Best of
Sex-Work

2012

The Feminist Porn Book: The Politics of Producing Pleasure


Tristan Taormino - 2012
    This book investigates not only how feminists understand pornography, but also how feminists do porn—that is, direct, act in, produce, and consume one of the world's most lucrative and growing industries. With original contributions by Susie Bright, Candida Royalle, Betty Dodson, Nina Hartley, Buck Angel, and more, The Feminist Porn Book updates the debates of the porn wars of the 1980s, which sharply divided the women's movement, and identifies pornography as a form of expression and labor in which women and other minorities produce power and pleasure.Tristan Taormino is an award-winning author, columnist, editor, sex educator, and feminist pornographer. She is the author of seven books including The Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women and Opening Up. She runs the adult film production company Smart Ass Productions and is an exclusive director for Vivid Entertainment.Celine Parreñas Shimizu is an associate professor of film and performance studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and founding editor of Camera Obscura. She is the author of Straitjacket Sexualities and the 2009 Cultural Studies Book Award winning, The Hypersexuality of Race.Mireille Miller-Young is assistant professor of feminist studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her forthcoming book, A Taste for Brown Sugar: Black Women, Sex Work, and Pornography (Duke University Press) examines African American women’s sex work in the porn industry.

Sex, Race and Class: The Perspective of Winning: A Selection of Writings 1952-2011


Selma James - 2012
    Arguing that class struggle manifests itself as the conflict between the reproduction and survival of the human race, the general theme of the collected essays leans left and warns of market exploitation, war, and ecological disaster. Spanning nearly six decades and compiling essays that have appeared in anthologies or are selections from Selma James' books—some printed here for the first time—these selections preach equality in wages for men and women alike, especially in nontraditional work environments.

Sold to the Highest Bidder


Teresa Richenberger - 2012
    She literally felt forced to sell her body for a place to stay. Thinking this was the path to take to support herself, she answered a "Dancers Wanted" ad in the local newspaper and became an exotic dancer at the age of 17. In her mind, there was no turning back now. But, by the age of 28, Teresa had reached her breaking point. She knew something had to change because she could not go on like this; she was dying. After being trapped for almost 12 years in strip clubs and prostitution, she had lost herself. One day while looking in another newspaper, she answered a completely different kind of ad -- a church ad to come visit. Teresa went to church that night and that was where her healing process began! She now lives her life for Christ and helps others to overcome their painful past. Teresa discovered the freedom to live victoriously by applying God's Word to her life. From her battle with learning to trust and love again AND the struggles of everyday life, she desires to help others do the same. She is now an advocate for hurting women and girls in the sex trade. She wants to help them discover their true value and self worth. She does know the way out of hell because she used to live there! God has provided Teresa with many opportunities to share her testimony with this life-changing message of the Gospel. She has a real life example with an incredible testimony of the dynamic, redeeming work of Jesus Christ! Featured on The 700 Club and SEEDS TV.

Prose and Lore: Memoir Stories About Sex Work


Melissa PetroJosh Ryley - 2012
    In this new collection of creative nonfiction, people who’ve tangled with the sex industry write about the complications that arise in the mix of sex and money. From the accounts of love and loss, occupational hazards and tricks of the trade to personal stories of hope, resistance and survival, Prose & Lore is a fiery collection of narratives by people who have walked the walk, and are now telling their tales.The contributions in the book were written by the participants of the Red Umbrella Project’s first memoir writing workshop, which took place in Fall 2012.

Tales of Times Square: Expanded Edition


Josh Alan Friedman - 2012
    He writes about the porn palaces with live sex shows, and the men and women who perform in them, prostitutes and their pimps, the runaways who will likely be the next decade's prostitutes, the clergymen who fight the smut merchants and the cops who feel impotent in the face of the judiciary. "Publishers Weekly"This classic account of the ultra-sleazy, pre-Disneyfied era of Times Square is now the subject of a documentary film of the same name to be theatrically released this year. With this edition, "Tales of Times Square" returns to print with seven new chapters."

I Heart Sex Workers: A Christian Response to People in the Sex Trade


Lia Claire Scholl - 2012
    The factors leading individuals into sex work are as varied as hair colors, yet sex workers are viewed as powerless individuals who must be rescued. I Heart Sex Workers offers another perspective, one where the characters defy stereotypes and solutions are hard to find. Author Lia Scholl firmly believes the Christian response to sex work should be one of building agency for women, through education, through fighting injustice, by listening to the voices of sex workers. I Heart Sex Workers examines the forces leading individuals into prostitution, whether through coercion, choice, or circumstance. And it provides a Christian response, answering the question, "Are you my neighbor?" How do we respond to woman trading sex for a place to live tonight when she asks, "Where will I sleep?" This book discusses these issues and many more.

TRANS(per)FORMING Nina Arsenault: An Unreasonable Body of Work


Judith Rudakoff - 2012
    In TRANS(per)FORMING Nina Arsenault, Judith Rudakoff brings together a diverse group of contributors, including artists, scholars, and Arsenault herself to offer an exploration of beauty, image, and the notion of queerness through the lens of Arsenault’s highly personal brand of performance art.Illustrated throughout with photographs of the artist’s transformation over the years and demonstrating her diversity of personae, this volume contributes to a deepening of our understanding of what it means to be a woman and what it means to be beautiful. Also included in this volume is the full script of Arsenault’s critically acclaimed stage play, The Silicone Diaries.

Dominatrix: Gender, Eroticism, and Control in the Dungeon


Danielle J. Lindemann - 2012
    Prior research on sex work has focused primarily on prostitutes and most studies of BDSM absorb pro-domme/client relationships without exploring what makes them unique. Lindemann satisfies our curiosity about these paid encounters, shining a light on one of the most secretive and least understood of personal relationships and unthreading a heretofore unexamined patch of our social tapestry. Upending the idea that these erotic laborers engage in simple exchanges and revealing the therapeutic and analytic nature of their work, Lindemann makes a major contribution to cultural studies, anthropology, and queer studies with her analysis of how gender, power, sexuality, and hierarchy shape all of our social experiences.

Cooking in Heels: A Memoir Cookbook


Ceyenne Doroshow - 2012
    As a transgender woman who was inspired to write her book while serving prison time for a prostitution conviction, Ceyenne might not seem like the most likely representative of home cooked family values. But her book, which is peppered with good humor and begins with the story of her life, shows that food and love are the ties that bind, and family is what you make it.