Customer Reviews

Skin City: Uncovering the Las Vegas Sex Industry

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

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I bought this book during my last visit to Las Vegas but, unfortunately, I didn't find out very much about Vegas from reading it.

I knew Vegas hosted the porn awards, I knew Vegas had a lot of escorts and hookers...so not too many surprises.

I was also left a little skeptical since the author was satisfied with each porn star and prostitute's take on their lives and professions. The book read like he was trying to maintain the slick, sexy sheen of the Vegas tourism ads without delving into some of the more tragic aspects of all that sex and drugs.

One of my best friends in the world is on the Vegas Police Department, and he could tell you a completely different side of the "fun capital of the world."
(Maybe a dark, stunning expose could be written about the seedy side of Disneyland. I don't know. But I read SKIN CITY and felt like a lot of folks in that book were not telling their whole story. Or just the whole story of that lifestyle).

Ultimately, SKIN CITY reads like a book where only the winners are interviewed...and the losers are hustled out of town.

The first chapter, in which Sheehan describes his visit to the "Oscars of Porn" is the one that stood out for me. He plays the role of "Everyman" as he becomes our peephole into a world we've all been curious about but have never seen. His humor is infectious - I kept laughing out loud as I read about the people who call porn their career. Some of it is so outrageous - you just have to laugh.

Everything in this book is just fascinating - I couldn't put it down. I highly recommend it - though given the cover - maybe read it in the privacy of your own home.

Excellent!

The other reviewers are right, this book is not about Las Vegas ('for a good time go here and say Jack sent you') it is about the sex industry and sexual values in America. With that as its subject, this is an interesting book to those who, like me have lived sheltered lives.

The author is a journalist and so the chapters are free-standing articles. The first article/chapter is a visit to the Porn Oscars. It sounds like fun. The next is about a young lady of the author's acquaintance who is a college student/porn actress/prositute. She sounds interesting.

Each chapter seems to take us into stranger and more alarming sexual practices. Are you comfortable with Chapter Three? Does Chapter Six repel you?

But more than that, the author talks about people, not practices. What does a hooker do with her day off? What are swinging couples really like? Many of the people interviewed seem to frankly admit they wonder if they made the right decision with their lives.

An interesting way to go places I would never go and to meet people I would not otherwise meet.

I bought this book because amazon keep pushing it to me based on the other books I have bought. Of all the books I have bought on the sex industry, this has been the worst. It gives no new information. It dosn't "uncover" anything. Anyone who hasn't been living in a cave for the past 50 years already knows everything in this book. Yes, there are strip clubs and escorts and swingers in las vegas. Las vegas has a lot of sex going on. "what happens here, stays here." Don't buy this book unless you really don't know what a strip club is, or what swingers do with each other. Save your money.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Having been a visitor to sin city since the fifties I've always found fascination in the growth of the sex trade. Each of the eleven chapters details a different aspect of the industry, from porn, outcall, madams, strippers, swingers, male prostitution, and the police. the stories are written in more of a journalistic vein which gives the author more lattitude for exposition however I had hoped for a section(s) on the history and evolution of the sex industry in Southern Nevada. Most of the information is just an elaborated confirmation of what you can gather in a day in Vegas from the sex litertature you can get from the postcards and sex magazines given away freely on the streets. But several chapters ie. "The Oscars of Porn" and the chapter about "Mate Swapping" did explain areas of sexual interest that only a guide could explain without first hand knowledge. One thing that was clearly a revelation to me was the enormity of the industry and how it extends into all aspects of life, and not only in Las Vegas.

The book reads easily and is enormously entertaining. It certainly takes a sympathetic view of the participantants and shows the industry from their side. I applaud Jack Sheehan's openness to withhold judgement. I also appreciated the time spent to allow the sex workers to explain how the made the psychological jump (excuse the pun) from a lay person to a service provider. Anyone who has ever wondered how the collective mind of the sex industry works will find an honest an open explanation that should lighten up even the most callous of conservatives.

Jack Sheehan is allegedly a happily married man and long-time resident of Las Vegas. With Skin City, he has written an expose of poorly kept secrets sprinkled with travel tips and pricing guides. Though some of the material (descriptions of certain strip clubs, legalized brothels, etc.) is specific to Vegas, other subjects such as pornography are not. Sheehan uses interviews with prostitutes, gigolos, strippers, and porn stars to bring the reader into the world of the sex industry. He also uses some first person accounts: in a particularly "ewwwww"-inspiring section he describes his teenage encounter with a prostitute. (Too much information, Jack!)

Skin City is an easy read. Although those in the know will likely learn nothing new here, the average Joe (or perhaps I should say Jane since all my guy friends seemed to know everything in this book already) will be entertained.

This is a very poor book. It has almost nothing to do with Las Vegas at all. It centers on porn stars and the porn industry, and the people profiled are most vapid and boring along with being incapable of reflection. The narrator's inability to make note of their deficient qualities and provide any sort of insight is its real flaw; however, as Sheehan appears incapable of judging anything or anybody which is indicative of many an academic nowadays. These types concentrate on being "tolerant" and "non-judgmental" which results in their having nothing to say. Porn is a means to an end for most guys. It isn't intriguing or meaningful. It's something in lieu of something else. If you enjoy reading about Las Vegas, I'd advise you to look at other titles.