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  • Pimp State: Sex, Money and the Future of Equality

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Kat Banyard
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Pimp State: Sex, Money and the Future of Equality Kindle Edition

by Kat Banyard (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 out of 5 stars (61)

Never before have prostitution, strip clubs and pornography been as profitable, widely used or embedded in mainstream culture as they are today. How society should respond to the rise of the sex trade is shaping up to be one of the Twenty-First Century's big questions. Should it be legal to pay for sex? Isn't it a woman's choice whether she strips for money? Could online porn warping the attitudes of a generation of boys?


An increasingly popular set of answers maintains that prostitution is just work, porn is fantasy, demand is inevitable; so fully legalise the sex trade and it can be made safe. Kat Banyard contends that these are profoundly dangerous myths. Sexual consent is not a commodity, objectification and abuse are inherent to prostitution, and the sex trade poses a grave threat to the struggle for women's equality.


Skilfully weaving together first-hand investigation, interviews and the latest research, Pimp State powerfully argues that sex trade myth-makers will find themselves on the wrong side of history.

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  1. Print length
    245 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Faber & Faber
  4. Accessibility
    Learn more
  5. Publication date
    June 14, 2016
  6. File size
    1.4 MB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

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About the Author

Kat Banyard is the author of The Equality Illusion and founder of campaign group UK Feminista. In 2014 The Equality Illusion was used as a key text in the development of the play Blurred Lines, written by Nick Payne and directed by Carrie Cracknell, premiering at the National Theatre. In 2010 Kat was named in the Guardian as "the most influential young feminist in the country" and in 2011 she was selected as one of the Observer's 50 contemporary innovators, described as "Game-changers whose vision is transforming the world around us".

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01E5JN2XS
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Faber & Faber
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 14, 2016
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1.4 MB
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 245 pages
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0571278244
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Best Sellers Rank: #4,127,293 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 out of 5 stars (61)

About the author

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Kat Banyard

Kat Banyard

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
61 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

  • B. A. Anderson
    5.0 out of 5 stars A significant contribution to the movement for gender equity
    Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2017
    Format: Paperback
    Pimp State is a significant contribution to the movement to abolish prostitution, porn, and lap dancing. I found especially helpful Banyard's critique of the euphemism "sex work", the chapter on the abuse and violence inherent in prostitution, the information about the origin of the campaign to decriminalize prostitution, and the chapter on the efficacy of the Sex Buyer Law. I recommend this book to anyone who works with people who are in the sex trade.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • Nadira Clare
    5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely brilliant. Page-turner
    Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2017
    Format: Paperback
    Absolutely brilliant. Page-turner. Back up with EVIDENCE, which is more than the majority of books that are PRO sex industry. She debunks the myths and offers a vision for the future. WHICH IS EQUAL AND FEMALE.

    Fantastic book. A must read for any millennial feminist. Please read.
    7 people found this helpful
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  • Austin
    4.0 out of 5 stars Vital message, competently expressed
    Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    This book is expertly researched, and makes an important case for women's rights. Those who believe prostitution can be "reformed" remind me of the anti-abolitionists who believed slaves merely needed better working conditions. The very act of buying sex is the well from which all the misogyny and violence in this industry derives from. The author argues this logically and passionately, and it is very hard to dispute her findings.

    I did have a few problems, however. The writing often shifts tone from professional, academic-style writing to more informal, blog-like style writing. While I wholeheartedly agree with her regarding prostitution, the discussion concerning pornography required more nuance; despite the horrors described, I was not convinced that it could so easily be equated to prostitution. Such an issue requires its own book, rather than a chapter in this one. She never discusses gay pornography or male prostitution - obvious objections/counter-arguments that any book about prostitution has to at least mention.

    Nonetheless, the book did open my mind, and change my own position. As a Victorian, I had no idea my state was enabling this industry. This book has prompted me to write to my local MP and join local campaigns against the prostitution industry. Great book!
    9 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Charlotte
    5.0 out of 5 stars Libro imprescindible
    Reviewed in Spain on September 25, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    Libro imprecindible para entender el desarrollo de la "industria del sexo" y las implicaciones que tiene como barrera hacia la igualdad de género. Kat Banyard realiza un análisis en profundidad sobre la temática. Lo recomiendo para quienes estén interesad@s en el estudio de la prostitución y la pornografía.
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  • Client d'Amazon
    5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant and sharp!
    Reviewed in France on August 15, 2016
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    As effecient as the campain #EndDemand, clever and sharp!
    Kat Banyard devotes her book highlighting the fundamental flaws of the Pimp State, this system that undermines our world and will to achieve equality.
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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Must read!
    Reviewed in Canada on December 23, 2016
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Really compelling read, with some convincing evidence around the use of the Sex Buyer's Law in other countries.
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  • sridhar
    5.0 out of 5 stars Pimp
    Reviewed in India on July 14, 2025
    Verified Purchase
    Very nice
    Knowledge book
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  • Damaskcat
    5.0 out of 5 stars Pimp State
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 27, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    I found this book thought provoking, and it has actually changed my own views on prostitution and pornography. The book is primarily about the sex trade and how it harms the women involved in it. There are plenty of quotes from people who have been - or still are - involved in prostitution. I have always thought women mainly became involved in selling their bodies for money because they were drug addicts. Of course I was aware of the trafficking of women for prostitution but had always thought this was a small part of the trade.

    This book has made me examine my preconceptions. The book shows that women mainly start taking drugs to deal with their horrific lives in prostitution, instead of turning to prostitution to fund their drug habits. They risk violence and often have no control over their own lives because of the activities of pimps and brothels. The book looks at the ways various countries have tackled the sex trade. I found it interesting that Sweden's approach - criminalising the buying of sex and not the selling of it has radically reduced the number of prostitutes in the country. It has also changed society's attitude to paying for sex and it is no longer acceptable.

    It seems that decriminalising the sex trade has the opposite effect from the one intended. It actually increases the violence against the women involved rather than decreases it. This book made me question whether the sex trade is acceptable in a society which considers itself civilised. Prostitution is abuse of women. 'Customers' can do what they want with the women whose bodies they purchase for a period of time. There is no control over their actions.

    There are movements to get prostitution accepted as just another job but if you follow that through to its logical conclusion employment law would apply as well as health and safety. How on earth could anyone apply health and safety regulations in practice? How would customers react to giving names and addresses, being filmed on CCTV, being made to stick to rules and regulations?

    There is evidence that pornography and the acceptance of establishments such as lap dancing clubs as well as tacit acceptance of prostitution all affect the attitudes of men and boys towards women in the real world. Most pornography abuses women in the making of it as interviews with former porn stars show all too graphically. The women involved may have contracts saying what they will and won't do but in practice they can't enforce these and they end up being subjected to assaults which in any other context would be assault and rape.

    This is an angry book and needs to be read with an open mind. Prostitution and pornographic films are abuse of women. It is possible to change society - as Sweden has demonstrated - to make paying for sex illegal and thus change people's attitudes to it in less than a generation. Being anti-prostitution and pornography doesn't make anyone anti-sex, whatever people who hold opposite views might tell you. Accepting prostitution and pornography is accepting that men have needs which they find impossible to control - is that really true? Do men want to be seen as having no self control?
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