Julie Bindel 
The Pimping of Prostitution 
Abolishing the Sex Work Myth

This book examines one of the most contested issues facing feminists, human rights activists and governments around the globe – the international sex trade. For decades, the liberal left has been conflicted as to whether pro-prostitution activists or abolitionists hold the correct view, and debates are ongoing as to who holds the key to the solutions facing the women and girls involved.









Over the course of two years, Bindel conducted 250 interviews in almost 40 countries, cities and states, traveling around Europe, Asia, North America, Australia, New Zealand, and East and South Africa. Visiting legal brothels all around the world, Bindel got to know pimps, pornographers, survivors of the sex trade, and the women being sold by men classed as ‘business entrepreneurs’. Whilst meeting feminist abolitionists, pro-prostitution campaigners, police and government officials, and the men who drive the demand, Bindel uncovered the lies, mythology and criminalactivity that shroud this global trade, and suggests here a way forward for the women seeking to abolish the oldest oppression. Informed by the lived human experience of those interviewed, this book will be of great interest to feminists, students, criminal justice advocates, criminologists and human rights activists.

Table of Content

Introduction.- Chapter 1. The Abolitionist Movement.- Chapter 2. The ‘Sex Workers’ Rights’ Movement.- Chapter 3. Sanitising the Sex Trade.- Chapter 4. Realities & Consequences of Legalisation.- Chapter 5. The Invisible Man.- Chapter 6. Human Rights and Wrongs.- Chapter 7. Aiding the Fight for Legalisation: AIDS & HIV.- Chapter 8. Fighting for Rights, or Parasites?.- Chapter 9. Sex Trade Academics.- Chapter 10. A Queer Defence of the Sex Trade.- Chapter 11. Surviving the Sex Trade.- Conclusion: The Way Forward.

About the author

Julie Bindel is a renowned investigative journalist, and has written extensively on religious fundamentalism, violence against women, the international surrogacy trade, mail order brides, trafficking, and unsolved murders. She writes regularly for
The Guardian,
New Statesman,
Truthdig and
Standpoint Magazine, and frequently appears on the BBC and Sky News. She was Visiting Journalist at Brunel University, UK (2013 – 2014) and is now on the advisory board for www.byline.com.