As is my custom, I’m featuring these reviews of new additions to my review pages in order to call the attention of regular readers (who have presumably already looked at those pages) to them.
Aphrodite’s Trade by Lochlainn Seabrook
Thanks to its ambitious subtitle (“The Hidden History of Prostitution Unveiled”), its beautiful cover art (The Pearls of Aphrodite by Herbert Draper) and its endorsements from a number of luminaries in the prostitutes’ rights field, I was really looking forward to reading this book and was hoping to find in it a supplement to Nickie Roberts’ Whores In History; alas, I was badly disappointed. Even now I wish I could recommend it to you; the author’s heart is in the right place and some of the points he makes are bang on target, but both content and execution are so critically flawed that I can’t in good conscience recommend it to anyone who isn’t A) already an expert in the field; B) an obsessive collector of all things whore-related, and C) able to find it cheap.
The book starts out strong with a presentation of the roots of prostitution in biology (such as we’ve discussed here before), and Seabrook even postulates a “prostitution gene” along the same lines as that suggested by Amanda Brooks. Furthermore, he points out that since marriage was made possible by human females evolving beyond estrus – essentially making ourselves sexually receptive all the time – that it is reasonable to state that marriage evolved from prostitution rather than alongside it; again, no quibbles here. But rather than stick to his strong point (which appears to be biology), Seabrook then wanders off into some very unconventional (and unsound) notions about history, describing as fact highly dubious New Age ideas about Neolithic social organization and portraying what he calls the “Patriarchal Takeover” as a monolithic event at a specific time, which it absolutely was not; what’s more, he can’t make up his mind about when it was supposed to have happened because he gives three different dates! And his notions of etymology are even worse; Seabrook appears to believe that because two words resemble each other they must be linguistically related, and the houses of cards he builds from these pseudo-cognates are quite remarkable.
The structure of the book is as flawed as its content; though externally it appears to be a typical small-format trade paperback of 256 pages, it is printed in a large type-face with excessive white space and the essay itself (I hesitate to call it a book) occupies only 75 of those pages; there follow several appendices (only two of which are arguably useful), then a 40-page bibliography and a 75-page index (printed with even more wasted space than the text). In the final analysis, this is basically a deeply-flawed 30-something page essay padded out to book size. Save your money and buy Whores In History instead.
Heart of Gold by A.K. Smith
My experience with Heart of Gold was almost the opposite of that with Aphrodite’s Trade. I was interested in it because of the subject matter and because I like the author’s blog, but I don’t generally care for detective novels and, though I’m not a technophobe, I fully admit to prejudice against e-books because (as you might suspect from my having been a librarian) I’m a bibliophile and I like the experience of reading a physical book with paper pages I can hold in my hands (I especially like the slightly-musty smell of old books). So when I sat down with it a couple of weeks ago I intended to read just a chapter or two a night; well, that didn’t happen. I was drawn in almost immediately and found myself saying, “I’ll just read one more chapter” over and over again until I had finished half the book; I only stopped because it was almost one in the morning and I usually go to bed around midnight. The next day I started reading soon after posting my column, and didn’t stop until I was finished. Smith’s characters are interesting, her plotting is tight and she managed to keep me guessing as to which of the suspects was threatening the heroine and what his motive might be (I guessed wrong). Since (as I said previously) I’m not much of a reader of modern detective fiction, I can’t compare it to the work of well-known mystery authors, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and Smith managed to work in a good deal of detail about the realities of escorting in such a way that outsiders will learn some things about our lives without feeling preached to or distracted from the action. All in all this is a very good first novel, and I look forward to future works.
National Geographic Taboo: Prostitution (2010)
My husband recorded this documentary, an episode of the National Geographic Channel’s Taboo series, on his computer while on the road and brought it home for me to watch. I believe the producers were trying to present a balanced view on the subject, but unfortunately this effort was undermined by two things, namely the narrative voice and the presentation of statistically disparate forms of prostitution as though they were equally common. The show depicted four kinds of prostitution, each for about a quarter of the time: Australian brothels, Bangladeshi prostitutes in a shantytown adjacent to a ferry landing, European brothels and streetwalkers in Washington, D.C. I’m sure my readers are astute enough to have noticed one major omission: the single most common form of prostitution in the Western world, namely escorting, was entirely ignored in favor of lurid concentration on a very small fraction of the American market. The director seems to have leaned a little on our side; though roughly equal air time was given to the two pro-decriminalization experts (Ronald Weitzer, whose papers I have referenced before, and Jill McCracken, a fellow member of Sex Workers Without Borders) and the one anti-prostitution fanatic (Sheila Jeffreys), the spectacle of Jeffreys pronouncing that a paralyzed man who hired a legal prostitute at a Dutch brothel was guilty of “violence against women” made her look like the hateful monster she is. Unfortunately, the writer leaned the other way: Every negative statement about prostitution was expressed as a fact, while every positive one was said to be an opinion. Statements about the terrible conditions of their lives made by the Bangladeshi prostitutes and the American streetwalkers were reported with the word “is”, while statements made by the legal Australian and Dutch prostitutes were reported with the word “claims”. In other words we hear that the streetwalker is miserable, but the Aussie brothel girls only claim to be happy. It’s a subtle bias, but one a less-critical viewer would absorb without noticing. And in the end, despite eloquent explanations from Weitzer and McCracken that most of the problems of sex work derive from criminalization, I think the overall tone of the program comes off as somewhat anti-prostitution.
About the National Geographic show leaving out escorts…
I notice every time I see a story on CNN they show internet sites like Backpage, and TER and show streetwalkers approaching cars as if it is all the same thing. Like they are trying to tie internet escorts to streetwalkers in the minds of Americans. One news story in Memphis actually made the connection verbally, saying internet prostitution was occuring at the Mall and Airport. It showed ads on backpage, but talked about how pimps saturate the Malls and airports with girls because the men likely have money in their pockets.
I think it is irresponsible for them to ignore the clear distinctions between the two types of prostitute. If streetwalkers are working the airports and mall, they are not meeting clients through an ad and saying “Hey, can you meet me at the airport….” That is such BS.
It’s incredibly irresponsible, which is why it’s so important we combat the disinformation tooth and nail.
I watched this program when it was shown in the UK about a year ago and I agree with everything you say, Maggie., especially the complete lack of understanding shown towards the paralized man by Jeffreys – in marked contrast to the attitude of the women working in that Dutch brothel. Also, the reluctance to believe that the Australian brothel girls were happy.
I felt that everyone connected with the making of that program was uncomfortable with the subject matter and were afraid to show any part of the world of prostitution in a positive light.
Every time Jeffreys opened her foul mouth I had to talk back to her, much to the amusement of my husband. But bless his heart, he didn’t shush me even once when I complained about her or the bias; having seen the show already himself, he expected me to act that way and was ready for it.
You’ve definately rubbed off on me…I did the same thing. I’d happened to watch it while my wife was out of town (coincidence, actually) so the only odd stares I got were from my dogs, wondering who I was addressing in such a cross tone.
I also caught the bias in the piece and was reminded of a documentary I caught about a year ago (although it was a bit older – I saw it on one of the “educational” cable networks) about two women from England who went abroad to see if changing the laws regarding prostitution were ultimately beneficial. One of the most amusing aspects for me was the fact that they REALLY disliked Dennis Hof (that *ahem* gentleman that runs the Moonlight Bunny Ranch). Being an ugly American, it was nice to see the way outsiders viewed Nevada brothels compared to their own system in England and New Zealand, which is amazing, by th way…New Zealand. I’ll try to track down the title. If you haven’t seen it, I’m sure you would enjoy it. The two women who are on this quest for knowledge are amazing. Proper English ladies who damn well want the answer to their questions and simply refuse to believe the negative hype.
I’m really glad to hear that others noticed the bias as well; perhaps it was more obvious than I thought, which is a good thing because transparent bias isn’t nearly as dangerous as hidden bias, particularly from a source as respected as National Geographic.
If you do remember the title of that other show, please let me know; I’m also told the “Prostitution” episode of Penn and Teller’s Bullshit! was very good.
I saw that show as well, the hilarious thing was these 60ish posh ladies came from a WI (Women’s Institute) which is like a social/volunteer club for middle and upper class British women. If you’ve seen the movie Calendar Girls, that depicts the demographic perfectly – just visualize Helen Mirren and you’ve got the picture. WIs are generally involved with garden party or bake sale type things, not brothels.
It’s called The WI Guide to Brothels: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1285149/
Ah, thank you, A.K.! 🙂
I saw it too! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1039152/Not-quite-jam-Jerusalem-Womens-Institute-ladies-toured-world-search-perfect-brothel.html
I love how they did the line up with the bunny ranch girls! Hilarious! I also liked their idea of the RV/Motor Home traveling brothel that they came up with at the end.
I’ve seen the Bullshit ep in question. It’s pretty good, though it praises the Nevada system more than you might like.
Most American pro-prostitution documentaries praise the Nevada system for two reasons: 1) It’s the only legal one in the US, and 2) documentaries are made by outsiders who don’t know any better, so they contact the brothels because they’re obvious and the brothel PR agents praise themselves. The girls don’t dare disagree on camera, and since they don’t interview anyone else the brothels always look good.
Well I had no idea that escorts were the single most popular form of whoring in the USA. I saw this documentary and was not very impressed by it -Jeffreys was absurd and outrageous. I saw another documentary on HBO specifically about the Chicken Ranch in Nevada, which came off looking like an ideal place to work. It all depends upon who you interview, and if I remember rightly the NG documentary was short on statistics.
Roughly 60% of all American and Canadian prostitutes are escorts. It may be a bit lower in England because illegal brothels are more common there, but a large percentage of prostitutes (something resembling half) in every Western country are escorts.
It really just amazes me how the media here in the US cling to that “streetwalker” stereotype of prostitution. Geezus, you would think they were still stuck in the ’70s or something. Hello!?
Look. There is something called the “internet”, which has caused streetwalking to be sharply in decline in the past fifteen years or so. And even before the internet, there were escort agencies and papers you could advertise in like the Village Voice (which you can still advertise in today).
I’ve been living in New York for about ten years, and I don’t think I’ve even seen a streetwalker who I could identify definitely as a streetwalker. Former mayor Giuliani cleaned up Times Square, but I think even then streetwalking in that area was in decline before that.
Speaking of stereotypes, have books and movies like Belle du Jour’s had any impact on perceptions of prostitutes?
I believe so, because as I noted in my columns of March 15th and 22nd, the prohibitionists now feel compelled to follow up their horror stories with accusations that sex worker advocates are lying.
When I was at the con June 10th – 11th, I missed the debut of The Ladies of Trade Town, “an anthology of original science fiction, fantasy, and related genre short fiction on the world’s oldest profession.” Therefore, I can’t say that it presents prostitution and prostitutes in a positive, negative, or mixed light. Perhaps one author writes of trafficked children escaping horror while another has golden-hearted priestesses; I just don’t know.