The Subject of Prostitution: Sex Work, Law and Social Theory

The Subject of Prostitution offers a distinctive analysis of the links between prostitution and social theory in order to advance a critical analysis of the relationship of law to sex/work.

Using the lens of social theory to disrupt fixed meanings the book provides an advanced analytical framework through which to understand the complexity and contingencies of sex/work in late-modernity. The book analyses contemporary citizenship discourse and the law’s ability to meet the competing demands of empowerment by sexworkers and protection by radical feminists who view prostitution as the epitome of patriarchal sexual and economic relations. Its central focus is the role of law in both structuring and responding to the ‘problem of prostitution’. This is particularly pertinent in a period of unprecedented legal reform, both internationally and nationally, as legal norms simultaneously attempt to protect, empower and criminalise parties involved in the purchase of sexual services.

The Subject of Prostitution aims to provide an advanced theoretical resource for policy makers, researchers and activists involved in contemporary struggles over the meanings and place of sex/work in late modernity.