"From gun-toting Pansy Arlington, whose Palace of Pleasure provided years of dangerous excitement to colonial men on the Western Australian goldfields, to Puang Thong Simaplee, a young woman from Thailand arrested in a Surry Hills brothel only to die in Villawood Detention Centre before she could be deported, historian Raelene Frances draws on biographies, interviews and case-studies to present the first comprehensive history of prostitution in Australia." "We meet women, past and present, from across Australia whose involvement in the sex industry covers the spectrum from drug-addicted street walkers to high-class call girls." "Selling Sex describes how trading in sex has contributed to women's economic survival as well as to economic development in urban and regional Australia. The book explores the policy implications of the Australian sex trade, the role of police, and the creative ways in which women have defied the stereotypes of abandoned whore or sad victim."--Jacket.