The Industrial Vagina: The Political Economy of the Global Sex Trade, by Sheila Jeffreys, available from Amazon.
Here is a link to a radio interview with Sheila Jeffreys on the global sex trade. From the Amazon description:
The industrialization of prostitution and the sex trade has created a multibillion-dollar global market, involving millions of women, that makes a substantial contribution to national and global economies. “The Industrial Vagina” examines how prostitution and other aspects of the sex industry have moved from being small-scale, clandestine, and socially despised practices to become very profitable legitimate market sectors that are being legalised and decriminalised by governments. Sheila Jeffreys demonstrates how prostitution has been globalized through an examination of: the growth of pornography and its new global reach; the boom in adult shops, strip clubs and escort agencies; military prostitution and sexual violence in war; marriage and the mail order bride industry; and, the rise in sex tourism and trafficking in women. She argues that through these practices women’s subordination has been outsourced and that states that legalise this industry are acting as pimps, enabling male buyers in countries in which women’s equality threatens male dominance, to buy access to the bodies of women from poor countries who are paid for their sexual subservience. This major and provocative contribution is essential reading for all with an interest in feminist, gender and critical globalisation issues as well as students and scholars of international political economy.
Also another book on prostitution worth reading: Making Sex Work: A Failed Experiment with Legalised Prostitution, by Mary Lucille Sullivan; aivalable from Amazon.
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I should get this book for my plane trip to Amsterdam hah.
Yep, Amsterdam’s sex industry is still under the control of massive organized crime. I wrote about it in “On Choices, part 2” and “Prostitution, Trafficking & Law”. I’d read reports on Amsterdam’s legalized prostitution system.
That’s what happens when they legalize the pimps & johns. I believe that prostituting women, girls, men, etc should be 100% decriminalized and provided with support programs, but the pimps & johns should be penalized…
In case you like some of what Sheila Jeffreys writes, Aileen, I highly recommend an earlier book from her, called The Lesbian Heresy; it’s a wonderful book…
Have a nice trip to Amsterdam, btw.
I like the extensive book list on your website. I would like to recommend To Plead Our Own Cause: Personal Stories by Today’s Slaves–an excellent piece on global slavery that includes many narratives by women and children in myriad forms of sexual slavery.
Thanks. 🙂 I loved reading your essay on the strip-club industry in Not for Sale, btw, Sherry.
I was going to create a book list on my blog, but I think I’ll just link to yours 🙂 Also, FYI, Chris Stark, one of the co-editors of Not for Sale, has her narrative in To Plead Our Own Cause.
Thanks, Sherry. 😉
What’s your blog address, btw?
http://www.sherryleeshort.wordpress.com
Thanks.