The Price of Sex: Prostitution, Policy and Society

1. How prostitution became a legal problem. An historical overview. Victorian attitudes towards prostitutes and clients. Modernity and changing ideals. The transformation of intimacy in post-modernity. The impact of the HIV crisis on perceptions of prostitution. The feminisation of poverty. The growing rhetoric of public protection. Johns' schools - the start of a dangerous approach. A new Trojan horse?. Chapter summary 2. Understanding prostitution policy. Statutes on sex work. Paying the price. The strategy. Regulatory impact. Assessment. Politicisation of the police. Home Office incompetence. Chapter summary 3. Understanding sexual demand 3.1 Understanding sexual demand 3.2 Studies on clients. Further analysis: Relationship between variables. Discussion of findings. Chapter summary 4. Policing street prostitution. The rules of engagement. Case study - police targeting practices. A model of police interaction with kerb-crawlers. Chapter summary 5. Violence, victimisation and protection. Vulnerability. Defining and quantifying violence against sex workers. Context of violence. Who are the violent clients and how prevalent are they?. Violence and control policies surrounding street work. 'Sex slavery' and the social and human cost of ignoring rights. Chapter summary 6. Motives, method and morality. Description of the research site. Geographical location. Organised vice and the street offences (or 'Tom') squad. Functions and routines of the street offences squad. Choice of research site and access. Theoretical triangulation. Focus groups and group interviews. Documents as a representation of power. Personal reaction to kerb-crawlers. Interviewing within the scientia sexualis 'a pleasure in itself?. 7. Conclusion. Key findings. Implications for policy and practice. Implications for theory. How should we decide which conduct should be criminal?. General framework for social policy. The process of professionalisation of sex work. Chapter summary