The intersection of sex, money and work is and has been highly contested. This module explores debates and perspectives that underpin different understandings of and theorisations on prostitution and sex work.
We will read and discuss how sex for sale has been conceptualised in different theoretical traditions, how it has been addressed and responded to at the societal, political and policy level, and how the phenomenon and those involved in it (sellers, buyers, and third parties) have changed over time.
What kind of knowledge is and has been produced around prostitution and sex work? What can the study of commercial sex reveal about the social construction of sexuality and about sexual norms? How does gender intersect with racial, classed, and ethnic inequalities to shape the organisation of the sex industry?
The module will address these questions by engaging with a wide body of interdisciplinary scholarship that draws from feminist, socio-legal, political, queer, criminological and historical perspectives aiming to explore different contexts across the globe.