Prostitution in the Community

Sarah Kingston is Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Course Leader of the BA (Hons) Criminology degree at Leeds Metropolitan University. Her research interests focus on the sex industry, sexuality and prostitution policy. Her previous publications include New Sociologies of Sex Work (Ashgate, 2010) for which she was co-editor.

"Though sex workers can be among the most vulnerable in society, notions of tolerance and charity rarely extend to encompass them. In this timely book Sarah Kingston explores the tensions that exist between residents and sex workers, suggesting that stereotypes of stigma and deviance can combine to position sex workers and their clients as beyond the bounds of respectable society. Though grounded in the context of contemporary prostitution policy in the UK, this book is sure to be of international import given the long-standing failure of governments to evolve regulations protecting the interests of landowners and residents without penalising sex workers." - Phil Hubbard, Professor of Urban Studies, University of Kent, UK."By examining prostitution from the vantage point of residents affected by the presence of prostitution in their neighborhoods, Sarah Kingston illuminates a dimension of struggles over sex work that has rarely been researched. A major, unique contribution to the literature on prostitution." - Ronald Weitzer, Professor of Sociology, George Washington University, USA. "Policies restricting consensual adult prostitution are often justified in terms of the alleged negative effects on the communities that provide venues for ‘the sex trade’. This book examines the empirical basis for this assumption by accessing and unpacking the complex attitudes to sex workers, their business partners, and clients, formed by those who live and work near them. By drawing from her own ethnographic data and the work of other researchers, Kingston offers new ways of studying sex markets that will help public officials and concerned citizens rethink how societies suppress and regulate them." - Laurie Shrage, Professor of Philosophy and Women's and Gender Studies, Florida International University, USA. "This is a clearly written book that would appeal to both lay readers and those accustomed with this area of research. The literature and attention to methodology would be especially useful for the lay reader and the empirical research contributes to our knowledge of how sex work impacts on an area and nicely dispels some common myths that surround community perceptions." – Billie Lister, Leeds Beckett University, British Journal of Criminology

• 1. Introduction to prostitution in the community 2. Prostitution policy and the community 3. Researching the community 4. Community attitudes 5. The impact of prostitution on communities 6. Community action and resistance 7. Responding to community concerns: local authority and the police 8. Stigma management: the individual and the community.