Whores and Other Feminists 1st Edition

As a journalist from the San Francisco area who knows nearly half of this book's authors, as a lifelong feminist, and as a sexworker for over 20 years, my perspective is widely encompassing. This book expands the boundaries of feminism beyond the conservative boundaries of the women's movement of the Seventies. After decades of the bipolar assault on womens' sexuality, from Andrea Dworkin to Phyllis Schaffly -- two sides of the same conservative coin -- it is refreshing to see a new generation of women not only claiming their own bodies but also taking charge of them. This book helps give them a voice.Certainly, there are sad cases in the adult industry, and perhaps some of them do end up in sexwork because of a difficult past, yet to suggest there would be few sexworkers if every woman in America were happy and well-adjusted is a fallacy in logic. I have personally known many brilliant, self-actualized women who have done and continue to do sexwork. You'll find some of them in the pages of this book.I can easily understand the negative reviews, however. Many Americans are so rooted in the Puritanical yet hedonist nature of our culture, there is a prevalent sexual ambivalence in our society: we're fascinated and titillated by sex, yet also afraid of it. We're simultaneously obsessed and fascinated with bodies (ours and others') yet also ashamed of them. Then there are the reviews clearly sent by female Rush Limbaugh "dittoheads" -- people who use the word "feminazi" with a straight face and secretly believe a woman is a second class citizen. Forgive them, Mother, they know not what they say.This is an excellent book on sexwork as the new radical, leading edge of feminism, and I highly recommend it to any woman (or man) with an open mind who isn't afraid to think for herself.

This book brings an interesting new thought for feminism to the table. You may have thought completely different before reading this book and now you have an enlightened viewpoint of sex workers who enjoy their work. Definitely a well written book.

The first chapter will knock your socks off. Extremely well documented. A view of women that is eye opening. I was never into feminism or women's studies although both occurred in my youth. This changed how I view women, myself as a woman and our identities and bodies. I can't put make up on anymore without thinking why. Game changer

It was a book for the wife who had gone on a political bend. We had some laws being passed in our state that no one agreed with. Next thing I know, my wife is a feminist. I thought this book would be just perfect and it was.

Yup

What is most fascinating about the war for sexual equality is that sex itself is the principle battlefield. The average American male idolizes Hugh Hefner for having seven girl friends all one-third his age and enjoying a lavish life style that was paid for by the fleshy attributes, surgically enhanced and otherwise, of thousands of women. Yet if a woman claims to have had hundreds of sexual partners and profited from those ventures, she's a social outcast whose potential husbands or boyfriends are silently held to "you're not going to get serious about her, are you?" As far back as the middle 18th Century, the most lascivious of the mainstream women's rights campaigners, Wicked Victoria Woodhull, who coined the term Free Love, was written out of feminist history by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony as an embarrassment to the more serious elements of the struggle. Jill Nagle's book challenges the debate on its most fundamental playing field: is sex part of sexual equality? Is profiting from and enjoying one's sexual skills and powers only a male option? This book is funny, entertaining, sexy, provocative, uncompromising and above all, marvelously intelligent and insightful. Yes, that woman in the Eros Guide ad has a master's degree and finds more freedom, fun, and financial gain in tying up and spanking the bank president than she once had fetching his coffee and dodging his ass-grabbing. Really, not all women who strut about in high heels and nothing else at the Mitchell Brothers theater are the victims of sexual abuse. And yes, if a woman has the right to say no, she has the right to say yes to whatever might feel good and look good and accept the array of consequences without selling out anyone else's political expectations. I loved this book: any man who feels threatened by smart, sexy, independent women has missed the best of them. Read and enjoy, and while you're at it, learn a few things. It will stay on my book shelf for a long time. James Dalessandro, author/screenwriter, Bohemian Heart, 1906

I am a firm believer that anyone involved in the politics of sex work (pro or con) would benefit from reading this book. The writing in this collection puts a human face and name to what often gets boiled down to semantics and political warfare. These stories and essays are all well written, personal and provide the reader with an easy familiarity and way to feel some empathy where, that might not have existed before. In a society where sex as commerce pervades almost every corner of our lives, it's easy to simply sit back and judge without any understanding of the people involved. In sum this is a fantastic book my hat off to editor Jill Nagle.

There is nothing revolutionary, transgressive or feminist about selling sex. Women have been doing it pretty much since the dawn of time, long before feminism existed, and that and having babies are pretty much all most men think we are good for.If you actually want to contribute to the advancement of women, here are some things you can do:- Design a bridge- Go to space- Lead a country- Cure a disease- Prove a mathematical theorem- Write a game engine- Build an electrical gridFeminism is about making women valuable and essential components of society. Right now, if a meteor was crashing to earth and we had to select 100 people to save, 99 of them would be male. None of them would be sex workers.

Fantastic book. Insightful with a variety of voices from so many different areas of sex work. As relevant today as it was 20 years ago.