Review of Melissa Gira Grant's "Playing the Whore"

[Empirical]

A very long review in the London Review of Books:

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n13/katrina...the-management

[Jiberjabber]

A very long review in the London Review of Books:

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n13/katrina...the-management

Very interesting review, enough so that I went ahead and ordered the book through Amazon.
I only became aware of Melissa Grant recently through reading threads in this section of the forum. Very glad I did as she seems like the perfect antidote to the lies and half truths that make up the very one sided public 'debate'.

A former sex worker herself, Grant has been asked repeatedly to talk about her experiences, and has evaded doing so. ‘This is not a peep show,’ she writes. She has also been accused of being ‘unrepresentative’ – being white and university-educated. Well, she has responded, what did you expect? While sex workers continue to inhabit a space between legal and illegal, it’s hardly surprising that only those with resources, those who are least vulnerable, will come forward to tell their stories.

Smart and classy.

[Davidontour]

A very long review in the London Review of Books:

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n13/katrina...the-management

Thanks for this Empirical. An interesting read, culminating in this gem of a quote:

''The way we feel about sex shouldn’t be imposed on others. It certainly shouldn’t be the basis for law.''

[Morpheus]

A very long review in the London Review of Books:

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n13/katrina...the-management

Great article. Thanks Empirical.

[Catriona]

Great article. I actually met Melissa Gira Grant when I was in London - she's great and really willing to tell you where it's at.

[Jiberjabber]

Bumping this because I wanted to say I've recently finished reading the book and must say it's a real eye-opener, especially for the more Ill-informed out there like myself. Since finishing it I've found parts resurfacing in my mind for various reasons and it's rewarded me with some fresh perspectives and insights on the plight of sex workers. I would highly recommend it to anyone, and I have done so with a few close friends already.

The only negative ( and it's a small thing and probably personal ) is that I found her style of writing hard going in places. Then again, I do seem to be having issues focusing for extended periods of time nowadays.

[the traveller]

But did you, as others have said, find the book a work of fiction or not?

[Jiberjabber]

But did you, as others have said, find the book a work of fiction or not?

No, I certainly didn't find it to be fictitious. Of course I haven't went through the book checking the facts but I'd be surprised if she has resorted to fabricating facts as there doesn't seem to be a need to, the focus of the book is mostly elsewhere. What it seems to me she's written is a much needed and fairly accessible account from the other side of the non-existent debate. I did check up on some of the history as I was reading and didn't find anything to contradict what she was saying, I have no way of verifying any of the personal anecdotal stories that she uses but I'd be surprised if she felt the need to embellish. I'd be interested to know the who's and why's behind the claims that Miss Grant is a liar though, I imagine that would be a telling story.

[talkabout]

A very long review in the London Review of Books:

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n13/katrina...the-management

Interestingly New Zealand was the first country to offer universal suffrage(votes) to women.Now they are still treating them as independent minded aduls ,able to make up their own minds and say,yea or nay to sex work.

Also criminalising the purchasers of illegal drugs hasn't mad that industry go away ,but has enriched the coffers of criminal gangs and gangsters.