Please join us for the second annual Sexual Entertainment and Economies Collection event, Erotic Labor in the 21st Century: Power, Pleasure, and Resistance, an exploration of sex work, representation, and activism featuring authors from the new book, Sex Work Today, and a special performance of Wh*re’s Eye View by Kaytlin Bailey.

All events are free and open to the public and you can register here .

Erotic Labor in the 21st Century: Power, Pleasure, and Resistance

Featuring authors from the new book, Sex Work Today: Erotic Labor in the 21st Century, Angela Jones, Barbara G. Brents, Bernadette Barton, (eds), NYU Press, 2024. 

Panel 1: Power and Resistance in Erotic Labor, RLL 101, 1 pm

1. Taking Our Words Right Out of Our Mouths: The Appropriation of Sex Worker-Rights Language, Crystal Jackson, Arizona State University 

2. Not a Client, Not a Sex Worker: Dismantling the “Pimp” Stereotype, Stacey Hannem, Wilfrid Laurier University

3. *“Beat Em At Their Game”: The Strategic Deployment of “Victimhood” as Resistance, Lillian Taylor Jungleib, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

4. *“The Police Don’t Protect Us!”: Why Sex Workers Don’t Trust the Police, Kaytlin Bailey, Founder & Executive Director Old Pros Network 

5. Disability at the Revolving Door: Perspectives on Mental Illness and Predatory Policing, Summer Lopez Colorado, University of California, Los Angeles

Panel 2: Bodies, Pleasure, and Representation, RLL 101,  3 pm

1. The Big Beautiful Women Awards: Fat Latinas in the Porn Industry, Yessica Hernandez, UCLA

2. Dominating Pleasure: High Job Satisfaction Among Professional Dominatrixes, Tania Levey, City University of New York.

3. Gifts of Desire: The Erotics of Gift Exchange and Sex Worker Mutual Aid, Kassandra Sparks, Univ of California, Berkeley and Lena Chen, University of California, Berkeley

4. Pornography With Heart: The Holistic Potential of Feminist Porn, Inka Winter, erotic filmmaker and founder of ForPlay Films

Reception, Goldfield Room, 6 pm

Whore’s Eye View, Goldfield Room, 6:30-8 pm

Kaytlin Bailey, Founder & Executive Director Old Pros Network 

Whore’s Eye View is a mad dash through 10,000 years of history from a sex workers’ perspective. Equal parts history lesson, stand-up comedy, and personal storytelling, Kaytlin Bailey masterfully unpacks the age-old stigma underpinning the oldest profession, and a status quo designed to keep women in their place.

Register:  https://bit.ly/EroticLabor21stCentury 

Campus Partners: UNLV Special Collections and Archives Sexual Entertainment and Economies Collection, UNLV Libraries, UNLV College of Liberal Arts, the Departments of Interdisciplinary, Gender, and Ethnic Studies, Sociology, History, English and the Reid Public History Institute and New Moon Network.

As one of the few designated collections of its kind in North America, the Sexual Entertainment and Economies Collection aims to become a leading resource for researchers, students, and the public, documenting everything from adult entertainment pioneers to the latest sex-tech innovations. This event offers a space for critical dialogue, enhancing UNLV’s role as a center for scholarship on sexual economies and helping to ensure the growth and long-term impact of the collection.

You can support this initiative through sponsorship or by joining the Friends of the Collection program, with donations of any amount. Contributions are fully tax-deductible and will support future events, the collection’s expansion, and research initiatives benefiting faculty and students. You can make your donation through the UNLV Foundation (select the Sexual Entertainment & Economies option when making your donation).