Sex and Money: Anthropology of Sex Work

(Cross-listed with ANTH 147) Intersections between sex (and other forms of intimacy) and money (and other forms of exchange). Reading of ethnographies about sex workers and those who seek to regulate, profit from, or “help” them. How neoliberalism has shaped ways of earning a living throughout the world in ways that changed gender roles and intimate relationships. Topics include ethical concerns with studying sex workers; their relationships with family members, pimps, and clients; moral panics about “white slavery” and “sex trafficking;” the whore stigma; sex tourism; criminalization and legalization; transactional sex; and the eroticization of perceived racial difference.