In Playing the Whore, journalist Melissa Gira Grant turns the demands for abolishment of the sex industry on their head, arguing for an overhaul in the way we think about sex work. Based on ten years of writing and reporting on the sex trade, and grounded in her experience as an organizer, advocate, and former sex worker, Playing the Whore dismantles pervasive myths about sex work, criticizes both conditions within the sex industry and its criminalization, and argues that separating sex work from the "legitimate" economy only harms those who perform sexual labor.
In Playing the Whore, sex workers' demands, too long relegated to the margins, take center stage: sex work is work, and sex workers' rights are human rights.
The German translation of the book is available by Nautilus Verlag . Mithu M. Sanyal wrote a foreword to this edition placing the book in the context of the European debates.
Melissa Gira Grant starts a short reading tour for the release of the German edition of her book at Les Complices* in Zurich. She will be in conversation with Andrea Thal and take questions from the audience. The conversation will be held in English, questions can be translated.
With many thanks to Margarita Tsomou.
