Customer Reviews

Live Sex Acts: Women Performing Erotic Labor

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Chapkis in her book "Live Sex Acts: Women Performing Erotic Labour" does an excellent job exploring the often complex experiences of women who perform erotic labor. She gives a careful and sensitive analysis, not falling into the trap of romanticisng their lives or disregarding their experiences. This is a truly excellent book. Which is theoretically complex and includes women's experiences in their own words. I loved it.

For anyone who hasn't enjoyed this book, all I can say is that you probably haven't met many of the women whose stories are cited in here. I have, and I find them well represented. Chapkis doesn't drown out their voices the way so many other scholars have. She begins by tracing the debates concerning sex work, which is helpful for people new to the topic. She then develops her own argument (see editor's review) and concludes with a personal story on how she discovered her own sexual pleasure. I found it informative and touching, even though I've been doing similar field work on sex workers for the past four years.

I LOVED this book! I've been in the sex trade ever since college, and found the book to be absolutely insightful and fascinating. It is NOT a "a suger-coated [sic] way of talking about prostitution", but a very accurate representation of the business--at least for those among us who choose to be empowered rather than exploited. I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone considering entering the sex trade, or to anyone curious about the reality of sex work.

The intro to this book presents a clear, concise account of contemporary feminist perspectives on sex work, ranging from the adamantly anti to the decidedly pro (no pun intended). Likewise, the essays inside represent an equally broad range of views and experiences from women in nearly every facet of the sex industry, proving once and for all that sex work is neither inherently degrading nor inherently empowering.

I rate this book as excellent for someone who seeks to work in the sex business who also wants to understand the negative and positive attributes of this business - as it relates to adult entertainment. Also excellent as an objective portrait of this business in general.

This book covers feminist debates on sex issues and it covers stories about prostitution and adult entertainment. It contains many interviews, but they are all bascially the same. The issues are all the same, the interviews are all the same and the debates are all the same. The erotic labor performed by the women mentioned in this book is nothing we all don't already know about, so this book is not telling us anything new or even interesting. I didn't get anything useful out of this book.

I am a retired stripper and I did a little extra on the side for money. This book is a suger-coated way of talking about prostitution. It's stupid for anyone to think prostitution is ok and worth reading about. Because of people like me and books like this, marriages are broken up, families are devasted and lives are changed forever, don't waste your money on this book, spend it on your wives!

I cannot imagine who would find this book educational. It talks about women performing different sex acts-WOW! These women don't perform anything that most married women perform, only difference is, they are performing these sex acts with total strangers! It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out that erotic labor can be complex, downgraded by society or considered by some people as prostitution, but in this day and age, everything is pretty much acceptable. The book contains about 50 interviews with men and women in the sex industry, all which give basically the same story, the same experiences, the same gains and the same regrets. I read this book hoping to get some useful insight into the adult industry, but I didn't. The book talks about sex acts that, we are not only familiar with, but as adult people we too perform these sexual acts, just not in front of a screen. The book is very repetitive, with the same information over and over again.

It was a neat experience for my wife and I. It was also educational

I READ THIS BOOK OUT OF CURIOUSITY AND I WAS HOPING TO GET AFEW POINTERS ......WHAT A WASTE OF TIME- EVERYTHING MENTIONED IN THISBOOK IS ....

THE BOOK REALLY HAD NOTHING USEFUL OR EVEN INTERESTING,IT COVERS SOME STORIES ABOUT WHAT PROSTITUTES MAKE AND HOW THIS TYPEOF JOB AFFECTS THEIR LIVES, THE REST IS COMMON SENSE AND REGULAR ADULTKNOWLEDGE.......I HAVE TO ADMIT-THIS BOOK WAS NOT IMPRESSIVE TO SAYTHE LEAST.