The ground-breaking classic that changed the way we think about sex for hire.

The first (and only?) book to be reviewed favorably in both The Women's Review of Books and Hustler, Sex Work popularized the term "sex work" to describe the occupations of street prostitutes, exotic dancers, nude models, escorts, porn actresses, and workers in massage parlors, and so changed the way we talk about sex and money. Features the original stories of women in the life, including writings by Sapphire, Nina Hartley, and Joan Nestle.

Updated for the Second Edition:

• Sex Workers' response to AIDS
• Latest information on the legal status of sex work in the United States, Europe, and Asia
• Growth of the international prostitutes' rights movement
• Bibliography, revised to reflect a decades’ worth of writing and publishing on sex work
• Resources, including activist organizations and publications—many just a Web click away

"Sex Work takes the discussion away from the screenwriters and places it firmly within the language of workers themselves." —The Village Voice

"A very ambitious and diverse collection." —The Women’s Review of Books

"An absolutely smashing book—a must read for both humanists and feminists!" —The Humanist

"If you really want to know what goes on in the mind of a woman who sells sex for money, get yourself a book called Sex Work. I think you will be in for some surprises." —Veronica Vera

"A tapestry of dazzling hue and texture, strong as the women who wove it." —Gay Community News

FRÉDÉRIQUE DELACOSTE is co-publisher of Cleis Press. She lives in San Francisco.

PRISCILLA ALEXANDER has been an advocate for prostitutes' rights for more than twenty years. She lives in New York.