The Johns: Sex for Sale and the Men Who Buy It [Hardcover]

Victor Malarek (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 16, 2009

Following up on his scathing indictment of the international sexual enslavement of women in The Natashas, investigative journalist Victor Malarek lays bare the other side of the crisis?the men who fuel the demand.

Each year more than 800,000 women and children are lured, tricked or forced into prostitution to meet an apparently insatiable demand, joining an estimated 10 million women already ensnared in the $20 billion worldwide sex trade.

To date, most research on the subject has focused on the various issues that propel these women into the trade, but little has been investigated, or written, about those who trigger the demand?the “Johns.” In this hard-hitting expos?, Malarek unmasks the kind ofmen?and organizations?that foster and drive the sex trade, from America to Europe, Brazil to Thailand, Phnom Penh to St. Petersburg and Costa Rica. The Johns is a chilling look into a dark corner of the world that these men have created at the expense of countless women and children.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“[Malarek’s] call for expansive changes -- target johns, educate boys, address the inequities that force women into prostitution -- should be required reading for anyone serious about protecting women and preserving the dignity of all human relationships, sexual or otherwise.”
? Washington Post

Praise for The Natashas: Inside the New Global Sex Trade:

“The Natashas is a hard-hitting, well-researched account of the global sex trade, and Malarek is clearly a journalist with a mission.”?The National Post
“Required reading.”?New York Post
“Impassioned?. An intensely affecting read?. He exposes the corruption and disinterest that runs up the law-enforcement ladder, and the racism that allows it to persist.”?Chicago Sun-Times
“Visceral?. A must-read?. Heartbreaking.”?Detroit Free Press
“Graphic?. A scathing indictment.”?Kirkus Reviews
“Wrenching?. A powerful and compelling work.”?Florida Sun-Sentinel

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Award winning journalist VICTOR MALAREK is a senior reporter for CTV's W-FIVE. During his thirty-year career, he has worked for The Globe and Mail and CBC's the fifth estate. His investigative reporting has been recognized with four Michener Awards and the Gemini Award for Canada's Top Broadcast Journalist (1997). Malarek has written five non-fiction books: The Natashas: The New Global Sex Trade, which has been published in ten countries; Gut Instinct: The Making of an Investigative Reporter; Merchants of Misery; Haven's Gate: Canada's Immigration Fiasco; and Hey...Malarek! He lives in Toronto, Canada. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Arcade Publishing (April 16, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559708905
• ISBN-13: 978-1559708906
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #878,081 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly good, August 20, 2009

By 

C. P. Anderson (Charlotte, NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Johns: Sex for Sale and the Men Who Buy It (Hardcover)

I was a little worried this book might be a little too prurient. It actually turned out to be rather serious, and definitely very hard-hitting.

Unlike most books on prostitution, this one focuses on the other side of the equation - the men who purchase sex. Two things really struck me about these men. One, they seemed to have a lot of anger and resentment toward women, and expressed a real need for control over them. Second, they operate very strongly in denial.

As an example of the latter is the idea that prostitution is a victimless crime. Malarek does a good job pointing out that this is rarely the case - whether talking about children, drug users, abuse victims, trafficking victims, etc.

Being a good journalist, Malarek does provide plenty of stories (right down to trying to purchase some girls in Costa Rica himself), but also provides analysis and a surprising amount of passion too.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sex and The Men Who Buy it, June 11, 2010

By 

Michael Griswold "Michael Griswold" (Rockford, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Johns: Sex for Sale and the Men Who Buy It (Hardcover)

That the men who buy sex from trafficked girls are not moral pillars of the community is a shock to absolutely no one. The surprise coming from Malarek's The Johns Sex for Sale and the Men who Buy it is how brazen and unapologetic these men are for their actions. Some are even so diluted in their thought process that they actually believe that they are performing some sort of charitable action by giving a poor girl a miniscule amount of money that will go back to help feed her impoverished family in some third world country, therefore making the men heroes instead of disgusting pigs. Some reviewers have described this book as "man bashing." With all due respect, the men depicted within these pages are the prototypical man who would buy sex--a man who has hidden anger towards women or has been somehow conditioned to believe that women and children are a property to be owned.

I was able to read this book in one day because it read very quickly painting a picture of this angry, insecure, man-creature, discontented with his own life who needs to buy the sex of a stranger to compensate for the failings of himself...or more often in the eyes of the Johns the failings of Western women. I wish that Malarek had balanced his study of the men with more stories of the young women he's met in prostitution and human trafficking, that way maybe it would not have seemed like he was gaining up on the men involved in the global sex trade. Malarek is correct however in pinpointing the men in the link of the global sex trade because without men willing to pay for the sex, the trafficking and exploitation of women would not be so profitable. In any business whether it be legal or illegal the key is profitability, there's a reason why pimps, brothel owners, and gangsters traffic women because there are men willing to pay for sex making it immensely profitable.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but limited focus, October 24, 2010

By 

Elizabeth Ray (Stockton, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Johns: Sex for Sale and the Men Who Buy It (Hardcover)

I have very mixed feelings about The Johns: Sex for Sale and the Men Who Buy It. On one hand, the author has clearly spent a significant amount of time investigating human trafficking and the abuse of children domestically and abroad, and I applaud his efforts to raise awareness of these tragedies. Unfortunately this makes the title of his book somewhat misleading, as the focus is almost exclusively on the men who subsidize these types of activities as consumers. There are already a number of books that focus on these men (such as Travels in the Skin Trade: Tourism and the Sex Industry by Jeremy Seabrook), so I was hoping that this book would also discuss johns who patronize expensive escorts, legal brothels in Nevada, etc. There are mentions, but they are brief.

The intentions of the author are noble, but by demonizing all pornography and prostitution he over-simplifies a complicated issue. He dismisses the "happy hookers" who attest to entering the profession willingly and call for legalization and regulation as either not representative of most women in the profession, or puppets for pimps and mobsters. By disregarding the opinions and experiences of these women isn't he in a way disrespecting them, albeit in a well-intentioned way?

There is a lot of good information on the dark side of prostitution here, and much to enrage the reader. I wish the book would have had a broader focus though.