Description: Incorporating the voices and insights of street sex workers through personal interviews, this monograph argues that the material conditions of many street workers are represented, reproduced, and entrenched in the language surrounding their work. As an ethnographic case study of a local system that can be extrapolated to other subcultures and the construction of identities, this book disrupts some of the more prevalent academics and lays understandings about street prostitution by providing a thorough analysis of the material conditions surrounding street work and their connection to discourse.
Review Quotes:
"The book's primary strength lies in its respectful, careful consideration of perspectives gleaned from both women involved in street-based sex work as well as those with professional or activist investment in the issue. There is a serious dearth, in the sex work research literature, of critical inquiry into criminal justice and social services professionals' beliefs and practices, and McCracken's book is an important first step toward further exploration of this neglected topic."
Susan Dewey, Assistant Professor of Gender & Women's Studies, University of Wyoming, in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books