Customer Reviews

Listening to Olivia: Violence, Poverty, and Prostitution (Northeastern Series on Gender, Crime, and Law)

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Listening to Olivia is a tremendously important and compelling book written on the subject of prostitution. Ms. Raphael tells Olivia's story in a raw, forthright manner, flawlessly interweaving testimony and research. Olivia is courageous as she shares her story in the hopes of helping other young women avoid her path. This book is a must read for providers working with women and girls, policy makers whose work impacts this vulnerable population, and parents who hope to raise daughters who stay safe from The Life. For those of us who work in prostitution prevention and intervention, this book will be seen as a key resource for years to come.

Listening to Olivia is the book that many anti-prostitution activists wish they had written. Ms. Raphael has the ability to interweave Olivia's true story with the extensive research documenting various aspects of the reality of prostitution. The book is a terrific resource for anyone researching in this area. If you care about women, you MUST read this.

The newest addition to "The Northeastern Series on Gender, Crime and Law", Listening To Olivia: Violence, Poverty, And Prostitution by Jody Raphael (Senior Research Fellow, DePaul University College of Law's Schiller, DuCanto and Fleck Family Law Center) is the personal story of Olivia, a woman who spent nineteen years of her life as a stripper, a prostitute, and a heroine addict. She left a troubled home at 16 and became involved in Chicago's subculture of prostitution, drug addiction, and abusive men. A resourceful woman of color, Olivia was able to eventually break with "the life" and now works to support drug-dependent women. Especially commended to the attention of students of Urban Sociology and Women's Studies, Listening To Olivia is a compelling, informative, and gripping autobiography that uniquely illuminates the life led by low-income, non-white, young women in commercial prostitution today.