Hos, Hookers, Call Girls, and Rent Boys: Professionals Writing on Life, Love, Money, and Sex [Paperback]

David Henry Sterry (Editor), R. J. Martin Jr. (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 7, 2009

The only thing the writers in this book have in common is that they've exchanged sex for money. They're PhDs and dropouts, soccer moms and jailbirds, $2,500-a-night call girls and $10 crack hos, and everything in between. This anthology lends a voice to an underrepresented population that is simultaneously reviled and worshipped.

Hos, Hookers, Call Girls, and Rent Boys is a collection of short memoirs, rants, confessions, nightmares, journalism, and poetry covering life, love, work, family, and yes, sex. The editors gather pieces from the world of industrial sex, including contributions from art-porn priestess Dr. Annie Sprinkle, best-selling memoirist David Henry Sterry (Chicken: Self-Portrait of a Young Man for Rent), sex activist and musical diva Candye Kane, women and men right off the streets, girls participating in the first-ever National Summit of Commercially Sexually Exploited Youth, and Ruth Morgan Thomas, one of the organizers of the European Sex Work, Human Rights, and Migration Conference.

Sex is a billion-dollar industry. Meet the real people who are its flesh and blood.

Editorial Reviews

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

Product Details

• Paperback: 333 pages
• Publisher: Soft Skull Press; Original edition (July 7, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593762410
• ISBN-13: 978-1593762414
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #480,093 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Tales August 22, 2009

By Kemble Scott

Format:Paperback

I went to Modern Times Bookstore in San Francisco to hear some of the contributors read from this remarkable anthology. These are people who reside on the front lines of humanity, experiencing life's extremes. There's no doubt these stories, poems and essays are naughty and provocative, but they are also ultimately revealing about America's obsession and hang-ups with sex. Putting this book together was a labor of love for David Henry Sterry and R. J. Martin (no strangers to hardscrabble lives themselves), and it's a tremendous achievement.
--Kemble Scott, bestselling author of SoMa and The Sower

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Lacked the Depth I Was Hoping For January 31, 2010

By R. Gardner

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This collection of essays rarely gets to the heart of the matter; why the writers chose the lifestyle. Instead, it alternates between funny anecdotes and scary experiences. The writing is not brilliant and in many cases comes across as shallow and self-satisfied - I'm not interested in hearing how great it is/was to be a whore. If you are interested in a collection of essays/poems/anecdotes, by all means pick this up. If you are looking for something that speaks more about the human condition, you're best off looking somewhere else.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars most interesting September 22, 2009

By James Palmisano

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

A most interesting read.
A new view point of those in the sex industry, when you find out they are most times, the boy or girl next door. If your looking for a book full of trash, this is not for you.