Elizabeth Pisani: The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels and the Business of AIDS: New York: WW Norton: 2008. New Zealanders can pride ourselves on taking a sober, serious stance toward HIV/AIDS prevention over the last quarter-century, but what about elsewhere in the world? Pisani’s book is especially interesting because she spent some time working alongside waria (transgender) sex workers in urban Jakarta. Unlike their rural sisters, who play religious and ceremonial roles in the countryside, urban waria have to deal with earning a living, and many turn to sex work to support themselves. Sex work? But isn’t Indonesia the world’s largest Muslim-majority ...