The Others of the Others

This incisive essay confronts both the men who buy sex and those who advocate for the recognition of prostitution as legitimate work.

Susana Barradas offers a provocative examination of the systems that sustain prostitution, challenging both those who purchase sex and those who defend it. She approaches prostitution not as an isolated phenomenon or an individual choice, but as the product of structures rooted in inequality, male entitlement, and cultural narratives that render invisible those whose bodies are bought and sold.

Drawing together personal memory, feminist theory, and the testimonies of survivors, Barradas dismantles contemporary myths surrounding “empowerment” and “consent,” revealing how prostitution is intertwined with other forms of exploitation, including trafficking, pornography, and economic precarity.

The book shifts attention away from the stigma imposed on women and toward the men who sustain the system, calling for a fundamental rethinking of sexuality, power, and justice. Barradas invites readers to break the pact of silence and to understand prostitution as a collective political issue rather than an individual one.