這篇長文對性工作的互動過程的各個面向進行了一個高夫曼式的詮釋分析,許多看似特殊的性工作現象(過去經常被其他研究者詮釋為性工作的異化、不倫、受害……的表現),現在則被本文重新詮釋為:性工作者運用一般人際互動的普通日常技巧與現代組織常見的管理規訓技術,來維護有利工作順利進行的例行化方式,以及維護自我的疆界。易言之,性工作者之所作所為,其實只是當代服務業普遍的實踐方式、或現代人的一般互動方式,毫無特殊之處。這個高夫曼式的詮釋分析架構將性工作的問題放在當代批判的社會理論的中心,處理的是社會理論的一般問題(勞動過程、公私領域、現代組織的理性化、現代自我、規訓與監視等等)。
This long essay conducts a Goffmanian interpretive analysis of many aspects of the phenomena and interactions in sex work, often misconstrued by the received interpretation as the expressions of victimization, alienation or immorality inherent in the sex work, which are now reinterpreted basically as sex workers' effort to maintain the boundary of the self and the routine of work. Under this light, the seemingly uncommon doings of sex workers are nothing but usual techniques in interpersonal interaction or self-presentation, and methods widely employed by modern organization in management and disciplining. This Goffmanian interpretive analysis locates the problematic of sex work at the heart of contemporary critical social theory, focusing on such issues as labor process, public/private sphere, the rationalization of modern organization, modern self, discipline and surveillance, and so on.