Prostitution, Power and Freedom

Book excerpt: Prostitution is still the subject of intense controversy among feminists but theoretical and political analyses are often only loosely grounded in empirical research. This book offers new perspectives on prostitution based on wide-ranging research in nine countries and extensive work with prostitute users. "Prostitution, Power and Freedom" contains a great deal of original research including interviews with male and female sex tourists, adult and child prostitutes, procurers, and clients. O'Connell Davidson demonstrates the complexity of prostitution, arguing that it is not simply an expression of male oppression and violence or insatiable sexual needs, nor is it an unproblematic economic encounter. Using a range of theoretical analyses, she shows it to be a complex relationship where economics, gender, age, race, class, power and 'choice' intersect. The result is a more sophisticated understanding that uncovers the economic and political inequalities underlying prostitution, but also shows that while prostitution necessarily implies certain freedoms for the client, the unfreedoms experienced by individual prostitutes vary greatly. This highly accessible book will be of great interest to those in gender and women's studies, sexuality and cultural studies, the sociology of work and organization, and social policy as well as the general reader.