Desirein Constructions
ofProstitution
Noah D. Zatz
S EX RADICALS
radical feminists,1
(Rubin 1984; Weeks 1985) oftenargue that
in theiropposition to pornography, prostitu-
tion,sadomasochism,and othercontroversial sex practices,make
politicalcommoncause withsexual conservatives. Whilesex radi-
cals themselvesclearly,indeedalmostbydefinition, do not forgepolitical
coalitionswiththe sexual Right,theydo tendto includeprostitution in
theiranalysisof "deviant"and "perverse"sexualities,thusmakingtheo-
reticalcommoncause withright-wing articulationsbetweencommercial
sex and eroticdiversity.
Whilesuchan analysismakesa good deal of sense
giventhe historicalconnectionsbetweencondemnations/prosecutions of
prostitution and political suppression of erotic in
diversity general,2it
overlookswhat is most subversiveabout prostitution: its open challenge
bothto theidentification of sex acts withacts of desireand to theoppo-
sitionbetweenerotic/affective activityand economiclife.This articleat-
tempts a somewhat different articulation of sex work by drawingupon
theorizationsof prostitutiongeneratedby the prostitutes'rightsmove-
ment,Michel Foucault'sinsightthatlegal suppressionand rhetoricalcon-
demnationmay be mechanismsof socioculturalproductionas well as
Thisarticle,andmythinking aboutrelated
subjects,ofcourseowesdebtsto countless
people.Mythanks to BiddyMartin,
especially Kathryn Abrams, AnnaMarieSmith, Eliza-
bethPovinelli, LynneAbel,andJessicaCattelino fortheircomments, anden-
criticisms,
couragement. Comments fromtheSignseditors andreviewershavealso beeninvaluable in
refiningandreworking myargument andresearch.Thismaterial is basedon worksup-
portedundera NationalScienceFoundation graduateresearchfellowship.
I usethetermradicalonlybecauseofthepopularity oftheliberal/socialist/radical
framework fordiscussingfeminism andbecauseofitshistoricalassociationwitha par-
ticularbrandoffeminism thathasseensexincontemporary Euro-American societies
as
fundamentally aboutwomen's violentsubordinationto menand,conversely, women's op-
pression as primarilya functionofmalesexualviolence(as exemplified intheanti-
pornography campaign). Forclearapplications
oftheliberal/socialist/radical
framework
to prostitution,seeJaggar 1991;Fechner 1994.
2 Walkowitz
1980;DuBoisandGordon1984;Nestle1987;Bell1994.
[Signs:Journalof Womenin Cultureand Society1997,vol.22, no. 2]
? 1997 byTheUniversityofChicago.Allrights reserved.
0097-9740/97/2202-0001$01.00
repression,constructivisthistories/theories
of sexualityand identity, and
feministcritiquesof thepublic/privateand work/family divides.3In light
of these traditions,I hope to thinkthroughthe failureof most major
normativetheoriesof prostitution to deal adequatelybothwiththecom-
of
plexities sex, desire,labor, and moneyfoundin thepracticeand with
the implicationsof prostitution'scriminalizationfor its relationshipto
hegemonicsexual and economicpractices.
What is prostitution?
As AlisonJaggar(1991) astutelypointsout,thedefinition of prostitu-
tionis as contestedas itslegal and moralstatus.My discussionof prosti-
tutionis orientedtowarditspractice,and the debatesoverthatpractice,
in the late twentieth-century UnitedStates. It is quite commonto talk
gliblyof prostitution as theworld'soldestprofession,existinguniversally
across time and place (Alexander1987b, 186). Such talk obscuresthe
differences in social and culturalcontext-differencesin economicor-
ganization,normativesexual practices,and therelationshipbetweensex-
ual practicesand identity, betweeneconomicpracticesand identity, and
so on-that shape the significance and structureof prostitutionwithin
any particularhistoricalspace.4
That beingsaid, the prostitution of the hereand now is not radically
isolatedfromotherpracticescommonlytermedprostitution; rather,it is
the productof historicaldevelopmentthat,as with any othersociocul-
tural object, resultsin shiftingregionsof continuityand discontinuity
withpast practicesand discourses.So, forinstance,the economicsand
erotics of contemporaryEuro-Americanprostitutionare clearly out-
growthsof the increasedregulationof prostitutes, marginalizedsexual
groups, racialized minorities,and theworking classes aroundtheturnof
thecentury(Walkowitz1980; McClintock1992; Bell 1994). Prostitution
in the UnitedStatesand otherEuro-Americancountrieshas been influ-
enced by colonial historiesthathave producedraced patternsof desire,
migration,and economicinequalitythatleavetheirmarkon bothprosti-
tutesand clients(McClintock1992; Shrage1992, 1994). Similarly, forms
of prostitution in SoutheastAsia, India, and Kenya,forinstance,share
particularhistoriesof theinteractionof precolonialsexual and domestic
practiceswithcolonial and postcolonialphenomenasuch as demandfor
3 For writingsby and about theprostitutes' rightsmovement, see Delacoste and Alex-
ander 1987; Bell 1987; Pheterson1989; and Jenness1993. Foucault'sconstructivist cri-
tique of the "repressivehypothesis"is set out in The Historyof Sexuality(1978). On sexu-
alityand identitymoregenerally, see Vance 1984; Laclau and Mouffe1985; and Bell
1994. On work/family, see Olsen 1983; Ferguson1989; and Williams1991.
4 White
1986; Shrage1989, 1994; Bell 1994.
7 On theanecdotal
level,I knowofsomegaymenandlesbianswhohaveconsidered
having"sex" witha friend strictlyforthepurposeofhavinga child,fully expectingto ex-
perience theactas instrumentally aimedat procreationwithout anytraceoferoticism, an
interesting reversalofsame-sex eroticismfreeofanyprocreativeintentorpossibility.
In
herbookMoralDilemmasofFeminism, LaurieShrageinpassingwonders whetherBaby-
lonianreligious ritualsinvolving intercoursebetweena mananda womanshouldeven
be referred to as "sex" at all (1994,121). Givenherposition that"forcible
violationof
womenis theessenceofsex,"Catharine MacKinnon also speculates,
"Is intercourse
'sex'
at all?" (1989,141). Oncegenitalinteractions aredecenteredinourunderstanding ofsex-
uality,neither limitingtheextent oferoticactivitynornecessarily
playing anyroleinit
whatsoever, thedistinctions between andotherforms
prostitution ofsexworkbeginto
blur,sinceeachrelieson a particular setoferoticfantasiesandmaterial while
practices,
nonehasa privileged relationship to an essential
coreofsexuality.
8 thisdoesnotimply
Obviously thatpleasure, andconsent
activity, arenecessarily
sym-
Oneparticipant,
metrical. maybe boredto tears,butonewouldnormally
forinstance, un-
derstandhersituationas badsexratherthanno sexat all. Rape,whileclearly involving
inthesenseofconsent,
lackofreciprocity nonethelessis generallyunderstood andexperi-
encedas beingforcedto havesex.As SharonMarcusargues,itis "theforced of
creation
as a violatedinnerspace,"notthephysical
femalesexuality thatconstitutes
assaultitself,
thehorrorofrape(1992,399).
20
For a slightlydifferent rightsgroupsas claiminga si-
view,one thatsees prostitutes'
see Bell 1994.
multaneouslysexual and professionalidentity,
Conclusion
As muchas the recentEuro-Americanhistoryof prostitution has wit-
nessed its organizationwithinthe deploymentof sexualityas the mirror
image of the sexualityof alliance (heterosexual,procreativemonogamy)
and militatedagainstthe subversionof sexual identityand the sex/work
distinction,it has also providedpossibilitiesforresistance.While forcing
prostitutes into well-definedgeographicareas has served as a public
markerof theirdifference, it has also encouragedtheproximity necessary
forpoliticalorganizing;similarly, theclassificationof prostitution
as the
resultof deviantfemaledesireencouragedhistoricalconnectionsbetween
prostitutesand lesbiansthathelped prostitutesemulatethe successesof
lesbian activists(Nestle 1987).
Even within the prostitutionexchange, certainlya transactionin-
scribedwithinpowers generationof desireand circumscription of mate-
rial and sexual options,the instabilityof contextand eventallow for
power and resistanceto coexist. "Prostitution also involvesan equation
of sex withpower:fortheman/customer, thepowerconsistsof his ability
to 'buy' access to any numberof women; forthe woman/prostitute, the
powerconsistsof her abilityto set the termsof her sexuality,and to de-
mand substantialpaymentfor her time and skills" (Alexander 1987b,
189). The extentto which sex workershave the opportunitiesto exer-
cise power or act in resistancedepends thoroughlyon the sociocultural
22
Scibelli1987;McClintock 1993;Bell1994.
1992;Jenness
23
Ifsexitself(orthesortsofsexforwhichpeoplego to prostitutes) were,at leastun-
dercurrent conditions,inherentlyviolentandoppressive regardlessofitscommercial as-
pectandregardless ofanyvariationsincontext thatactually occur(e.g.,differencesinsex-
ual practicesanddesiresamongmenand/or women),thenno amountofregulation could
alterprostitution'sfundamental oppressiveness,although variouslegalschemes might ex-
acerbateitmoreorless.Suchan argument seemsto be implicitinmuchradicalfeminist
work,butI takeitsassumptions ofthedepthandbreadth oftherelationship between
sexuality andviolence to be exaggerated(Finley1988).
24 I havetriedto sketch someofthefeatures
verybroadly suchregulation might in-
clude.Although I thinkmygeneral analysis appropriateto statesthatshareto a signifi-
cantdegreethebroadpolitical, economic, andhistorical
cultural, featuresI havediscussed
above,undoubtedly therearemoreparticular nationalandlocaldifferences thatwould
require variationsinthepreciseformofimplementation.
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