Hos, Hookers, Call Girls, and Rent Boys: Professionals Writing on Life, Love, Money, and Sex - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1593762410 ISBN 13: 9781593762414

Publisher: Soft Skull Press, 2009

Synopsis

The only thing the writers in this book have in common is that they've exchanged sex for money. Hos, Hookers, Call Girls, and Rent Boys is a collection of writings covering life, love, work, family, and sex. The editors gather pieces from the world of industrial sex, from porn stars to men and women off the streets. Sex is a billion-dollar industry. Meet the real people who are its flesh and blood.

About this title

Review

"[A]n eye-opening, occasionally astonishing, brutally honest and frequently funny collection . . . unpolished, unpretentious, and riveting. . . [a] rare ability to tell the truth, an ability that education and sophistication often serve to conceal.” The New York Times

"Sterry, author of sex-worker memoir Chicken (a fact he mentions often) compiles an exhaustive (and exhausting) collection of writing from sex workers of all stripes. The sprawling project, grouped loosely by topic (Life, Love, Money, Sex, etc.), offers insight into seemingly all aspects of the sex trade: high-profile celebrities like Xaviera Happy Hooker” Hollander and Nina Hartley make notable contributors, but it’s the unknown writers who will stick. The selections from the book’s closing section alone, written by members of Sterry’s San Francisco writer’s workshop for sex workers, range from triumphant to harrowing, making up for a lack of style or form with passion. Aside from exposing the complex web of relationships among phone sex operators, dancers, massage parlor workers, prostitutes and their customers, the book is heavy with raw emotions ranging from celebratory to shameful, giving armchair sociologists plenty to ponder. It’s not all dark and heavy: Sterry’s own account of his experience as a birthday present for an 82-year-old grandmother is touching and sentimental; veteran performer Annie Sprinkle is characteristically blunt, funny and honest. Best consumed in small doses, this volume houses some real gems amongst a number of redundant space-fillers." Publishers Weekly

About this edition

• Publisher: Soft Skull Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1593762410
• ISBN 13: 9781593762414
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288
• Editor: Sterry David Henry, Martin Jr. R. J.