Suggested Reading

Below we have compiled a list of suggested reading about Josephine Butler, sex work and related matters. We are always looking for additional material, so please feel free to get in touch if there’s any reading you’d like to recommend.

  • Revolting Prostitutes: The Fight for Sex Workers' Rights by Juno Mac & Molly Smith

    Playing the Whore - Melissa Gira Grant

    It’s What I Know - An online photo-story of about one person’s experience of selling sex in London written collaboratively.

  • Meet Josephine: an influencer for over 100 years Blog by Mary Holmes

    Josephine Butler by Jane Jordan, John Murray, 2001

    Patron Saint of Prostitutes Josephine Butler and a Victorian Scandal by Helen Mathers, 2014

    A Singular Iniquity by Glen Petrie, 1971

    Personal Reminiscences of a Great Crusade. C1867 by Jos. E. Butler

    ‘Josephine Butler', the Forgotten Saint by Joseph Williamson, 1977

    'Josephine Butler' edited by George W. and Lucy A. Johnson

    'Josephine Butler' a Guide to her Life Faith and Social Action by Rod Garner 2009

    Various of Josephine Butler's pamphlets are now in print and are well worth finding and reading, for example:

    'Social Purity' by JEB first published 1879 by JEB,1874

    'Some Thoughts on the Present Aspect of the Crusade against the State Regulation of Vice'. by JEB, 1874

    'Truth Before Everything' by JEB, 1897

  • Sex Work Matters: Exploring Money, Power, and Intimacy in the Sex Industry edited by Melissa Hope Ditmore, Antonia Levy and Alys Willman - this book is a combination of lived experience and academic analysis.

    Sex at the Margins: Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry by Laura Maria Agustín)

    The Curious History of Sex by Kate Lister

    The Disappearance of Lydia Harvey: A True Story of Sex, Crime and the Meaning of Justice by Julia Laite

    The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold

    West End Girls by Barbara Tate

    Harlots, Whores and Hackabouts by Kate Lister

    A Victorian Feminist Christian by Lisa Severine Nolland (2004)

    Prostitution, Women and Misuse of the Law – the fallen daughters of Eve: Helen J. Self (2003)

    Female Lives, Moral States by Anne Summers (2000)

    The Natashas by Victor Malarek

  • Sex workers’ experiences of management and other third parties - Dr Lilith Brouwers

    Beyond the Gaze - Safety and Privacy for Online Sex Workers

If you notice any errors in the recommendations above, please do let us know via email or our contact page.