Overly professorial in tone, yet it sufficiently delivers the importance and impact of sexual equality for all.
A verbose chronology of the perpetual demonization of prostitution.
“Human rights for sex workers reframes decriminalization,” writes grass-roots sexuality and gender activist Chateauvert (Center for Africana Studies/Univ. of Pennsylvania) in her historical account of sex workers, who, in her opinion, are long overdue to receive universal respect and justice. Combining decades of documentation and personal experience teaching university-level social justice course work, Chateauvert presents her treatise via a rapid-fire avalanche of focal events, key players and historically relevant advocates for social change. Though the direction of the dense chapters is somewhat rudderless, the breadth of the material impressively commemorates the movement’s decadeslong struggle. The author spotlights many historic activist groups, such as ACT UP and anti-entrapment organization COYOTE, then moves on to address the patriarchal resistance and identity politics of the 1970s, AIDS awareness and prevention efforts, and the galvanization of the pornography and sex-for-hire industry toward being recognized as a hyperprofitable, bona fide business. Yet the struggle for legitimate recognition continues, as does the ridicule associated with those who make sex work their livelihood, Chateauvert soberly notes. Negative repercussions of the trade proliferate and manifest in pernicious prejudices like “slut-shaming,” which implies the victim of a sex crime deserved it, and “whorephobia,” a denigrating form of sex panic. While consistently inclusive of all manner of sex-trade workers, the author primarily focuses on the plights of lesbians, the transgendered population and feminists, though she shows a particular disdain for “straight” pro-monogamists and those who believe a prostitute’s self-image is the key to their victimization. Chateauvert examines more contemporary visibility activities, including SlutWalk, a multi-city empowerment event meant to peacefully demand that sex workers be destigmatized and respected as a humane community.
Overly professorial in tone, yet it sufficiently delivers the importance and impact of sexual equality for all.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-8070-6139-8
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Beacon Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2013
If that promise of clarity is what awaits us all, then death doesn’t seem so awful, and that is a great gift from Sacks. A...
Valediction from the late neurologist and writer Sacks (On the Move: A Life, 2015, etc.).
In this set of four short essays, much-forwarded opinion pieces from the New York Times, the author ponders illness, specifically the metastatic cancer that spread from eye to liver and in doing so foreclosed any possibility of treatment. His brief reflections on that unfortunate development give way to, yes, gratitude as he examines the good things that he has experienced over what, in the end, turned out to be a rather long life after all, lasting 82 years. To be sure, Sacks has regrets about leaving the world, not least of them not being around to see “a thousand…breakthroughs in the physical and biological sciences,” as well as the night sky sprinkled with stars and the yellow legal pads on which he worked sprinkled with words. Sacks works a few familiar tropes and elaborates others. Charmingly, he reflects on his habit since childhood of associating each year of his life with the element of corresponding atomic weight on the periodic table; given polonium’s “intense, murderous radioactivity,” then perhaps 84 isn’t all that it’s cut out to be. There are some glaring repetitions here, unfortunate given the intense brevity of this book, such as his twice citing Nathaniel Hawthorne’s call to revel in “intercourse with the world”—no, not that kind. Yet his thoughts overall—while not as soul-stirringly inspirational as the similar reflections of Randy Pausch or as bent on chasing down the story as Christopher Hitchens’ last book—are shaped into an austere beauty, as when Sacks writes of being able in his final moments to “see my life as from a great altitude, as a sort of landscape, and with a deepening sense of the connection of all its parts.”
If that promise of clarity is what awaits us all, then death doesn’t seem so awful, and that is a great gift from Sacks. A fitting, lovely farewell.Pub Date: Nov. 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-451-49293-7
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Oct. 31, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2015
A timely contribution to the discussion of a crucial issue.
A history of the right to vote in America.
Since the nation’s founding, many Americans have been uneasy about democracy. Law and policy expert Waldman (The Second Amendment: A Biography, 2014, etc.), president of New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, offers a compelling—and disheartening—history of voting in America, from provisions of the Constitution to current debates about voting rights and campaign financing. In the Colonies, only white male property holders could vote and did so in public, by voice. With bribery and intimidation rampant, few made the effort. After the Revolution, many states eliminated property requirements so that men over 21 who had served in the militia could vote. But leaving voting rules to the states disturbed some lawmakers, inciting a clash between those who wanted to restrict voting and those “who sought greater democracy.” That clash fueled future debates about allowing freed slaves, immigrants, and, eventually, women to vote. In 1878, one leading intellectual railed against universal suffrage, fearing rule by “an ignorant proletariat and a half-taught plutocracy.” Voting corruption persisted in the 19th century, when adoption of the secret ballot “made it easier to stuff the ballot box” by adding “as many new votes as proved necessary.” Southern states enacted disenfranchising measures, undermining the 15th Amendment. Waldman traces the campaign for women’s suffrage; the Supreme Court’s dismal record on voting issues (including Citizens United); and the contentious fight to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which “became a touchstone of consensus between Democrats and Republicans” and was reauthorized four times before the Supreme Court “eviscerated it in 2013.” Despite increased access to voting, over the years, turnout has fallen precipitously, and “entrenched groups, fearing change, have…tried to reduce the opportunity for political participation and power.” Waldman urges citizens to find a way to celebrate democracy and reinvigorate political engagement for all.
A timely contribution to the discussion of a crucial issue.Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1648-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
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