It is no secret that marriage rates in the United States are at an all-time low. Despite this significant decline, the institution of marriage endures in our society amid historic changes to its meaning and practice. How does the continuing strength of marriage impact the relationships of same-sex couples after the legalization of same-sex marriage?
Drawing ... Show More
Yesterday
Eileen G'Sell, "Lipstick" (Bloomsbury, 2026)
From Revlon to Glossier, from Marilyn to Gaga, lipstick is as shape-shifting and unwieldy as femininity itself.Who wears lipstick today – as a matter of routine? And for those who do, is it out of obligation to a strict feminine standard, or some other reason entirely? Lipstick r ... Show More
42m 2s
Yesterday
Rebecca Buxton and Samuel Ritholtz, "The Way Out: Justice in the Queer Search for Refuge" (U California Press, 2026)
The global refugee regime has shifted under our feet. Over the last forty years, international asylum practices have expanded to include the queer and trans displaced. At least thirty-seven countries now recognize LGBTIQ refugees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender ident ... Show More
1h 5m
Feb 2025
Inside Europe's Biggest Red Light District
<p>Between 1860 and 1925, tens of thousands of women worked in Dublin's Monto, the largest red light district in Europe.</p><br><p>It was a world of narrow alleyways full of brothels busy with sex workers, at a time when the Catholic church was trying to establish ideas around wh ... Show More
51m 47s
Oct 2025
Inside Imperial Japan's Brothels
After the first licensed brothel opened in the 17th century, how was sex work thought of in Japan throughout the following centuries?From the brothels in the pleasure quarters, to the rise and popularity of male sex workers and where geishas fit into the picture, Kate is joined b ... Show More
50m 34s
May 2018
Roadmap to Hell: Sex, Drugs and Guns on the Mafia Coast, with Barbie Latza Nadeau
Rome-based journalist Barbie Latza Nadeau tells the horrifying story of the thousands of Nigerian women and girls duped into being trafficked to Italy, where they are forced to become sex slaves, drug mules, or weapons smugglers. How can this be stopped? The Nigerian government t ... Show More
23m 4s
Nov 2024
Caroline Séquin, "Desiring Whiteness: A Racial History of Prostitution in France and Colonial Senegal, 1848-1950" (Cornell UP, 2024)
Since the French Revolution of 1789, the absence of laws banning interracial marriages has served to reinforce two myths about modern France--first, that it is a sexual democracy and second, it is a color-blind nation where all French citizens can freely marry whomever they wish ... Show More
1h 37m
Jan 2025
Inside the Brothel of Pompeii
<p>Sex work was everywhere in the ancient world, but a known dedicated space for it (a brothel), is an extremely rare and important thing.</p><br><p>Pompeii offers exactly that, with details such as graffiti and drawings immaculately preserved in the only known brothel from this ... Show More
46m 45s
May 2024
Matilda Bickers, "Working It: Sex Workers on the Work of Sex" (PM Press, 2023)
Fiercely intelligent, fantastically transgressive, Working It: Sex Workers on the Work of Sex (PM Press, 2023) is an intimate portrait of the lives of sex workers. A polyphonic story of triumph, survival, and solidarity, this collection showcases the vastly different experiences ... Show More
38m 6s
May 2024
Matilda Bickers, "Working It: Sex Workers on the Work of Sex" (PM Press, 2023)
Fiercely intelligent, fantastically transgressive, Working It: Sex Workers on the Work of Sex (PM Press, 2023) is an intimate portrait of the lives of sex workers. A polyphonic story of triumph, survival, and solidarity, this collection showcases the vastly different experiences ... Show More
38m 6s