We live in a culture that doesn’t know how to talk or think about sex work and sex workers. People who exchange sex for money are portrayed variously as victims of human trafficking, rape, racism, colonial violence and child abuse, as proud heroines who explore terrains of agency and autonomy while providing humane services or as the darkly iconic figures in the misogynist porn fantasies that flicker on a billion late night computer screens.

Sometimes they are portrayed as workers in need of labour solidarity and employment standards protections. It is difficult to know how to begin, and how to sort out the contending versions of truth.

…

This is an important book, full of pungent, sometimes triumphant verse and often troubling images. Anyone who wants to participate in the ongoing policy discussions about sex trade work in Canada and anyone who values honest, well crafted writing should own a copy.

Tom Sandborn lives and writes in Vancouver. Read the full review here.