Not Just Sex in the City

摘要

At a time when universities place less value on edited collections (Sub)Urban Sexscapes: Geographies and Regulation of the Sex Industry edited by Paul J. Maginn and Christine Steinmetz is a timely reminder of the value of a diverse range of international perspectives on a topic that has become increasingly contentious for policy-makers and communities. This collection is divided into two parts; one focusing on the geographies of the industry with the other focusing on regulation, drawing together perspectives from urban geographers, planners and sociologists. The chapters are set within a context of a changing landscape of regulation as moral, political and bureaucratic interest groups jostle to affect the spatial dimension of an industry that has transformed in the last 30 years. The key thread between the chapters illustrates how the sex industry has become mainstreamed, emerging from the back streets to more prominent positions on the high street. Chapters explore both the historical and bureaucratic dimensions of this transition combined with wider societal shifts which have seen traditionally hidden aspects of commercial sex become appropriated into mainstream capitalist consumer culture (for example in chapter 7's discussion of BDSM venues). The focus of the chapters is, almost exclusively, on Britain, Australia and the United States. Chapters on Sydney (chapter 2) and Portland (chapter 4) show the reader how cities can emerge into hubs for sexual diversity and explore factors that contribute to the normalization of the sex industry based on the importance of local relationships. Chapter 5 (Scott, MacPhail and Minichiello) addresses the reality that much of the sex industry now occupies a virtual space which explores the impact of technology on sex workers and how these spaces are subject to alternative forms of regulation (chapter 9).