Not a Choice, Not a Job

A generation ago, most people did not know how ubiquitous and grave human trafficking was. Now most people agree that the $35.7 billion business is an appalling violation of human rights. But when confronted with prostitution, many people experience an odd disconnect because prostitution is shrouded in myths, among them the claims that "prostitution is inevitable," "men need the sex of prostitution," and "prostitution is a job or service like any other." In Not a Choice, Not a Job, Janice Raymond challenges both the myths and their perpetrators. Raymond demonstrates that prostitution is not sex but sexual exploitation, and that legalizing and decriminalizing the system of prostitution-as opposed to the prostituted women-promotes sex trafficking, expands the sex industry, and invites organized crime. Specifically, Raymond exposes how legalized prostitution in the Netherlands, Germany, Australia, and Nevada worsens crime and endangers women. In contrast, she reveals, when governments work to prevent the demand for prostitution by prosecuting pimps, brothels, and prostitution users-as in Norway, Sweden, and Iceland-trafficking does not increase, women are better protected, and fewer men buy sex. Raymond expands the boundaries of scholarship in women's studies, making this book indispensable to human rights advocates around the world. About the Author JANICE G. RAYMOND, professor emerita of women's studies and medical ethics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, has been a leader in the campaign to have prostitution recognized as violence against women. From 1994 to 2007, Raymond served as the co-executive director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, International (CATW), a nongovernmental organization in consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. She is the author of four books, including The Transsexual Empire: The Making of the She-Male (Beacon Press, 1979) and Women as Wombs: Reproductive Technologies and the Battle over Women's Bodies (HarperSanFrancisco, 1994). She has published many articles, some of which have appeared in the Guardian and the Christian Science Monitor. She lives in western Massachusetts.