The Idea of Prostitution

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Spinifex Press, 1997 - Political Science - 394 pages
There are (at least) two competing views on prostitution: prostitution as a legitimate and acceptable form of employment, freely chosen by women and men's use of prostitution as a form of degrading the women and causing grave psychological damage. In 'The Idea of Prostitution' Sheila Jeffreys explores these sharply contrasting views.
 

Contents

INTRODUCTION
1
the traffic in women feminism and the league of nations
7
prostitution and the sexual revolution
35
the prostitutes rights movement
65
homosexuality and prostitution
92
prostitution as choice
128
just a job like any other? prostitution as work
161
why cars? whos driving? prostitution and the theorising of sexuality
196
prostitution as sex
213
prostitution as male sexual violence
242
sexual violence feminist human rights theory and the omission of prostitution
275
trafficking prostitution and human rights
306
CONCLUSION universalising prostitution
339
BIBLIOGRAPHY
349
INDEX
373
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About the author (1997)

Sheila Jeffreys is a radical feminist writer and activist who has worked mainly against male violence and for lesbian feminism. She joined her first Womens Liberation Movement group in the UK in 1973. In 1991, she moved to Australia to teach at the University of Melbourne where she is now a Professorial Fellow in the School of Social and Political Sciences. She moved back to the UK in 2015. She is the author of twelve books on issues such as the history of sexuality, lesbian feminism, prostitution, gay mens politics, beauty practices, the threat of patriarchal religion to womens rights, and the politics of transgenderism. Her most recent book is Trigger Warning: My Lesbian Feminist Life (2020).