Sex Work and Women’s Movements

Source
Svati P. Shah
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Year
2011

This paper places the development of sex workers’ movements over the past two decades within the historical context of feminist discourses on violence against women. The paper discusses the importance of the discourse on violence against women in framing contemporary abolitionist campaigns that seek to criminalize sex work. It goes on to discuss the contemporary context, including the status of alliances and dialogue between women’s, LGBTQ, and sex workers’ movements, focusing on India. The history of responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the question of agency are also discussed. The paper ultimately calls into question the effects of using a liberal framework to craft interventions in the governance of sexual commerce.

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