Systems of Prostitution and Pornography: Harm, Health, and Gendered Inequalities

Abstract

This chapter brings together a wide range of literature addressing issues of harm, health, and gendered inequalities with regard to prostitution and pornography (as a form of prostitution), from a variety of localities across the Global North and Global South. After beginning with an overview and summary of psychological and physical harm, violence, and trauma experienced by women in different forms of prostitution, pornography is considered. The issue of pornography is viewed through the lens of production and research on the harms of prostitution, rather than the more common focus on secondary harms created through consumption. The importance of such an approach is emphasized in the final section, explaining how conceptualizing systems of prostitution and engaging with structural analysis can promote more holistic ways of understanding issues of health and wellbeing for women and girls in conditions of sexual exploitation.KeywordsProstitutionPornographyViolence against womenGendered violenceSex work