#TIPHChat Question 1

[Emily]

What are your general thoughts on the book? And the title? Do you think the message of the title was reflected in the narrative?

[Wendy]

I was a little disappointed that the title wasn't better reflected in the book's content. Although Pisani clearly spent a lot of time talking to sex workers, she doesn't give them much credit. She doesn't seem to be disseminating wisdom she learned from them.

[Jite]

I think that the book definitely talked approached AIDS interventions with the “wisdom of whores,” focusing on the realities of the key populations and what has been found to actually work and what has been actually useful and acceptable and helpful to the sex workers and injected drug users she spoke to rather than what is considered “best practice.” I agree with a commenter who said that the book wasn’t literally in the voice of a sex worker, sharing their own experiences and desires, but I think Pisani DID try to write a book that was FOR sex workers, advocating for what they actually need and require based on her analysis of her interviews and work with them.