Demanding Sex: Critical Reflections on the Regulation of Prostitution

By interrogating supply/demand from an inter- and multi-disciplinary perspective, the chapters in this collection aim to broaden engagement beyond the routine analysis of the locus of violence in prostitution and the validity of the prostitute's consent. A focus on the supply/demand dynamic brings into play a range of other societal, economic and psychological factors, such as the social construction of sexuality, the viability of alternative choices for prostitutes and clients and the impact of regulatory regimes on the provision of sexual services. The factors which underlie each component of the supply/demand dyad are also studied and an examination is made of their dynamic interrelation. This collection emphasises the importance of rendering policy makers alert to the evidence emerging from empirical studies conducted in different fields of enquiry, in the hope of moving beyond polarity and politics at the local, national and international level.This book should be of interest to students, researchers and policy developers in the fields of law and society, gender and sexuality studies, criminology and business, gender and culture.Vanessa Munro is Professor of Socio-Legal Studies at the School of Law, University of Nottingham. Her research is framed by a feminist theoretical analysis, and is especially concerned with the law's engagement with the parameters of women's consent. She has published extensively on aspects of feminist legal and political theory.Dr Marina Della Giusta is Senior Lecturer in Economics at the University of Reading. Her research interests are in Development economics, in particular economics of trust and social capital, roles of institutions and social mechanisms in market access, prostitution, and gender. She has published widely in these and related areas.