Book Review: Transnational Organised Crime in International Law

• Published date: 01 December 2011
• DOI: 10.1177/1057567711421984
• Date: 01 December 2011
• Author: Jay S. Albanese
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

The final one third, however, are the most surprising: These come to the brothels to practice pros-

titution for the first time in their lives. These are women who have been working in other nonsex

work–related service industry jobs.

A thorough coverage of brothel labor, or creating fantasies, is presented in Chapter 6. The authors

explain thatthere are three major ways in whichsex workers approach the actuallabor of brothel pros-

titution:The first is simply body practices—the performanceof certain intimatephysical techniques for

a given amount of time. This labor method is used mainly in the rural brothels and old mining camps.

The second labor strategy includes caring practices: These emotional labor practices are varied,

and the procedure may include a massage, therapy, or playing the roll of a confidant to the purchaser

of services. In using this last tactic of caring practices, the brothel laborer may simply sit and listen to

that which is on the purchaser’s mind. The third labor technique, much more commonly practiced in

the suburban brothels (near the large gaming cities of Las Vegas or Reno) are holistic practices.

Holistic practices include the living out of sexual fantasies, which may be as simple as agreeing

to a dating weekend between the seller and purchaser of the sexual services or may involve time and

services that are complex and intense.

Chapter 7 serves as the conclusion, Learning from Nevada (p. 222). The high demand for legal

prostitution may be a natural result of the rapid rise of the service economy and entertainment indus-

try, all the while driven by the worldwide marginalization of people and feminization of poverty

resulting from or during late capitalism.

Nevada has had few social problems resulting from the legalized brothel industry, such as

increased crime rates or increased spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) or other commu-

nicable diseases; nor has it had major difficulties in practically or politically controlling the brothel

industry. Beyond this, the authors/researchers found no evidence in their studies that selling sex is in

itself inherently harmful to women (p. 227).

Finally, the question is asked, could Nevada’s legal brothels serve as a universal model? Should

other countries of the world, who have or are considering legalizing prostitution, be looking to

Nevada to find one possible approach to this highly complex and politically charged issue, an

approach that has been working as it has evolved for over a century?

This reader finds the following words of the editors of the book series to be of great value: The

series consistsof books that integrate the best ideas in sociological thought with an aim toward public

education and engagement. These books aredesigned for use in the classroom as well as for scholars

and socially curious general readers (p. ix). The State of Sex is understandable for the interested

reader, whoever that may be; yet, the advancedscholar will find valuable insight into the understand-

ing of the dynamics of prostitution, sex work, human sex trafficking, and the exploitation of women

and children in the United States and in the world. The book is rife with material to guide numerous

undergraduate classroom discussions and to support lively debate upon a variety of weighty issues.

T. Obokata

Transnational Organised Crime in International Law Oxford, UK: Hart Publishing,

2010. xxxi, 246 pp. $100.00. ISBN 978-1841136905

Reviewed by: Jay S. Albanese, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA

DOI: 10.1177/1057567711421984

This volume provides an analysis of international law designed to address the issue of transnational

organized crime, focusing in large part on the UN Convention against Transnational Organized

Book Reviews 467