Wisdom of Whores [Hardcover]

Elizabeth Pisani (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 6, 2008

We know how to prevent AIDS. Yet on this very day, around 12,000 people worldwide will contract HIV. Why? The Wisdom of Whores tells you why. In this breakneck ride through the red-light districts of East Asia and other hotspots in the flamboyant world of AIDS prevention, writer-scientist Elizabeth Pisani dishes on both friends and enemies in the battles where she has been on the front lines for more than a decade.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 27 pages
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670067946
• ISBN-13: 978-0670067947
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,672,986 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Foreign correspondent turned epidemiologist, I can flirt at a bar in several languages.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Raking through the muck of the AIDS industry, December 3, 2008

By 

E. A. Lovitt "starmoth" (Gladwin, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wisdom of Whores (Hardcover)

If Michael Moore were to dress up in women's clothing and prowl through the red-light districts of Jarkata, we might get a book similar to "The Wisdom of Whores." But this author not only has Moore's street smarts and a lively writing style, she also has a PhD in infectious disease epidemiology. Elizabeth Pisani knows whereof she speaks, because she has spent years on the streets and in the dingy bars where AIDS futures are traded.

"Whores" is one of a rare species of book such as Upton Sinclair's The Jungle (Enriched Classics) or Jessica Mitford's "The American Way of Death Revisited" that has the power to reform an industry. In this case, the author exposes the AIDS prevention industry that sprang up when First World governments started to shovel money into the vital struggle against HIV retrovirus. Or at least, that's where they should have shoveled it. If you think that the U.S. Government's emphasis on chastity over latex is a great way to spend your tax dollars, you definitely need to read this book.

I was particularly interested in learning why the AIDS epidemic in Asia has not taken off with the same alacrity as it did in South and East Africa.

Elizabeth Pisani may resemble one of Dante Gabriel Rossetti's ethereal Pre-Raphaelite models, but she talks about sex, drugs, and AIDS in the language of her subjects: the sex workers of Indonesia, China, East Timor, and Africa (foreskin soup, anyone?). She describes how governments are wasting billions of AIDS dollars on "schoolgirls and housewives and Boy Scouts" when they should be concentrating on preventive measures for the people who are actually at risk for this deadly disease: "junkies and gay guys and the people who buy and sell sex."

If you are someone who believes that "junkies and gay guys and the people who buy and sell sex" are getting what they deserve, this author has a message for you, too: remember who is infecting the housewives, Boy Scouts, and even the unborn children. The HIV-positive carrier could be your boyfriend, your sister, or your grandchild. Is there anyone in this 21st century without a friend or relative who is infected with this deadly retrovirus?

Some people may object to the frank language of `Whores.' Others may object to its message that condoms will do more to limit the spread of AIDS than misguided attempts at abolishing the sex trade. Most of us will have our eyes opened on what really needs to be done with our tax dollars in order to mitigate the worldwide AIDS crisis.

Review copy supplied by author