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A review by 11corvus11
The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels, and the Business of AIDS by Elizabeth Pisani
3.0
I have mixed feelings about this book. In the beginning I was trudging through it because I found it to be rather unlikeable. I should confess that I thought from the title that this book was written by someone who was a sex worker or would have lots of sex workers sharing their experience. This is a topic I have some prejudices about so I was hoping to learn more and that mixed with public health was interesting. The title is wrong. I think it should just be called "Bureaucrats, Brothels, and the Business of AIDS" alone.
That said, the author initially came off as another researcher with disdain for her participants- proudly emotionally detached and pseudo-logical but with plenty of subtle cheap shots at waria especially. I almost put it down for this reason.
When I pushed through and got to the second third of the book I really found it interesting. Pisani became more nuanced as did her critiques of government and other funding systems as well as participants in studies. I found the sections that focused on sex work (victimization vs circumstance vs just work) and harm reduction in drug injectors extremely interesting and enlightening.
I think the book could have been better organized. It seemed to shuffle around a lot. I think it could have been much shorter. I wouldn't read it again but I don't regret reading it, especially the parts I really enjoyed.
That said, the author initially came off as another researcher with disdain for her participants- proudly emotionally detached and pseudo-logical but with plenty of subtle cheap shots at waria especially. I almost put it down for this reason.
When I pushed through and got to the second third of the book I really found it interesting. Pisani became more nuanced as did her critiques of government and other funding systems as well as participants in studies. I found the sections that focused on sex work (victimization vs circumstance vs just work) and harm reduction in drug injectors extremely interesting and enlightening.
I think the book could have been better organized. It seemed to shuffle around a lot. I think it could have been much shorter. I wouldn't read it again but I don't regret reading it, especially the parts I really enjoyed.