Melissa Farley and Vanessa Kelly
Women & Criminal Justice 2000, Vol 11 (4): 29-64.
Melissa Farley & Vanessa Kelly © 2000 All Rights Reserved.

In the recent literature on prostitution, there has been a focus on HIV which has tended to exclude discussion of the physical and sexual violence which precedes and which is intrinsic to prostitution. The literature of two time periods (1980-84 and 1992-1996) is critically reviewed in order to describe this trend.

This article reviews the medical and social science literature which has tended to normalize prostitution. The ways in which the victim of sexual exploitation has been labeled and blamed, and the ways in which racism and poverty are an inextricable part of prositution are discussed here. The social invisibility of prostitution, needs of women escaping prostitution, and an overview of recent criminal justice responses to prostitution are summarized in this 45-page review.

The complete 45-page article is available as a PDF file here.