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Cleo Odzer

Patpong Sisters: An American Woman's View of the Bangkok Sex World Hardcover – October 17, 1994

by Cleo Odzer (Author)

3.4 34 ratings

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An insider's account based on three years of research discusses the near-epidemic proportions of prostitution in Asia, noting that eighty percent of Thailand's prostitutes are HIV positive and pinpointing its sources to political corruption and parental dysfunction. BOMC.

Print length

320 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Arcade Publishing
Publication date

October 17, 1994
Dimensions

6.5 x 0.75 x 10 inches
ISBN-10

1559702818
ISBN-13

978-1559702812
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Robert Hudovernik
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As an anthropology graduate student, Odzer was in Thailand in 1988-90 studying its prostitution industry, centered in the Patpong district of Bangkok. Because of the culture's particularly repressive views of women's rights and female sexuality, according to the author, prostitution thrives, attracting many foreign male tourists. Studies estimate that between 15 and 30% of Thai women work in the sex industry, and Odzer's goal was to assess the impact of such a career on their lives. She discovered that, while prostitution is in many respects demeaning, its practitioners are nevertheless more "liberated" and more self-assertive than more traditional Thai women. The book is shorter on analysis than on narrative accounts of Odzer's interaction with various Patpong women and men, which, while lacking the academic rigor she initially promises, are engrossing. At times tales of her own romantic adventures all but subsume discussion of her research project. Illustrations.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Odzer went to Bangkok to study prostitution for her anthropology dissertation, but she comes across as anything but academic in this highly personal, anecdotal account of her experiences in Patpong, the city's thriving red-light district. Indeed, her findings confound expectations. The bar girls Odzer managed to befriend were adept in turning sexual transactions into affairs of the heart, making Western men feel responsible for them and, eventually, their families. Compared to the village life they left, these enterprising women were living the good life, earning much more money than they possibly could at more respectable occupations. When Odzer accompanied her friends and subjects on their visits home, they were treated like dignitaries, admired for their pretty clothes, freedom, and sophistication. Odzer even managed to win the confidence of some Western men willing to explain their infatuations with these pragmatic, even ruthless Thai women, but her own messy affair with a Thai man provided her with the most revealing insights into the conundrums of Patpong life. Candid, intrepid, and perceptive, Odzer humanizes a realm outsiders are all to quick to judge and dismiss, a realm shadowed, now, by a looming AIDS epidemic. Donna Seaman

From Kirkus Reviews

An ex-hippie falls into a gap between the personal and the political in this grimly fascinating yet fatally flawed debut. Odzer, a graduate student in anthropology, was onto something when she came up with the idea of chronicling the lives of women working in Bangkok's red-light district. Their strange navet set against a background of bars showing live sex acts (and some, like a ``blow job bar'' that Odzer visits, openly offering paid sexual services) is an intriguing subject. Odzer proves herself a good interviewer and a thorough researcher. Her trips to the poor northern Thailand homes of some of her subjects are heartbreaking: With their ``fine'' clothes and liberated attitudes, the sex workers are seen as glamorous heroes. (Odzer quotes an anecdote about a schoolgirl who praised a teacher with the unlikely compliment, ``You look as pretty as a whore today.'') Odzer's examination of the confluence of money and sex is shrewd, but when she herself becomes involved with a tout (pimp) named Jek, her analytical abilities fly out the window. It's hard to keep a straight face while she coos over receiving a ``McDonald's french fry keyring'' as a gift from her paramour and then becomes disillusioned when he gives an identical one to an acquaintance. And when, immediately after they have engaged in unprotected sex, she is shocked to learn that Jek sometimes sleeps with prostitutes, it is hard to know whether to be horrified or stupefied by her. Clear-eyed about the farang (foreign) men who avail themselves of Bangkok's sex trade and the strange relationships they often develop, mistaking bought sex for love, Odzer is blind to the similar, mutual exploitation in her own relationship. Odzer seems to want sisterhood to be powerful--but what she really aspires to are the privileges of farang men. (40 b&w photos, not seen; 1 map, 7 diagrams) (Book-of-the-Month Club selection) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Arcade Publishing; First Edition (October 17, 1994)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1559702818
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1559702812
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.3 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 0.75 x 10 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #4,254,429 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #38,904 in Asian History (Books)
- #110,506 in World History (Books)
- #159,784 in Politics & Government (Books)

Customer Reviews:
3.4 34 ratings

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Customer reviews

3.4 out of 5

34 global ratings

5 star		32%
4 star		17%
3 star		25%
2 star		16%
1 star		10%

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Martin Asiner

Why are the Patpong Women Sisters? Odzer Never Says

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 12, 2003

The sex industry has transformed Thailand from a poor nation with little to recommend it but its native culture to a nation that is still poor but now generates some much needed hard cash from its exploitation of women as prostitutes. Beginning with the mid 50's, Thailand has developed a reputation as the place where foreign men (often western and Japanese) called derisively 'farangs' go to have cheap sex with impoverished but attractive Thai women. In PATPONG SISTERS, Cleo Odzer tries to put into perspective how this sex business began, why it is still going strong, and what changes Thailand has undergone as a result. This book is not meant as a serious analysis of a unique sociological phenomenon, even though Odzer declares that it served as her doctoral thesis at Harvard. Nor is it meant as a prurient peek up the miniskirt of the dozens of Thai women whom she interviewed. Rather, what emerges is a light-hearted attempt to focus on the erosion of a culture that proved incapable of withstanding the chaos of a testosterone driven invasion on a peaceful country that at one time prized the virtue of its women.
Part of the problem that I had with accepting Odzer's purported attempt at academic objectivity is that she comes off as not much different from the ... men who descend on Patpong determined to leave a wave of broken hearts and bruised bodies in their wake. To begin with, she enters the country under false pretenses. She justifies her lack of honesty by rationalizing that had she been upfront with her wish to write a tell all expose, she would not then have been granted a visa. Yet, she must have known that this initial deceit would forever taint the results of her study, however valid they might otherwise have been. Further, she strikes up a sexual relation with a Thai man, supposedly to gain insight into the Thai culture. Imagine if Odzer had been a man trying to write a similar such book and he began sleeping with the very women he was interviewing. PATPONG SISTERS still has importance for the western reader who wishes to understand the reasons for the degradation of a culture that once was steeped in honorable tradition but now seems indistinguishable from the fleshpot streets of the seediest ports of any redlight district that depends on ... men to infuse dollars into an economy that is forced to accept those dollars with one hand while raising the miniskirts of its desperate women with the other. The AIDS epidemic that is now ravaging Thailand stands as a cold shower wakeup call that perhaps it is time to lower those skirts even if in so doing the influx of Yankee dollars is also lowered.

9 people found this helpful

Helpful

Chris Luallen

Unique Perspective on Thai Prostitution

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 20, 2006

It's definitely true that this book lacks academic rigor as supposed research for a doctoral dissertation. But Odzer's stories of life in Thailand are often entertaining and informative. For example, when she travels to rural Issan to visit the family of Hoi, one of the Thai prostitutes she was interviewing. Instead of being a social outcast Hoi is treated as a sort of visiting celebrity, bringing back much appreciated money and gifts from Bangkok to her local village.

In fact, Odzer offers a perspective on prostitution that very much defies conventional wisdom. She doesn't view the women merely as helpless victims. But instead suggests that working in the "world's oldest profession" offers them an opportunity for financial independence and social freedom far beyond the oppressive norms that keep most Thai women sexually repressed and financially dependent. Of course, these prostitutes are no saints and Odzer often shows them to be lying and manipulative in their pursuit of the almighty "farang" dollar. But the bottom line is that the women are being pragmatic and taking advantage of the best financial opportunity available to them - like most professionals.

Where this book really loses its focus is with Odzer's increasing obsession over a Thai pimp boyfriend named Jek. They have a very self-destructive relationship that is doomed to failure. Odzer herself comes across more as a spoiled teen-ager with a "crush" than as an intelligent, mature woman conducting serious academic research. The book would have been much better if Odzer's romantic misadventures and hypersensitive ego had been left out altogether. But still her stories of Thailand and her unique perspective on prostitution make this a worthwhile read for those interested.

6 people found this helpful

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padma

Two Stars

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 14, 2016

Verified Purchase

i knew the author and was just curious but the book was not my thing
padma

Helpful

Scott Fahey

If only the book would have stayed true to it's title.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 25, 1999

I can't say that I hated this book, but I didn't exactly love it either. The book was a lot more interesting before Cleo fell in love with a pimp. I bought the book because I wanted to learn about the women in the sex trade. I found myself skimming over the boring details of her big love affair. She complained about other people going on and on about their relationships, yet she was the worst offender. Before I lend this book out to my friends I'm going to black out the portions that relate to her embarrassing love affair with Jek. I wish that editor would have done that for me.
I still do recomend this book for anyone who has visited or plans to visit Thailand in the future. There is some very interesting information mixed in with the fluff. The book could have been a lot better if the author had stayed with her subject a little bit better.

6 people found this helpful

Helpful

A. Erickson

Patpong Sisters

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 5, 2012

"Patpong Sisters" is a very accurate description of the lives and loves of Patpong prostitutes. In fact, it is also a keenly perceptive view of Thai life among people who come to Bangkok to work or to have fun. Along, with her view of the system, Ms. Cleo Odzer also gives us a street level look at the 'farangs' who come to Bangkok for the street pleasures. It is a first rate read for anyone who wants to visit or understand Soi Patpong, Nana, or Soi Cowboy (three of BKK's Red Light districts).

One person found this helpful

Helpful

doris

SAVE YOUR MONEY, THE AUTHOR ONLY TALKS OF HER THAI BOYFRIEND

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 13, 2000

if you want a book dealing specifically with prostitution in thailand, how it is done, and what the prostitutes do, and how they live, this book is not informative enough. this book is a description of the time the author spent in bangkok. more often than not, she does not interviewing prostitutes, and she does not bring you into the lives of these slums. she sees the whole prostitution business in a way that is rather naive. rather, as said before, she spends a lot of time talking about her thai boyfriend and other non-relevant things. she does give some important insight on thai prostitution and the white men involved, but it is very little. read this book like you would a novel. i wouldn't recommend you purchase it for research.

11 people found this helpful

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Gaurav Khandhar

Average read

Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on December 11, 2016

Verified Purchase

a good Base and gripping story but overall a average write. preferred her style of write in "goa freaks"

bettinakatze

SUPER!

Reviewed in Germany 🇩🇪 on May 21, 2019

Verified Purchase

das ging ja flott, Danke! :-)

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Patpong Sisters: An American Woman's View of the Bangkok Sex World Hardcover – October 17, 1994

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