For as long as there have been societies, sex work has been part of the underground economy—talked about quietly, banned, turned into novels, then scolded again. Laws people hoped would wipe it out only pushed it deeper into the shadows. Each time someone tried to stamp it out, it shifted and kept going. So if banning it has never worked, why do we keep trying?

Consent, Commerce, and Control started with that puzzle. I'm not here to cheer sex work, nor to excuse every choice made within it. I'm here to lay out what actually happens—how people decide inside tricky social and economic traps, how laws that say they want to help often get in the way, and how fear-driven rules leave scars on flesh and spirit.

Inside the chapters that follow, you'll meet people who fought to stay free, and you'll see findings from places that chose to regulate instead of criminalize. Those places traded the dark alley for an open door, and protection for secrecy. I'm not trying to dress it up, nor to pretend risks don't exist. My only goal is to say that respect, health, and choice should steer policy, not outrage.

This book asks you to look at sex work the same way you look at any job: it's work, and workers deserve the same rights, safety, and fair treatment as everyone else. We've tried the old ways of trying to control this field, and they didn't work. Now, it's time to put the power where it belongs: with the people who've been talked about forever but hardly ever heard.

Respectfully,

José A Rivera Neris