Reconfiguring Stigma in Studies of Sex for Sale (Interdisciplinary Studies in Sex for Sale)

Reconfiguring Stigma in Studies of Sex for Sale is about the production and effects of stigma in sex work or prostitution with contributions from four continents and different disciplines that taken together explore how such stigma is conditioned by differences in time, place, citizenship, gender, sexuality, class and race.

Stigma is about relationships between people and also sets an interpretative frame whereby people understand and react to situations and actions, and the book is developed and organized to investigate this from various angles. It presents empirical studies that build on and expand the scholarship on stigma and sex work. This means that it contributes to a more complex understanding of stigma in sex work studies. Further, by using the example of sew work to explore how we can best understand the production and consequences of stigma, the book makes a contribution that is relevant for all scholars who work on stigma and stigmatization.

The book is intended for academic audiences interested in sex work or prostitution, on the one hand, and stigmatization, on the other. It is also intended for students in a broad range of disciplines, as well as for practitioners and activists who encounter or work with stigmatization or stigmatized populations.

Jeanett Bjønness is an anthropologist, and Assistant Professor at Center for alcohol and drug research, Aarhus University. Her main research includes work on prostitution and sugardating, and aspects of identity, gender and class related to the exchange of sexual services, as well as young peoples’ identity strategies and use of medicine and drugs to cope and perform in the educational system.

Lorraine Nencel is Associate Professor at the Department of sociology Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She has done research on sex work in different continents and is an engaged scholar aiming to work together with sex-worker-led organizations to produce research that support them in their struggles for change. Her book Ethnography and Prostitution in Peru (Pluto Press 2001) and the article ‘Invisible mobilities: stigma, immobilities, and female sex workers’ mundane socio-legal negotiations of Dhaka’s urban space’ (with H. J. Shewley et al.) in Mobilities (2020) give an idea as to the in-depth understandings that can be produced when using participatory, engaged methodology.

May-Len Skilbrei is Professor of Criminology at the University of Oslo, Norway. Her research interests are mobility, gender and sexuality. She has done empirical studies on subjectivities in and policy developments on prostitution and human trafficking, and has together with Charlotta Holmström written a monograph and several articles and chapters on policy development on commercial sex in the Nordic countries.