Introduction to the Cultural Study of Commercial Sex

Abstract

The articles in this collection explore how the meaning of buying and selling sex changes according to the social, cultural and historical processes in which transactions are situated. In an earlier article published in this journal, I proposed a theoretical framework for the cultural study of commercial sex that would liberate researchers from the restrictions of a debate intensely meaningful to some but highly repressive to many others, centring on whether prostitution can ever be work or must be considered violence against women (Agustín 2005a). My call for papers using a cultural framework read.Given the proliferation of forms of commercial sex, the scarcity of researchexcept on 'prostitution' -is remarkable. The focus is usually on personal motivations, the morality of the buying-and-selling relationship, stigma, violence and disease prevention. Questions of desire and love are usually sidelined; relationships are rarely contextualized culturally or conceived as complex; concrete sexual issues are hardly dealt with. Commercial sex is usually disqualified from cultural research and treated only as a moral issue. A new field of the cultural study of commercial sex would refer to all commercial goods and services with an erotic or sexual element -a rich field of human activities, all of them operating in complex socio-cultural contexts where the meaning of buying and selling sex is not always the same.Sites of the sex industry:

Safety First, Then Condoms: Commercial Sex, Risky Behavior, and the Spread of HIV/AIDS in Managua, Nicaragua

“…This study builds on others that use sex workers' perspective as a point of departure and focus on sex workers' agency in managing occupational risks (Luise White 1990; Kamala Kempadoo and Jo Doezema 1998;Lin Lean Lim 1998;Denise Brennan 2004;Teela Sanders 2004;Laura Agustín 2005). I define prostitution here as a form of sex work -the provision of sexual services as a business transaction -and use the two terms interchangeably.…”

Dance and Sexuality: Many Moves

“…Fine (1991) compared exotic dance with ballet and explained the former's low status in the 1980s and why it is not taught in high school (ballet, certified as part of elite culture, has established critics, expansive venues, charitable events to support it, well-funded companies, international links, textbooks and theories, schools, professional organizations, etc.). Exotic dance is examined as cultural meanings (Calhoun, Cannon, & Fisher, 1996;Frank, 2005;Hanna, 1999), social class (Trautner, 2005), tourist attraction (Donlon, 1998), and amateur contest (Agustin, 2005;Calhoun et al, 1996).…”

What's Love Got to Do With It? The Interplay of Sex and Gender in the Commercial Breeding of Welsh Cobs

“…Agustìn (2005) could add fields, sheds, veterinary surgeries, show rings, and auction houses to her list of sites involved in the sex industry. She could also add AV's (artificial vaginas), Chifneys, shanks, twitches, stallion training, vaginal swabbing, and semen collection 3 to the list of products and services; vets, stallion handlers, insemination technicians, auctioneers, owners-not to mention brood mares and stallions-to the list of social actors involved (p. 622).…”