In 1998, Sweden passed ground-breaking legislation criminalizing the purchase of sexual services which sought to curb demand and support women exiting the sex industry. Grounded in the reality of the violence and abuse inherent in prostitution-and reeling from the death of a friend to prostitution in Spain-Kajsa Ekis Ekman exposes the many lies in the 'sex work' scenario. Trade unions aren't trade unions. Groups for prostituted women are simultaneously groups for brothel owners. And prostitution is always presented from a woman's point of view. The men who buy sex are left out. Turning to the practice of surrogate motherhood, Kajsa Ekis Ekman identifies the same components: that the woman is neither connected to her own body nor to the child she grows in her body and gives birth to. Surrogacy becomes an extended form of prostitution. In this capitalist creation story, the parent is the one who pays. The product sold is not sex but a baby. Ekis Ekman asks: why should this not be called child trafficking?

About the Author
Kajsa Ekis Ekman was born in Stockholm. She writes for the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter and is on the editorial collective of the anarchist magazine Brand. She has an MA in Literature from Soedertoern University and is author of Skulden - eurokrisen sedd fran Aten (Debt as a Weapon: The euro crisis seen from Athens, Leopard Foerlag, 2013). She has founded the network, Feminists Against Surrogacy and the climate action group, Klimax.

Reviews
It may seem outrageous to many of the proponents of commercial surrogacy that we might compare the position of the prostitute to that of the surrogate, but Ekman does an effective job of explaining the very real parallels. -Grazyna Zajdow, Arena Magazine



Book Information
ISBN 9781742198767
Author Kajsa Ekis Ekman
Format Paperback
Page Count 223
Imprint Spinifex Press
Publisher Spinifex Press
Weight(grams) 280g
Dimensions(mm) 220mm * 140mm * 12mm