Regulating Sex/Work: From Crime Control to Neo-liberalism?

Recent years have borne witness to an unprecedented rise in - and an increased visibility of - sexual commerce and consumption, with a corresponding growth in associated forms of regulation. Regulating Sex/Work: From Crime Control to Neo-liberalism? works on addressing these trends by challenging the traditional responses and offering a fresh approach to sex industry regulation. By documenting changes in regulations relating to a range of sex markets from the UK, France, USA, Australia, and India, this volume reveals an apparent paradox: that the increase in oppressive and punitive approaches to regulating the sex industry comes at a time when evidence suggests that the supply and demand that fuels the sex markets, the diversification of sex markets, and their embedded nature in socioeconomic infrastructures is more intense than ever.

Each chapter in this book addresses contemporary empirical examples of the regulation of the sex industry in a specific country and reveals theoretical connections between the implications of regulation and sexuality, gender and control. While many common themes run throughout the collection, consideration of the wide diversity of sex markets challenges traditional academic concentration on narrow forms of prostitution and allows for a more complex portrait of sex industry regulation to emerge.