Synopses & Reviews
Drawing on more than fifty interviews in both the criminalized sex industry of the United States and in the decriminalized trade in the Netherlands, Live Sex Acts captures the wide-ranging experiences of women performing erotic labor and offers a complex, multi-faceted depiction of sex work. Live Sex Acts juxtaposes accounts by high class call girls, indentured brothel workers and teenage street prostitutes, anti-prostitution feminists and sex radical porn stars, a shoot-from-the-lip California sheriff (who urges us to call a whore a whore) and a Dutch police instructor who invites prostitutes to teach cadets about the rights and concerns of sex workers.
Grounding her analysis in a broad sociological critique of women's labor and emotional labor, Wendy Chapkis moves beyond the frame of the contemporary feminist sex wars--a frame where differing sexual meanings vie as competing truth claims. By analyzing sex work practices in widely disparate economic and political contexts, Chapkis reveals, in her words, the truth about sex, including commercial sex, is both multiple and often contradictory.
Chapkis's expansive analytic perspective encompasses both a serious examination of international prostitution policy as well as a hands-on account of such contemporary commercial sexual practices as an erotic yoni massage ritual. Scholarly, but never simply academic, Live Sex Acts is explicitly grounded in a concern for how competing political discourses work concretely in the world--to frame policy and define perceptions of AIDS, to mobilize women into opposing camps, to silence some agendas and to promote others.
Synopsis
Drawing on more than fifty interviews in both the US and the Netherlands, Wendy Chapkis captures the wide-ranging experiences of women performing erotic labor and offers a complex, multi-faceted depiction of sex work. Her expansive analytic perspective encompasses both a serious examination of international prostitution policy as well as hands-on accounts of contemporary commercial sexual practices. Scholarly, but never simply academic, this book is explicitly grounded in a concern for how competing political discourses work concretely in the world--to frame policy and define perceptions of AIDS, to mobilize women into opposing camps, to silence some agendas and to promote others.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 236-242) and index.