Prostitutes and Their Rescuers : Sociological Dynamics and Public Controversies in French Prostitution

Few sociological subjects excite so much passion – and fantasies – as prostitution. Relying on a thirty year-long study of the French case, Lilian Mathieu offers an objective and comprehensive account of prostitution realities, first by analyzing the sex market as a social world with its own rules, hierarchies, and vulnerabilities, but also by stressing how prostitutes’ practice and living conditions are framed and shaped by moral campaigns, public controversies, and state policies. By doing so, the book offers a new understanding of how the “deviant” and “normal” worlds interact and transform sexual norms.

* Prostitutes and Their Rescuers. Sociological dynamics and public controversies in French prostitution is now available in paperback for individual customers. *

Lilian Mathieu is senior researcher in sociology at the French National Center for Scientific Research (Centre Max Weber--Ecole normale supérieure in Lyon). A specialist in qualitative methods, he has conducted many studies to prostitution and social movements.