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Contentious Freedom: Sex Work and Social Construction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2020

Abstract

In this article, Brison extends the analysis of freedom developed in Nancy J Hirschmann's book, The Subject of Liberty: Toward a Feminist Theory of Freedom, to an area of controversy among feminist theorists: that of sex work, including prostitution and participation in the production of pornography. This topic raises some of the same issues concerning choice and consent as the three topics Hirschmann discusses in her book—domestic violence, the current welfare system in the United States, and Islamic veiling—but it also raises some distinct ones concerning the social construction of sexuality and possible conflicts between the freedom of some women (who may choose to engage in sex work) and the freedom of others (who may be harmed by the contribution of such work to the social construction of categories such as “women” and “sex”).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 2006 by Hypatia, Inc.

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References

Eaves, Elizabeth. 2002. Bare: On women, dancing, sex, and power. New York: Knopf.Google Scholar
Russell, Diana E. H. ed. 1993. Making violence sexy: Feminist views on pornography. Buckingham: Open University Press.Google Scholar