Sex at the Margins

Migration, Labour Markets, and the Rescue Industry

By: Laura Agustin

Narrated by: Robert Blumenfeld

Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's Summary

This groundbreaking book explodes several myths: that selling sex is completely different from any other kind of work; that migrants who sell sex are passive victims; and that the multitude of people out to save them are without self-interest. Laura Agustín argues that the label 'trafficked' does not accurately describe migrants' lives and that the 'rescue industry' disempowers them.

Based on extensive research amongst migrants who sell sex and social helpers, Sex at the Margins provides a radically different analysis. Frequently, says Agustín, migrants make rational choices to travel and work in the sex industry. Although they are treated like a marginalised group they form part of the dynamic global economy. Both powerful and controversial, this book is essential listening for all those who want to understand the increasingly important relationship between sex markets, migration and the desire for social justice.

©2007 Laura Agustin (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

The Rescue Industry is Built on Sex Worker's Backs

Agustín has almost singlehandedly changed the international debate about the definition and exploitation of the “sex trafficking” world as it is manipulated and exploited by NGOs, the Rescue Industry and major political players.

The corruption and disassembling that is going in the name of “saving victims” is truly shocking, and that's why this book has been on every feminist, public policy, and migrant rights desk since its first appearance.

Whatever Agustín does next, Margins will remain as the classic that started the fireworks. As far as I'm concerned, this book is the vanguard of feminism and the bleeding edge of migration consciousness

Who is this guy?!?!

I am sure that this is a great book. I have read related works (most recently "sex slaves and discourse masters"), and was very excited to be able to download this one in audio format. But the narrator is terrible! So bad I couldn't listen to more than 10 minutes. He sounds like a robot giving a lecture on Hamlet. Totally removes any feeling and personality from the prose, instead substituting a sort of cold pretension.

Key text for all who desire equity and justice

Still an important and relevant text to this day. Laura Agustin takes on migration, feminism, sex work, poverty, trans rights, and so much more in a clear and concise way. If you volunteer/work/want to be involved in activism for equity and social justice, this book will help you side step the harmful pitfalls such efforts have fallen into over the last few centuries. One of my favorite points in this book is the idea of "studying up" or for those who are usually studied or "helped" to collect data on those "helping."

Cuts Through the BS About Sex

Shows how issues like "trafficking" are trumped up by "philanthropy" groups to sustain and enrich themselves.

great read

interesting view of work and migration. gave me something to think about. I reccomend to anyone interested in sex work in particular or women's migration in general.

disappointing read

Sounded a lot more interesting than it was, a few note worthy points, but poor writing and a very one sided view, which is exactly what the author complains about of the opposing view point.

Unlistenable

Would you try another book written by Laura Agustin or narrated by Robert Blumenfeld?

By Laura Augustine - probably. By Robert Blumenfeld - never.

Who was your favorite character and why?

N/A

What didn’t you like about Robert Blumenfeld’s performance?

He reads as if he's in a desperate hurry to get to the end, his voice has no intonation and he seems to have no idea what he's reading. The chapter headings blur into the text and it's a chore to try to follow him. I gave up - I'll have to buy the paperback.

Also - who in the hell would cast an American man to read the work of a European woman when there's first person narration? Madness.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment that such an important subject was massacred by the reader.