Sex Work on the Streets: Prostitutes and Their Clients - Tapa dura

How and why do people sell and buy sex? what are the risks associated with prostitution? should prostitution be legalized? This book is the most detailed description ever provided of street prostitution. It is based on three years' research in which the authors interviewed prostitutes and their clients and spent many months working in a red light area. The book makes extensive use of direct quotes from the women and the men, as well as fieldnotes from the authors based upon their observations in the red light areas. Topics covered in the book include the women's negotiations with clients, HIV, drug use and violence. The book also describes the impact of working as a prostitute on women's home life. No attempt is made to moralise about prostitution in the book, instead the authors concentrate on the experiences of the women and men involved in selling and buying sex, and describes prostitution from their standpoint.

Neil McKeganey is Reader and Director of the Centre for Drug Misuse Research at the University of Glasgow.