Dartmouth Events

"Turning on the Red Light: A Historiographical and Thematic Study of Sexual Commerce in the United States"

Sexual commerce is a field deserving of extensive study and care, especially in our current moment.  There are countless sources on sexual commerce available to us, but the prevailing choice for many is to rely on stereotypes, to trust in the accuracies of stigmas, and to refuse education on an often controversial and contentious issue.  While this thesis does not include a primary source study of individual sex workers, it does present a consolidation of a wide swath of research conducted over multiple years by highly qualified researchers and academics, focusing on both historical and contemporary contexts of sex work.  Studying the evolution of sex work, discourse, and activism over the past 150 years, this thesis seeks to provide a place in which readers may better understand not only the historical, social, and political contexts of sexual commerce in the United States, but also the vitality of sex worker input and the importance of bringing sex worker voices to a broader audience.