1st Edition

Prostitution in the Community Attitudes, Action and Resistance

By Sarah Kingston Copyright 2014
    224 Pages
    by Routledge

    224 Pages
    by Routledge

    Prostitution often causes significant anxiety for communities. These communities have been known to campaign against its presence in ‘their’ neighbourhoods, seeking the removal of street sex workers and their male clients. Although research and literature has begun to explore prostitution from the standpoint of the community, there is no comprehensive text which brings together some of the current literature in this area. This book aspires to cast light on some of this work by exploring the nature, extent and visibility of prostitution in residential communities and business areas, considering the legal and social context in which it is situated, and the community responses of those who live and work in areas of sex work.

    This book aims to examine current literature on the impacts of prostitution in residential areas and considers how different policy approaches employed by the police and local authorities have mediated and shaped the nature of sex work in different communities. It explores what communities think about prostitution and those involved, as well as studies the techniques and strategies communities have utilized to take action against prostitution in their neighbourhoods. This book will also demonstrate the diversity of public attitudes, action and reaction to prostitution in the community.

    This book is a useful contribution for academics and researchers in the fields of Criminology and Sociology who wish to understand current policy initiatives surrounding the issue of prostitution in local, national and international community settings.

    1. Introduction to prostitution in the community  2. Prostitution policy and the community  3. Researching the community  4. Community attitudes  5. The impact of prostitution on communities  6. Community action and resistance  7. Responding to community concerns: local authority and the police  8. Stigma management: the individual and the community.

    Biography

    Sarah Kingston is Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Course Leader of the BA (Hons) Criminology degree at Leeds Metropolitan University. Her research interests focus on the sex industry, sexuality and prostitution policy. Her previous publications include New Sociologies of Sex Work (Ashgate, 2010) for which she was co-editor.

    "Though sex workers can be among the most vulnerable in society, notions of tolerance and charity rarely extend to encompass them. In this timely book Sarah Kingston explores the tensions that exist between residents and sex workers, suggesting that stereotypes of stigma and deviance can combine to position sex workers and their clients as beyond the bounds of respectable society.

    Though grounded in the context of contemporary prostitution policy in the UK, this book is sure to be of international import given the long-standing failure of governments to evolve regulations protecting the interests of landowners and residents without penalising sex workers."  

    Phil Hubbard, Professor of Urban Studies, University of Kent, UK.

    "By examining prostitution from the vantage point of residents affected by the presence of prostitution in their neighborhoods, Sarah Kingston illuminates a dimension of struggles over sex work that has rarely been researched.  A major, unique contribution to the literature on prostitution." 

    Ronald Weitzer, Professor of Sociology, George Washington University, USA. 

    "Policies restricting consensual adult prostitution are often justified in terms of the alleged negative effects on the communities that provide venues for ‘the sex trade’. This book examines the empirical basis for this assumption by accessing and unpacking the complex attitudes to sex workers, their business partners, and clients, formed by those who live and work near them.   

    "By drawing from her own ethnographic data and the work of other researchers, Kingston offers new ways of studying sex markets that will help public officials and concerned citizens rethink how societies suppress and regulate them." 

    Laurie Shrage, Professor of Philosophy and Women's and Gender Studies, Florida International University, USA. 

    "This research provides a comprehensive overview of the effects and contradictions that arise on prostitution... The contribution of this book is essential not only for the academic world and for whom are dedicated to the study of security, but also for all agencies involved on prostitution at municipal, state and international levels."

    Cristina Sobrino Garcés, InDret: Revista Para El Analisis Del Derecho