Chapter 31: Juniper the Former Sex Worker on paying for pleasure and progressive parenting

Jun 17, 2019

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3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, and the world's greatest Uber driver. Each of the 333 chapters is dropped on the exact minute of every new moon and full moon until September 1, 2031. 3 Books is an Apple "Best Of" award-winning show as well as the world's only podcast by and for book lovers, writers, makers, sellers... and librarians. For more info check out: www.3books.co

Juniper is a mother, writer, artist, academic, and a gadfly. She completed a PhD in sociology with a specific focus on gender and sexuality, feminist and queer theories, and experimental methodologies. Her dissertation explored the experiences of sex workers in higher education. Juniper is also the author of numerous essays for VICE, BuzzFeed, Tits and Sass, Pacific Standard, Mutha Magazine, Broadly, and others. Her children's book, How Mamas Love Their Babies, received rave reviews and was even called a "patriarchy smashing children's book" by the editors at Ms. Magazine. It was the first children's book to feature a sex-working parent. She spends as much time as possible with her fabulous, gender-expansive child.

Today we are traveling to Omaha, Nebraska, to sit down with former sex worker, PHD graduate, TED speaker, and author of the world’s first children’s book featuring a sex working parent, Juniper Fitzgerald.

How did I get to know Juniper?

It all comes back to Chapter 4 of 3 Books with Sarah Ramsey, who recommended the book How Mamas Love Their Babies to me.

This book is beautiful and evocative and filled with cut and pasted little pictures … and I was absolutely gripped by it. I was totally sucked in, and the mention of the sex working parent happens so gently and subtly.

So I sat down with Juniper in the middle of the Omaha airport and had an extremely educational conversation about important themes like: sex work, the pros and cons of paying for pleasure, decriminalization vs anti-criminalization, the real meaning of ‘consent,’ how to improve self-esteem, why we should teach children about sex, and so much more.

Juniper brings us all sorts of knowledge from her experiences as a mother, a sex worker, and a PhD graduate in sociology with focuses on gender, sexuality, feminist, and queer theories. She was a delight to speak to.

I hope you enjoy Chapter 31 of 3 Books.

What is sex work?
How should we educate children about sex work?
Should sex work be decriminalized?
How can we improve our self-esteem?
Should we teach children masturbation and how to find their pleasure?
Why do we need to make mistakes in order to learn and grow?

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You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://www.3books.co/chapters/31