La Strada Documentation Center

Sex at the Margins. Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry

Document number
1328
Date
2007
Title
Sex at the Margins. Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry
Author/publisher
Laura María Agustín, Zed Books & Palgrave Macmillan
Availability
LSI library
Document type(s)
Research/Study/Analysis,
Keywords
Women's rights; Women; Control and regulation of prostitution, Protection, Punishable forms of prostitution, Prostitution; Sex work; Unionisation of sex workers; Clients, Abolitionism; New Abolitionism; Prohibitionism; Regulationism,
Summary
This groundbreaking book sets out to explode several myths: that selling sex is completely different from any other kind of work; that migrants who sell sex are passive victims; and that the multitude of people out to save them are without self-interest. Laura Agustín makes a passionate case against these stereotypes, arguing that the label 'trafficked' does not accurately describe migrants' lives and that the 'rescue industry' disempowers them. Based on extensive research amongst migrants who sell sex and social helpers, Sex at the Margins provides a radically different analysis. Frequently, says Agustín, migrants make rational choices to travel and work in the sex industry. Although they are treated like a marginalised group they form part of the dynamic global economy. Both powerful and controversial, this book is essential reading for all those who want to understand the increasingly important relationship between sex markets, migration and the desire for social justice. 'Sex at the Margins rips apart distinctions between migrants, service work and sexual labour…set to be a trailblazer in the study of the sex industry’ - Lisa Adkins, Professor of Sociology, Goldsmiths, University of London.
To order the book : https://www.zedbooks.net/shop/book/sex-at-the-margins/
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