, shrouded in tragedy, living in extreme poverty or as the perpetual victim of serial killers who we only get to meet once they’re a corpse.
At September’s book club session for The FBC Paris, we read Feminism, Interrupted by Lola Olufemi, and gained some insight as a group into sex work issues in the UK (and some of Europe). While the academic field of sex work research is active and dominated by women’s voices it is inherently clear that we need to hear from those who choose to work in the sex trade, including migrant and trans women, as well as non-binary individuals.
Below is a suggested reading list of fiction and non-fiction books on the theme of sex work.
Titles to pick up now
Revolting Prostitutes (Juno Mac, Molly Smith)
Both Juno Mac and Molly Smith are former sex workers, which sets a baseline level of care and empathy towards all those who remain in the trade while seeking practical solutions that will help sex workers carry out their work in the safest and healthiest conditions possible.
Taking a global look at sex worker rights, Mac and Smith reveal the limitations of criminalisation/legalisation, centre the sex trade within migration, work, feminism, and white supremacy, while providing evidence of successful reforms, such as in New Zealand where the buying and selling of sex has been legal since 2003.
Revolting Prostitutes also leaves you with questions to grapple with, such as can the police deliver true justice? Can you be anti-prostitution but support sex worker rights? How do sex worker rights fit with feminist and anti-capitalist politics?
The Mars Room (Rachel Kushner)
The Mars Room is the name of the strip club where Kushner’s protagonist Romy Hall works as a stripper. Located in a seedy part of San Francisco, the club is in no way respectable but what’s subversive about this book is how Romy narrates her own story as a modern-day American woman, providing first-hand insight into what the sex industry is like for her, as well as how the justice system is ill-equipped to protect those in the trade.
The Mars Room joins a growing list of contemporary, mainstream fiction that balances the nuances of the sex trade with realistic portrayals of sex workers, something that is long overdue. Narratives surrounding the conversation are predominantly heteronormative, but Kushner once again disrupts the mainstream by showing a fluid scope of sex, gender identities, and transactions in her books.
Purchase from Shakespeare and Company here
Sex Work Matters (edited by Melissa Hope Ditmore, Antonia Levy, Alys Willman)
I first read this in 2018 before discussing with a small group of friends. It radically transformed many of our preconceptions of the sex work industry, as well as sex workers.
Sex Work Matters takes an expansive look at the economics and sociology of the trade. Featuring insights from sex workers on money management, romantic relationships, and police harassment, as well as the experience of male and transgender sex work, the book successfully connects lived experience with academic analysis.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who knows little to nothing about sex work, as it strings together the cultural, economic, and political dimensions and highlights the necessity to create a system for the workers who are forced to risk their lives on a daily basis.
Sub Rosa (Amber Dawn)
Under the guise of magical realism, Sub Rosa introduces us to the Glories, inhabitants of Sub Rosa, who possess magical powers and live happily together. Through the Glories, Dawn provides a glimpse of how sex work could look if sex workers themselves were the policymakers: a strong sense of community, good health, financial freedom, and safe working conditions. But on the flip side of the Glories is the Dark, a place of degradation, pain, and threat.
Sub Rosa pays tribute to those who fall through the cracks, who get dragged back in, who have to make difficult decisions, with the author showing that pity is of no use here - it is understanding, empathy, and practical help that is required from those of us who are privileged enough to not have to face the same choices.
Purchase from Arsenal Pulp Press here
Sex at the Margins: Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry (Laura Maria Agustín)
This book is for those of you who may need further convincing that the selling of sex is just like any other form of work. Agustín highlights that not all migrants who sell sex are passive victims and warns against sex work activism that seeks to “rescue” workers above all.
Sex work research that honestly presents the migrant worker experience is still largely missing but Sex at the Margins makes for a fantastic introduction to the topic, which provides a much-needed analysis. Described as “controversial” by some this is certainly radical reading on a subject matter that many come to with their own judgments. After reading Sex at the Margins you will have a better understanding of the relationship between migration, social justice, and sex work within the global economy.
One title that breaks a common misconception on the topic of sex work:
The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper (Hallie Rubenhold)
While many of us are familiar with Jack the Ripper, the naming of his five victims is more of a challenge. Furthermore, Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine, and Mary-Jane are often depicted as “ladies of the night” and have been reduced to a mere footnote in the legend of their killer, who was never caught.
Historian Hallie Rubenhold has provided the five women with a fuller narrative, working with very little information, which makes for a compelling portrait of Victorian Britain. There are some similarities between the five such as poverty, alcoholism, childbearing, and homelessness but Rubenhold doesn’t simply write about the five, she writes this book for them. A powerful read.
Purchase from Shakespeare and Company here
One that is on our TBR pile:
Rent Girl (Michelle Tea)
Rent Girl is up next on our to-be-read pile. Described as a “boldly illustrated saga of one broke baby dyke trying to make a buck in the surreal world of the sex industry,” this graphic novel promises to “avoid the stereotypes of prostitute as victim or superhero,” and “explore the complicated occupation in all its nuances —absurd, somber, hilarious, disturbing.”