Prostitution Narratives ― Stories of Survival in the Sex Trade

For too long the global sex industry and its vested interests have dominated the prostitution debate repeating the same old line that ?sex work’ is just like any job. In large sections of the media, academia, public policy, government and the law, the sex industry has had its way. Little is said of the damage, violation, suffering, and torment of prostitution on the bodies and minds of mostly women and children, nor of the deaths, suicides and murders that are routine in the sex industry. Prostitution Narratives: Stories of Survival in the Sex Trade refutes the lies and debunks the myths spread by the industry through the lived experiences of women who have survived prostitution. These disturbing stories give voice to formerly prostituted women who explain why they entered the sex trade. They bravely and courageously recount their intimate experiences of harm and humiliation at the hands of sex buyers, pimps and traffickers and reveal their escape and emergence as survivors. Edited by Caroline Norma and Melinda Tankard Reist, Prostitution Narratives documents the reality of prostitution revealing the cost to the lives of women and girls. Prostitution Narratives: Stories of Survival in the Sex Trade will strengthen and support the global campaign to abolish prostitution, provide solidarity and solace to those who bear its scars, and hopefully help women and girls exit this dehumanising industry.

Rachel Moran grew up in North Dublin city. From a troubled family background, she was fourteen when she was taken into state care. She became homeless and got involved in prostitution at aged fifteen, working in Dublin and other Irish cities for the following seven years. In 1998, at the age of 22, she liberated herself from that life. At 24, she got on the path to further education, gaining a degree in journalism from Dublin City University, where she won the Hybrid Award for excellence in journalism. She speaks internationally on prostitution and sex-trafficking and volunteers to talk to young girls in residential care about the harms and dangers in prostitution. She lives in North Dublin. Her book 'Paid For - My Journey through Prostitution' was published in 2013. Caroline Norma PhD is a lecturer in the School of Global Studies. Social Science and PLanning at RMIT University and a member of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women Australia (CATWA). She is the author of The Japanese Comfort Women and Sexual Slavery during the China and Pacific Wars (2016). Melinda Tankard Reist is a journalist, speaker, blogger, media commentator and activist against violence against women, objectification of women and sexualisation of girls. Melinda is author/editor of four books including Defiant Birth: Women who resist medical eugenics (Spinifex Press, 2006) and Getting Real: Challenging the sexualisation of girls (Spinifex Press, 2009) and Big Porn Inc: Exposing the harms of the global pornography industry (Spinifex Press, 2011). Melinda’s opinion pieces appear frequently in the media and she is a regular on morning television and current affairs programs. Melinda is Co-founder of Collective Shout: For a world free of sexploitation.