I'm reading this book for my Master of Sexuality Studies program and it is the most accessible book we've read all semester. It is eloquently written, without all the unnecessary academic jargon. It's also a fascinating look at the San Francisco sex industry.
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Temporarily Yours: Intimacy, Authenticity, and the Commerce of Sex (Worlds of Desire: The Chicago Series on Sexuality, Gender, and Culture) Illustrated Edition
by
Elizabeth Bernstein
(Author)
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Generations of social thinkers have assumed that access to legitimate paid employment and a decline in the ‘double standard’ would eliminate the reasons behind women’s participation in prostitution. Yet in both the developing world and in postindustrial cities of the West, sexual commerce has continued to flourish, diversifying along technological, spatial, and social lines. In this deeply engaging and theoretically provocative study, Elizabeth Bernstein examines the social features that undergird the expansion and diversification of commercialized sex, demonstrating the ways that postindustrial economic and cultural formations have spawned rapid and unforeseen changes in the forms, meanings, and spatial organization of sexual labor.
Drawing upon dynamic and innovative research with sex workers, their clients, and state actors, Bernstein argues that in cities such as San Francisco, Stockholm, and Amstersdam, the nature of what is purchased in commercial sexual encounters is also new. Rather than the expedient exchange of cash for sexual relations, what sex workers are increasingly paid to offer their clients is an erotic experience premised upon the performance of authentic interpersonal connection. As such, contemporary sex markets are emblematic of a cultural moment in which the boundaries between intimacy and commerce—and between public life and private—have been radically redrawn. Not simply a compelling exploration of the changing landscape of sex-work, Temporarily Yours ultimately lays bare the intimate intersections of political economy, desire, and culture.
- ISBN-100226044580
- ISBN-13978-0226044583
- EditionIllustrated
- PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press
- Publication dateNovember 1, 2007
- LanguageEnglish
- Dimensions8.89 x 6.13 x 0.67 inches
- Print length291 pages
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Customer reviews
4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
23 global ratings
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- Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2015
- Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2014Very insightful into the way we view the selling of sex. Really makes one think about the social constructs of the industry and question what we think we know about it.
- Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2019Just perfect
- Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2014I had high expectations, but I am pretty disappointed with this book... even after giving it a second try, a year after I originally ordered it. There is some historical information about the commerce of sex in San Francisco, Amsterdam and Stockholm, but almost nothing in terms of intimacy and authenticity in the pay-to-play world... nor much of anything about the contemporary state of this business.
It is pretty clear that this author knows almost nothing about the real issues related intimacy and authenticity in this context. And why would she? From a male perspective, you need to have had these types of relationships with women who are selling themselves to various extents before you can write about the topic.
Obviously, as a woman she has can not do that and apparently she has done nothing more than interview some women who are on the service side of the business and mainly serving the general public at that (gee, lot's of potential for real intimacy and authenticity there... not!). There are some big differences between Eastern European women working in the red light districts of Amsterdam and the American girls with "daddy issues" who want to give you a "dollar dance." She does not even begin to scratch the surface of the topic she purports to write about.
- Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2016New Book
- Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2015intelligent and compassionate
- Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2008Elizabeth Bernstein's ethnography *Temporarily Yours* is arguably the most illuminating account of the domestic sex trade to be published in the last decade. In it Bernstein shows how large-scale transformations to the U.S. political economy have affected prostitution work in urban areas. Her argument is that a large segment of sex work in America has "gone indoors" as the country's economy has shifted from an industrial to a postindustrial structure. With more and more people working in the service economy and thinking of paid sex not as a stigmatized vice but as a flexible, leisurely activity that fits nicely into their schedules, the world of prostitution has expanded beyond its streetwalking stereotype to include Internet-savvy, upwardly mobile, high-end escorts.
Bernstein's book is especially relevant given the media's fascination with the lives of escorts over the past year, ever since Eliot Spitzer was fingered in a federal prostitution ring bust. Now we have brothel prostitutes on *Tyra*, Showtime's *Secret Diary of a Call Girl*, and a host of news programs on the subject (Bernstein was featured in MSNBC's *Dirty Money*).
Before you get caught up in the hype, though, I urge you to read *Temporarily Yours*. Bernstein's even-handed analysis avoids sensationalizing the work of escorts by showing how what they do is part and parcel of well-established social structures and economic practices. In addition, excerpts from her interviews with prostitutes and johns illuminate the very real, even mundane, decisions that go into purchasing and selling sex. Bernstein's genius as an ethnographer lies in her ability to present her subjects in a way that makes us see their struggles as our own: caring for a dependent or wanting to succeed in running a small business; finding an intimate companion during a busy work week or enjoying safe, no-strings attached sex.
In addition to these highlights, *Temporarily Yours* includes a fascinating chapter on prostitution and the law in the United States and Europe, as well as a section critiquing so-called "John Schools" (where johns are penalized for purchasing sex and made to sit through a traffic school-type reeducation program) in San Francisco. All in all, then, Bernstein's study is smart, comprehensive, and endlessly generative of new questions and ideas. In its broadest interpretation, *Temporarily Yours* uses the domestic sex trade to offer up a mirror to our own conceptions of love, pleasure, risk, and work in our postindustrial age.
- Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2022An interesting delve into the world and business of sex. Excellent statistics & views of other countries regarding our oldest profession.
Top reviews from other countries
NMReviewed in Canada on January 3, 20145.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read for Sex Industry Researchers
A must read for anyone researching sex work or the broader sex industry, particularly in North America (though there is also comparative information for Amsterdam).



