In June 2003, New Zealand became the first country to decriminalise sex
work. Through the lived experiences of twenty-five individuals who worked on
the ships and the streets, in massage parlours and as private escorts, Untold
Intimacies tells the story of sex work and its transformation in Aotearoa
over thirty critical years.
This history carries readers from the regulation of brothels with the Massage
Parlours Act of 1978, through the struggle for decriminalisation to the legally
mandated national review of the law in 2008. Drawing on new and archival
interviews, the story is told through the first-hand experiences of sex workers
themselves – how they dealt with police, violence and health risks, and how
they organised to change their world.
Untold Intimacies presents an in-depth historical investigation into the lives of some of
the first people in the world to experience the transition to the
decriminalisation of sex work.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 264
Imprint: Auckland University Press
Publication date: 10/07/2025
Untold Intimacies
By Cheryl Ware
Review by Māia
A detailed, researched-based deep dive into the last 5-6 decades of sex work in Aotearoa, heartened by personal experience and anecdotal evidence which breathe life into the academic nature of the text. Well researched and easy to understand, this book offers insights into a fascinating and stigmatised history, giving voice to the abundance of stories emerging from pockets of community, resistance and survival. With Māori and Pacific trans stories at the forefront, this book showcases the queer and migrant histories of sex work and is essential for anyone interested in the synergy of activist movements in the 70’s.
