“We were all monsters” the nameless narrator tells us four sentences into Hooked by John Franc. The “we” refers to nine men who live in a city where prostitution is conveniently legal and when the men learn this fact, they begin a downward, hooker-hopping spiral of frightening velocity that ends in the most melodramatic plot… Continue reading John Franc Wants Us Hooked (2011)
Tag: clients
Toys for Tatas: Sex Workers and Charity
Over the weekend, the internet news show The Young Turks drew my attention to this story: a 37-year-old Houston escort who works under the name of Shelby is offering a discount for clients who donate a toy to Toys for Tots. For any guy who booked an hour and brought an unwrapped toy, Shelby offered… Continue reading Toys for Tatas: Sex Workers and Charity
Bad Girls and Killer Queens: Hookers in Pop Music
Songwriters seem to love sex workers, no matter how little they may actually know about us. And on a superficial level, we seem like pretty good song material. We’re sexual, illegal, naughty, and easy to desire and pity at the same time. You want to protect us from the dirty men who pay us for… Continue reading Bad Girls and Killer Queens: Hookers in Pop Music
The Early Erotic Review or Harris’s List of Covent Garden Ladies (1757)
Harris’s List is an 18th century catalog of London prostitutes complete with (real) names, addresses, and descriptions of each, and it proves to me just how much men throughout the ages have loved reviewing prostitutes. They love it today, they loved it 250 years ago, and my guess is that even most Egyptian hieroglyphics and ancient animal cave… Continue reading The Early Erotic Review or Harris’s List of Covent Garden Ladies (1757)
10 Upsides to Being a Gigolo
Complex is an ironic name for such a shallow publication. When your major “News” categories include “Rides” and “Girls” alongside “Sneakers” and “Video Games,” it doesn’t bode well for thoughtful commentary. So reading “10 Downsides to Being a Gigolo” didn’t really surprise me: most media discussion of sex work is divided between horror stories and… Continue reading 10 Upsides to Being a Gigolo