Troubling Terms and the Sex Trades

Contributors to this special issue examine language associated with the sex trades, including contentious words—and feminist issues—with complex histories and diverse political effects, such as prostitution, sex work, trafficking, and decriminalization. The authors trace the intellectual genealogies of terms such as sex worker, red light district, and white slavery to consider how such terms are affected by competing histories, political and linguistic cultures of translation, and different contexts of scholarship, advocacy, and policy.

Contributors: Nicole Archer, Eurydice Aroney, Julie Bates, Raven Bowen, Elisa Camiscioli, Christina Carney, Gwyn Easterbrook-Smith, Empower, Katie M. Hemphill, Jo Krishnakumar, Eunbi Lee, Kate Marquez, Annalisa Martin, Lorraine Nencel, Eva Payne, Gail Pheterson, Tracy Quan, Rachel Schreiber, John Scott, Jane Scoular, Heidi Tinsman, Judith R. Walkowitz, Jo Weldon, and Luise White.