Many artists have worked in the sex industry: Sophie Calle is a stripper in La Fille du Docteur, Caroline Coon paints her Brothel Series, Cosey Fanni Tutti hacks porn magazines and Annie Sprinkle shows that pin-up and ordinary woman are interchangeable roles. Maïa Izzo-Foulquier’s photographs touch upon non-idealized male nudity, while Romy Alizée's depict lesbian eroticism. Pennie Key creates works as a ‘fetisch wrestler’, and the dominatrix Reba Maybury imposes on her male slaves to make art!

Women artists and sex workers are now producing works that challenge the imagery of “available women” instituted by male artists in the 19th century and before, embracing female pleasure and proposing other visions of masculinity. Studying the lives and achievements of these artists allows us to analyze various types of artistic agentivity and shed light on the blind spots of female representations of the contemporary era.