Skin City: Uncovering the Las Vegas Sex Industry [Hardcover]

Jack Sheehan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2004

Sex. No other city in America capitalizes on the power of sex like Las Vegas. Author Jack Sheehan, a writer who has lived in Las Vegas for thirty years and knows the true dark side of the city, pulls back the curtain of the adult sex industry and examines the lives of the people give Sin City its naughty reputation. Jack was able to get XXX-rated film stars, the top madam in town, beautiful call girls who command $1,000 per hour and up, swingers, and the most alluring exotic dancers on the Strip to tell him everything, both on and off the job and how anything goes in the arena of sexual self-expression.

Sheehan discusses his visit to the largest adult video convention in the world, accompanied by a porn star who has appeared in over 300 films, to attend the Adult Video News Awards. He then talks with Mayor Oscar Goodman, Sheriff Bill Young, and casino owner Steve Wynn to discuss their concerns over the sex industry's role in Las Vegas. Skin City focuses on those whose names will never be on marquees but are the ones who create the legendary mystique of Las Vegas. It's a story that's never been told but lurks in the fantasies of us all.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Sheehan (Above Las Vegas) migrated to "Skin City" in 1976 in pursuit of "adult fun," and asserts that Vegas is where America goes to be legally licentious. Yet despite sweet little dice imprints throughout this work, the only gambling he describes is the gambling men (and sometimes women) do with their bank accounts: Vegas's nubile beauties don't come cheap. An hour in a strip club's VIP room costs no less than $400; a hotel room "escort" starts at $500 and ranges upward. In chapters that read like snappy magazine pieces, Sheehan tours the Strip as well as the strip clubs, swingers clubs, massage parlors and porn conventions. He interviews porn stars turned soccer moms, soccer moms turned dominatrixes and young couples funding their futures with for-profit swinging sessions. Interpolated throughout are tips for sex-driven travelers: how to choose a strip club, what to expect in a lap dance, what to look for in a swinger's club, how to avoid being arrested and even where to go for a good meal. This often tame and oddly old-fashioned erotic travelogue affects an "oh, my gosh!" attitude that's both endearing and perplexing, given Sheehan's lengthy tenure in the town, but it's an engaging and occasionally shocking voyage. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

A 2004 British book making its U.S. paperback debut, Sheehan's examination of sex-based businesses in America's mecca for hedonists depends on interviews with a variety of sex workers and entrepreneurs. Consequently, the line between titillation and reportage is heavily trod. Nevertheless, Sheehan conveys a plausible sense of what services are actually available, regardless of various disclaimers and legal descriptions. The interviewees defend their occupations on comparative moral grounds, and they offer insights into, say, the kind of customer who spends big bucks on a no-contact lap dance. Sheehan is also a helpful tipster who includes lists of "Off-Duty Hangouts for Hot Bodies" (i.e., where to find "smokin' strippers after hours") and the top 10 "outlandish requests" put to strippers (from "No, no . . . keep your top on" to "How 'bout I give you a lap dance?"). To prospective Vegas conference attendees, Sheehan's effort well might prove invaluable, descriptions of sexual situations and all. For stay-at-homes, it's a good read-alike to Legs McNeil and Jennifer Osborne's The Other Hollywood (2005). Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 276 pages
• Publisher: Stephens Press (May 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932173048
• ISBN-13: 978-1932173048
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,007,461 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Seriously Flawed, Glib, Boring, Shallow, December 22, 2004

By 

Festivus "Caio" (Aurora, CO) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Skin City: Uncovering the Las Vegas Sex Industry (Hardcover)

Most of this book seems to focus on the "adult" video industry, with a hefty portion of wife swapping thrown in. The former is pretty much a LA industry, and the latter is more of a realm for perverted hobbyists than part of the Las Vegas sex business. The book cruises along for quite a while before getting to the meat and potatoes of prostitution and "gentlemen's clubs" in Vegas. Those parts of the book at least have some interest, but the author wastes too much paper, ink and readers' time on the personal history of each and every stripper, hooker, and wannabe that he interviews. It seems that there is much to be written about the BUSINESS of sex in Vegas, and even more about how that business is carried out, and by whom. Sadly, this is not the book for that.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not exactly a totally accurate book, February 13, 2006

By 

Thud Driver (Las Vegas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Skin City: Uncovering the Las Vegas Sex Industry (Hardcover)

As one who has owned both an Extoic Dancer Web site and a Las Vegas Escort Web site, I have met known and photgraphed dancers and escorts going back to 1997 anf quiter frankly a lot of information is just not right. While those he interviewed those things might be true, but in general they seem out od whack with the many ladies I have known. This is true particularly for the escorts, as anyone with any brains can see that escorts don't start out at $500 for an hour. Don't waste money on this book, is mostly a lot of hype and while you might find it entertaining, there is just too much that is flat out wrong. There are better books I am sure if you want to get the lowdown on the adult industry in Vegas.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What a dissapointing book, February 23, 2006

By 

Bill M (Boca Raton, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Skin City: Behind the Scenes of the Las Vegas Sex Industry (Paperback)

I have never posted a review before, but felt the need to do so after reading half of this utterly useless book. I am a voracious reader who loves stories about Las vegas, but this book is not worth your time. I feel like a sucker for buying it and hope that I can save someone else from wasting their money.