Barry (sociology, Pennsylvania State U.) considers sexual exploitation a political condition and thus the foundation of women's subordination and the base from which discrimination against women is constructed. She argues for the need to integrate the struggle against sexual exploitation in prostitution into broader feminist struggles and to place it, as one of several connected issues, in the forefront of the feminist agenda. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Barry (sociology, Pennsylvania State U.) considers sexual exploitation a political condition and thus the foundation of women's subordination and the base from which discrimination against women is constructed. She argues for the need to integrate the struggle against sexual exploitation in prostitution into broader feminist struggles and to place it, as one of several connected issues, in the forefront of the feminist agenda. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

An illuminating follow-up to Kathleen Barry's powerful landmark book, Female Sexual Slavery, that assesses the landscape of abuse prostitution 15 years later In 1979, Kathleen Barry's landmark book, Female Sexual Slavery, pulled back the curtain on a world of abuse prostitution that shocked the world. Documenting in devastating detail the lives of street prostitutes and the international traffic in women, Barry's work was called "powerful and compassionate" by Adrienne Rich and "a courageous and crusading book that should be read everywhere" by Gloria Steinem. The Los Angeles Times found it "a powerful work filled with disbelief, outrage, and documentation...sexual bondage shackles women as much today as it has for centuries." In The Prostitution of Sexuality, Barry assesses where we are 15 years later, how far we've come and, more importantly, how far we have still to go. Shifting her focus from the sexuality of prostitution to the prostitution of sexuality, Barry exposes the practice of teenage sexual exploitation and the flourishing Asian sex tour industry, emphasizing the world-wide role of the expanding multi-billion dollar pornography industry. The work identifies the global conditions of sexual exploitation, from sex industrialization in developing countries to the normalization of prostitution in the West. The Prostitution of Sexuality considers sexual exploitation a political condition and thus the foundation of women's subordination and the base from which discrimination against women is constructed and enacted. Breaking new ground, Barry convincingly argues for the need to integrate the struggle against sexual exploitation in prostitution into broader feminist struggles and to place it, as one of several connected issues, in the forefront of the feminist agenda. Barry concludes the book with a sampling of strategies—international, regional, local, and personal--that feminist activists have employed successfully since the early 1980s, highlighting new international legal strategies for human rights resulting from her work.

Examines the nature and extent of female sexual slavery, exploring the psychological foundations of male dominance and surveys the by-products of a patriarchal society--pimps, procurers, rapists, enforced marriages, and polygamous arrangements.

"Common women" in medieval England were prostitutes, whose distinguishing feature was not that they took money for sex but that they belonged to all men in common. Common Women: Prostitution and Sexuality in Medieval England tells the stories of these women's lives: their entrance into the trade because of poor job and marriage prospects or because of seduction or rape; their experiences as street-walkers, brothel workers or the medieval equivalent of call girls; their customers, from poor apprentices to priests to wealthy foreign merchants; and their relations with those among whom they lived. Through a sensitive use of a wide variety of imaginative and didactic texts, Ruth Karras shows that while prostitutes as individuals were marginalized within medieval culture, prostitution as an institution was central to the medieval understanding of what it meant to be a woman. This important work will be of interest to scholars and students of history, women's studies, and the history of sexuality.

This is a study of the legal rules affecting the practice of female prostitution at Rome approximately from 200 B.C. to A.D. 250. It examines the formation and precise content of the legal norms developed for prostitution and those engaged in this profession, with close attention to their social context. McGinn's unique study explores the "fit" between the law-system and the socio-economic reality while shedding light on important questions concerning marginal groups, marriage, sexual behavior, the family, slavery, and citizen status, particularly that of women.

Alain Corbin depicts prostitution in nineteenth-century France not as a vice, crime, or disease, but as a well-organized business. Corbin reveals how the brothel served the sex industry in the same way that the factory served manufacturing: it provided an institution for the efficient and profitable sale of services.

Henriot portrays the sex trade in Shanghai, from the life of the courtesan to street prostitution.

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.

Prostitution, Trafficking, and Traumatic Stress documents the violence that runs like a constant thread throughout all types of prostitution, including escort, brothel, trafficking, strip club, and street prostitution. The book presents clinical examples, analysis, and original research, counteracting common myths about the harmlessness of prostitution. It explores the connections between prostitution, incest, sexual harassment, rape, and battering; looks at peer support programs for women escaping prostitution; examines clinical symptoms common among prostitutes; and much more.