Working Girl:On Selling Art and Selling Sex

Between the sex worker and art worker is a tension that defines the contemporary commodification of bodies, genders, time and desires. Working Girl documents Giovannitti's critical and creative interventions into this fraught and fascinating zone. She invites us to be more than voyeurs, and to think with her what is at stake in the art of sex and the sex of art

In Working Girl Sophia Giovannitti considers the material and metaphorical overlap between the sexual and artistic marketplaces

Giovannitti writes with candor and complexity about a life at the center of two of her greatest cultural preoccupations: sex and capitalism.

Giovannitti mines both her personal experiences as an artist and a sex worker as well as larger political ones to traces the ways the worlds of art and sex work have in common. In doing so, she finds a way to commit to art, sex, and work on her own terms - finding freedom within the larger forces at work.

Giovannitti dances between memoir, art criticism, and political theory to unknot a provocative tension: how our supposedly 'sacred' fields of erotic and aesthetic experience are born out of systems of commodification.

[An] incisive debut memoir...Giovannitti's explorations of controversial topics are sharp and stirring, and her provocative observations will prompt debate. This deserves to be grappled with.

In five chapters that move easily between cultural criticism, art theory, and sharply observed personal experience, Giovannitti raises fresh inquiries around fantasies of autonomy and authenticity in worlds heavily mediated by capital.

Threading together memoir and criticism, her volume charts a journey through contemporary art addressing prostitution and pornography, the blind spots of movements like MeToo, the politicized actions of sex workers, and finding a way to live beyond labor.

Working Girl suggests the appeal or even revolutionary potential of relating in such an upfront, contractual manner…a cleansing element to addressing things in such blatant terms, equity in considering one's time worth good money.

Brilliant ... [Giovannitti's] gripping subject matter offers an accessible yet imaginative route into those intersections of sex work and the art market, from the perspective of a person with has lived experience of both.

Art and sex have always been intertwined, but Giovannitti thinks we're getting it all wrong. Drawing on theorists and experience, both as an artist and sex worker, she avoids easy reactions like outrage, instead rethinking how everyone can benefit from a sexy inquiry into the nature of art

Incorporating eclectic references, from the French theory collective Tiqqun to the transgender artist Tourmaline, Working Girl is a pointillistic contemplation of labor and the varied ways we choose to contextualize and deny it. It's also a declaration of Giovannitti's confidence 'to discern for myself what is meaningful and what is bullshit' in a capitalistic landscape that shapes the most intimate parts of our lives.

A personal, provocative and, above all, sharply intelligent exploration of the contemporary world, and how to survive and even thrive within it.

As Giovannitti expounds on the negotiations and violations that she sees in both industries, as well as glimmering moments of community, beauty, and anarchy, she draws on her own experience and carefully crafted critical lens, rather than accepting prevailing frameworks and prefabricated imaginaries.

Giovannitti brings a fresh criticality ... when considering how expectations of intimacy and creativity intersect with workers' rights and autonomy within late-stage capitalist anxiety.

Sophia's deft, precise, and intriguing in describing the everyday details of her world-and also floating thousands of feet above and seeing the whole structure move. It's one of the best things I've read recently about labor, commodification of intimacy, manufacture of fantasy, precious time on earth, the list goes on.

Readers will find infinite pleasure in surrendering to Giovannitti’s labor-won intelligence. Her disdain for work and capitalism shimmer, as she emphasizes the profundity of her devotion to art.