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A review by bashsbooks
Playing the Whore: The Work of Sex Work by Melissa Gira Grant
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
Okay, first of all, I adore this style of book. I think everyone should be able to publish a short quick-and-dirty on whatever niche topic they know a lot about. I'm pleased to see the Inklings are not the only version of this (nor are they apparently anywhere near the originators!).
Onto the review of this specific book: Playing the Whore is only ten chapters long, and each chapter focuses on a different angle through which sex work is perceived, policed, and (mis)understood. That is a lot of information to cover in such a short book, and so I would say my biggest "critique" (if it could be even called that) is that I wanted to know more. I will be looking Grant up and reading more of her writing later to rectify this. Otherwise, I think this is a really good introduction to sex work as a political movement and also as a job, with the same complexities, boring realities, annoying customers, etc. as any other job. It also does a really good job in laying out the intersections between sex work movements and labor, health, gender, and queer movements.
I felt like it was really accessible for someone who is pretty ignorant of the specifics on sex work but is familiar with other sociopolitical movements (read: me) - I remember telling someone while reading it that it really held my hand without coddling me, which is something I always appreciate from this kind of introduction.
Onto the review of this specific book: Playing the Whore is only ten chapters long, and each chapter focuses on a different angle through which sex work is perceived, policed, and (mis)understood. That is a lot of information to cover in such a short book, and so I would say my biggest "critique" (if it could be even called that) is that I wanted to know more. I will be looking Grant up and reading more of her writing later to rectify this. Otherwise, I think this is a really good introduction to sex work as a political movement and also as a job, with the same complexities, boring realities, annoying customers, etc. as any other job. It also does a really good job in laying out the intersections between sex work movements and labor, health, gender, and queer movements.
I felt like it was really accessible for someone who is pretty ignorant of the specifics on sex work but is familiar with other sociopolitical movements (read: me) - I remember telling someone while reading it that it really held my hand without coddling me, which is something I always appreciate from this kind of introduction.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime and Police brutality
Moderate: Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, and Classism
Minor: Child abuse, Drug use, and Trafficking
-Whorephobia
-Saviorism
Many of the tagged content warnings (except the graphic ones) are talked about in the context of misconceptions, exaggerations, or unnuanced engagement with sex work done by anti-sex work individuals or parties.
A note about the murder warning specifically: there is a part where the author quotes a serial killer talking about why he targeted sex workers.