Ezra's Bookshelf

Revolting Prostitutes

by Juno Mac and Molly Smith · 289 pages · ~5.5 hrs

Society & CultureGender & Feminism

Recommended on

buy on bookshop.org →
Sex workers rarely get to speak for themselves in debates about their industry, and this book corrects that absence with arguments grounded in lived experience. Juno Mac and Molly Smith, both current or former sex workers, examine the major legal frameworks governing prostitution, from full criminalization to the Nordic model to decriminalization, and assess each against the actual safety and wellbeing of people who sell sex. Their analysis reveals how well-intentioned policies often harm the workers they claim to protect. Criminalization pushes sex work underground, making it harder to report violence and negotiate safer conditions. The Nordic model, which criminalizes buying but not selling, still disrupts the market in ways that force workers to take greater risks. Mac and Smith connect sex work to broader questions of labor, migration, and feminism. Many enter the industry because other options are worse, not because they are deceived or coerced. Restricting sex work often means restricting migration, as anti-trafficking measures target migrant workers regardless of whether they have been trafficked. The authors challenge rescue narratives that treat sex workers as victims requiring salvation rather than workers requiring rights. Drawing on evidence from New Zealand, where decriminalization has been studied extensively, they argue that treating sex work as work produces better outcomes than treating it as inherently exploitative. Readers across the political spectrum will find their assumptions challenged by this rigorous, compassionate analysis.

For fans of

Reviews