Slut-Shaming, Whorephobia, and the Unfinished Sexual Revolution

by Meredith Ralston

Overview

The sexual revolution is unfinished. A sexual double standard between men and women still exists, and society continues to punish bad girls and reward good ones. Until we eliminate good-girl privilege and bad-girl stigma, women will not be fully free to embrace their sexuality.In Slut-Shaming, Whorephobia, and the Unfinished Sexual Revolution Meredith Ralston looks at the common denominators between the #MeToo movement, the myths of rape culture, and the pleasure gap between men and women to reveal the ways that sexually liberated women threaten the patriarchy. Weaving in history, pop culture, philosophy, interviews with sex workers, and personal anecdotes, Ralston shows how women cannot achieve sexual equality until the sexual double standard and good girl/bad girl binary are eliminated and women viewed by society as "whores" are destigmatized. Illustrating how women's sexuality is policed by both men and women, she argues that women must be allowed the same personal autonomy as men: the freedom to make sexual decisions for themselves, to obtain orgasm equality, and to insist on their own sexual pleasure.Dispelling the myth that all sex workers are victims and all clients are violent, Slut-Shaming, Whorephobia, and the Unfinished Sexual Revolution calls out Western society's hypocrisy about sex and shows how stigma and the marginalization of sex workers harms all women.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780228006657
Publisher:	McGill-Queens University Press
Publication date:	06/16/2021
Pages:	232
Sales rank:	1,129,400
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Meredith Ralston is professor of women’s studies at Mount Saint Vincent University and a documentary filmmaker whose films include Hope in Heaven, Selling Sex, and Why Women Run.

Table of Contents

Part 1 The "Good Girl" Problem

1 Rape Culture and Slut-Shaming 3

2 Sexual Double Standards and the Unfinished Sexual Revolution 25

3 The Origins of Bad Girl Stigma and Good Girl Privilege 49

Part 2 The "Bad Girl" Problem

4 The Money Problem-Is Sex Work Work? 77

5 The Male Problem - Is Sex Work Violence against Women? 103

6 The Morality Problem - Is Sex Work Degrading? 128

Part 3 Ending Good Girl Privilege and Bad Girl Stigma

7 Decriminalize Sex Work 155

8 Destigmatize Sex 183

Acknowledgments 209

Notes 211

Bibliography 233

Index 257

Editorial Reviews

Slut-Shaming, Whorephobia, and the Unfinished Sexual Revolution is the extraordinary result of interviews with sex workers and activists, as well as the story of her own intellectual journey. Ralston’s book shakes up many traditional, sex-negative narratives we still hear about sex work Most importantly, she provides sex workers space to speak on their own terms.” Herizons


“Ralston takes on the ambitious task of connecting the ongoing existence of rape culture to Western society’s perceptions of sex work in an effort to dismantle the sexual double standards that persist in both. [She] crafts a concise narrative to reassess her interpretation of sex workers as victims of circumstance and provides her interviewees with power over their decisions.” Choice


"By bringing together history, pop culture, and interviews with sex workers, Ralston aims to dispel a widely held belief that all sex workers are victims who don't enjoy their work and that all clients are violent; in parallel to this, [Ralston] illustrates Western society's hypocritical views about sex and aims to show how the stigma against sex workers harms not only those in sex-trade work, but all women." Allison Lawlor, The Chronicle Herald


"In this timely analysis of power and pleasure, Meredith Ralston demonstrates how the double standard reverberates across culture, from how we police our intimate lives to the way #MeToo exposes the fault lines of sexual entitlement. Deeply researched and passionately argued, Ralston's book challenges us to take a close look at the consequences of our sexual hypocrisy and consider what it takes to destigmatize sex and dismantle privilege. The revolution she describes is a necessary one." Katherine Rowland, author of The Pleasure Gap: American Women and the Unfinished Sexual Revolution


"Meredith Ralston investigates prejudice against sex workers with compassion, clarity, and a call to action. Until the stigma ends, all women are implicated. If you care about women's equality in the bedroom, boardroom, and beyond, read this book." Leora Tanenbaum, author of I Am Not a Slut: Slut-Shaming in the Age of the Internet

From the Publisher