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The Secret Lives of Hyapatia Lee
The world is fascinated by sex and the sex industry. In the last 20 years, we have seen X-rated movies go from a theater in the worst part of town to our own VCRs and on the menu of expensive hotels as in-room entertainment. Its stars have gone from being virtual unknowns in the early 70's to doing appearances on Jay Leno and television talk shows. The adult film business has grown by leaps and bounds. In 1984 alone more people rented or bought an X-rated movie than voted for Ronald Regan. In this book, I have given the reader an uncensored, inside look at all the workings of the sex industry from movies and magazines to men's clubs and all the emotions that go along with it. By reading these excerpts from my personal diary, I share with you the anger, elation, sadness and fear that have comprised my life. I give an inside look at the many famous people I've met and their personal quirks. As the first Native American porn star, I show you how this line of work is seen in the eyes of my religion and culture, and I share some of the healing ceremonies I have experienced. Why would a young woman decide to get into such a business? What is it like to make an X-rated movie or to dance nude on stage in a gentlemen's club? Many women say it is empowering. What kind of lives did these women have before entering the world of X? Why do they say it increases their self-esteem? Is it REALLY healthy emotionally? Why have five of my colleagues committed suicide? What's it like when your friends (and the Godmother of your children) are dropping like flies? Why would a sexually abused and abandoned child decide of her own free will to make X-rated movies and how could this possibly be a healing experience? Is it really?
580 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 20, 2000
15 people are currently reading
59 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 4, 2023
Technically, it should be acknowledged that this book is n0t written by Hyapatia Lee. The writer was diagnosed with Multiple Personality Disorder and "Hyapatia Lee" was one of those personalities ... the one seen in the X-rated films and dancing nude on stage. Desiring privacy, the writer changed her name and uses her more famous name for promotions. I found it fascinating to note that the "Hyapatia Lee" personality essentially disappeared when her work in the sex industry ended.
For those fans and curiosity-seekers desiring a "tell-all" about the more lascivious aspects of working in the sex industry, this is a book to be avoided. The writer doesn't condemn it. Indeed, although entering it as a way of making money, she initially had a goal of using her work to influence sexual understanding and acceptance, and respect for the life choices of others. That certainly seems Utopian, and the writer admits at one point that she was emotionally immature. However, she is unflinching in her review of the "business side" of the sex industry and, for the most part, it is one in which promises do not need to be kept because of a public attitude of sex workers being "unworthy of profiting from their ill-gotten gains."
My interest was influenced by my recent study of Native Peoples' culture in the United States. Hyapatia Lee was promoted as the only Native American working in X-rated films (tracing lineage back to the Cherokee Nation). From what I had read, it was not surprising to find such a low number ... it was a surprise to find any! Life on a Reservation wouldn't have promoted it. But, Hyapatia Lee was one of the Urban Native People, which does explain a lot.
Her book not only covers the sex industry including the many misconceptions that people have about it, but also her own history of being sexually abused as a child by her step-father. The descriptions are not graphic, although they are horrifying nonetheless. They also explain her intense devotion to children protection issues.
I was very much intrigued to read about her discovery of the Spiritual side of her Native heritage. There were details of a Vision Quest that I haven't read anywhere else, in part because they are often considered too personal to share.
Although she never condemns the sex industry, she does think that there are rampant emotional problems among the workers (including Multiple Personality Disorder!). She tells a truly harrowing tale of what we would think of as a "rabid Anti-vaxer" attitude in the post Pandemic times when violent protests arose against wearing condoms during the AIDS crisis. And she laments the suicides of four workers she names.
Her admiration goes out to Marilyn Chambers who she considers a role model of the sex industry, having made an unusually low number of films because of the sharp decline in quality. "Adult Entertainment" films had actually been legitimately made motion pictures with a larger budget, closer adherence to a script, and an official "premiere." The proliferation of home video changed all of that to presenting segments that had little or no story, and concentrated on sex acts alone. The writer states that is why filmed sex acts became more abusive, bizarre and fetish-oriented, while performer pay dropped sharply.
THE SECRET LIVES OF HYAPATIA LEE was not what I expected. It was considerably better. There was quite a bit of repetitive lecturing, yet that is also understandable. Also, the language is free of expletives and explicit details. Remarkably, there is also an appreciation of many of her alter-personality's fans. Ultimately, it is a sincere attempt to explain the workings of the sex industry as she knew it, and a plea for more social awareness and understanding.
For those fans and curiosity-seekers desiring a "tell-all" about the more lascivious aspects of working in the sex industry, this is a book to be avoided. The writer doesn't condemn it. Indeed, although entering it as a way of making money, she initially had a goal of using her work to influence sexual understanding and acceptance, and respect for the life choices of others. That certainly seems Utopian, and the writer admits at one point that she was emotionally immature. However, she is unflinching in her review of the "business side" of the sex industry and, for the most part, it is one in which promises do not need to be kept because of a public attitude of sex workers being "unworthy of profiting from their ill-gotten gains."
My interest was influenced by my recent study of Native Peoples' culture in the United States. Hyapatia Lee was promoted as the only Native American working in X-rated films (tracing lineage back to the Cherokee Nation). From what I had read, it was not surprising to find such a low number ... it was a surprise to find any! Life on a Reservation wouldn't have promoted it. But, Hyapatia Lee was one of the Urban Native People, which does explain a lot.
Her book not only covers the sex industry including the many misconceptions that people have about it, but also her own history of being sexually abused as a child by her step-father. The descriptions are not graphic, although they are horrifying nonetheless. They also explain her intense devotion to children protection issues.
I was very much intrigued to read about her discovery of the Spiritual side of her Native heritage. There were details of a Vision Quest that I haven't read anywhere else, in part because they are often considered too personal to share.
Although she never condemns the sex industry, she does think that there are rampant emotional problems among the workers (including Multiple Personality Disorder!). She tells a truly harrowing tale of what we would think of as a "rabid Anti-vaxer" attitude in the post Pandemic times when violent protests arose against wearing condoms during the AIDS crisis. And she laments the suicides of four workers she names.
Her admiration goes out to Marilyn Chambers who she considers a role model of the sex industry, having made an unusually low number of films because of the sharp decline in quality. "Adult Entertainment" films had actually been legitimately made motion pictures with a larger budget, closer adherence to a script, and an official "premiere." The proliferation of home video changed all of that to presenting segments that had little or no story, and concentrated on sex acts alone. The writer states that is why filmed sex acts became more abusive, bizarre and fetish-oriented, while performer pay dropped sharply.
THE SECRET LIVES OF HYAPATIA LEE was not what I expected. It was considerably better. There was quite a bit of repetitive lecturing, yet that is also understandable. Also, the language is free of expletives and explicit details. Remarkably, there is also an appreciation of many of her alter-personality's fans. Ultimately, it is a sincere attempt to explain the workings of the sex industry as she knew it, and a plea for more social awareness and understanding.
March 7, 2022
Another of those pornstar autobios which tells us a lot about the business and why and how the girl in question got into it, but tells us precious little about her actual feelings doing the scenes and more about her motivation to normalize sex, prevent rape and god knows what more.
In this case we have a harrowing life story of abuse and neglect from an unloving mother and a monstrous step father. We attend the formation of her multiple personalities, one of which is the adult performer. Then when she starts to make her way in the theater, a random rapist sets her back on the road to burlesque dancing.
We have the story of how she got into porn to escape the casting couch. Then it was a matter of letting her husband be her manager and how the girls who also did "adult" video on the side got paid more when dancing on the road. Good times and good money? Not THAT much. I always thought the more famous women doing this had to be paid a lot more than they actually did and one who did so many movies had to be rich. Right? Wrong again.
From there, it is a story of how video ruined the porn industry and rendered talent worthless, and a lot about her struggle to become a mother and a lot of indian healing ceremonies that sound quite fishy IMHO. And I won't spoil the ending for you but it is written on the wall the whole time.
In this case we have a harrowing life story of abuse and neglect from an unloving mother and a monstrous step father. We attend the formation of her multiple personalities, one of which is the adult performer. Then when she starts to make her way in the theater, a random rapist sets her back on the road to burlesque dancing.
We have the story of how she got into porn to escape the casting couch. Then it was a matter of letting her husband be her manager and how the girls who also did "adult" video on the side got paid more when dancing on the road. Good times and good money? Not THAT much. I always thought the more famous women doing this had to be paid a lot more than they actually did and one who did so many movies had to be rich. Right? Wrong again.
From there, it is a story of how video ruined the porn industry and rendered talent worthless, and a lot about her struggle to become a mother and a lot of indian healing ceremonies that sound quite fishy IMHO. And I won't spoil the ending for you but it is written on the wall the whole time.
May 25, 2023
Tiananmen Square incident
Is the world fascinated by sex if your boots are on the ground moving weight on sovereign soil that is there to make you face forward only to direct your attention to the light from the exceptionalism that gets there before you do. X Rated films should be the last thing on unison minds and the world turns as it shoulds. Sex shooters shooting love in your direction mean to engage in a different kind of attention seeking silence that excludes the world from the Christ love you were born to exhibit in the aura the government owns for the betterment of the American Judicial system which needs you for Jury duty when the food stamp office moves because credit unions are stocked and people get paid for existing while others in Hollywood lose pay for not existing.
In industrial societies there will be interactions between individuals that are very threatening because no one can believe that the government i s incapable of meeting the needs of people when fish and rats mix and new breeds exclude humanity in humans transferring energy to seen and then to other ungulates.
Is the world fascinated by sex if your boots are on the ground moving weight on sovereign soil that is there to make you face forward only to direct your attention to the light from the exceptionalism that gets there before you do. X Rated films should be the last thing on unison minds and the world turns as it shoulds. Sex shooters shooting love in your direction mean to engage in a different kind of attention seeking silence that excludes the world from the Christ love you were born to exhibit in the aura the government owns for the betterment of the American Judicial system which needs you for Jury duty when the food stamp office moves because credit unions are stocked and people get paid for existing while others in Hollywood lose pay for not existing.
In industrial societies there will be interactions between individuals that are very threatening because no one can believe that the government i s incapable of meeting the needs of people when fish and rats mix and new breeds exclude humanity in humans transferring energy to seen and then to other ungulates.
August 25, 2023
We are all divine
This wonderful book has convinced me more than ever that there is a divine creator who has given all brings a spark of the creators divinity so that truly we are all one. We should never harm another being because effectively we are harming ourselves. This beautiful lady is clearly a great soul who has lived many lives and has learned much in this life but has paid for her development with much suffering. This book has taught me much but also made me she'd many tears. Essential reading in my opinion.
This wonderful book has convinced me more than ever that there is a divine creator who has given all brings a spark of the creators divinity so that truly we are all one. We should never harm another being because effectively we are harming ourselves. This beautiful lady is clearly a great soul who has lived many lives and has learned much in this life but has paid for her development with much suffering. This book has taught me much but also made me she'd many tears. Essential reading in my opinion.
March 12, 2015
This book was recommended to me on Amazon.com. I am not sure why though. It may have been the various Native American books as well as the two porn memoirs I have bought. I had never heard of Hyapatia before this book was recommended to me.
The writing wasn't very good. It seemed more like a personal blog or basic journal entries. Her life story was interesting none the less. She is very opinionated and that makes for a fascinating read by itself. Reading about some of her struggles was tough though, in particular the rape and abuse as a child. She does make the claim of Dissociative Identity Disorder which doesn't sit well with me, but that is a personal belief of mine...I just don't believe in the disorder.
The writing wasn't very good. It seemed more like a personal blog or basic journal entries. Her life story was interesting none the less. She is very opinionated and that makes for a fascinating read by itself. Reading about some of her struggles was tough though, in particular the rape and abuse as a child. She does make the claim of Dissociative Identity Disorder which doesn't sit well with me, but that is a personal belief of mine...I just don't believe in the disorder.
April 19, 2014
bleh.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews