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Indecent: How I Make It and Fake It as a Girl for Hire
Indecent is not your average I-stripped-my-way-through-college memoir. Sarah Katherine Lewis is a veteran of the sex industry who started small — doing lingerie modeling and striptease shows — but for reasons including the desire to earn more money and curiosity about other types of sex work, she moved into porn, and ultimately into illegal work.
Lewis is smart, self-aware, and bitingly funny. Where other writers in this genre have generally shielded themselves from letting things get too bad or go too far, Lewis comes face-to-face with the unimaginable. Her experiences with customers, whose fetishes and behaviors range from obscene to bizarre to twisted, are often recounted with outrageous and caustic humor. Lewis is a brilliant observer of human nature and has a read on her employers and coworkers that lends unique insight into the seedy underground of the more hardcore sex industry. Lewis is a sex worker by choice. She neither condemns nor condones the work, though she depicts her experiences with a gallows humor that reveals the complexity of professional adult sex work. Indecent offers readers an insider's account of hard-earned lessons and acute insight gained from over a decade in the trenches of one of America's most insidious and lucrative industries.
Lewis is smart, self-aware, and bitingly funny. Where other writers in this genre have generally shielded themselves from letting things get too bad or go too far, Lewis comes face-to-face with the unimaginable. Her experiences with customers, whose fetishes and behaviors range from obscene to bizarre to twisted, are often recounted with outrageous and caustic humor. Lewis is a brilliant observer of human nature and has a read on her employers and coworkers that lends unique insight into the seedy underground of the more hardcore sex industry. Lewis is a sex worker by choice. She neither condemns nor condones the work, though she depicts her experiences with a gallows humor that reveals the complexity of professional adult sex work. Indecent offers readers an insider's account of hard-earned lessons and acute insight gained from over a decade in the trenches of one of America's most insidious and lucrative industries.
256 pages, Paperback
First published August 23, 2006
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1247 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
December 19, 2010
This is a sharp, smart book, and Lewis is a capable and witty writer. If your true interest lies in learning about the sex industry, in brutally honest detail, this is a great choice, and certainly superior to the other, more popular stripper memoirs. So, why isn't this a breakout success? As your resident bookseller, perhaps I can shed some light on this for any curious readers.
One of the great sad truths of the book industry is that very few great books succeed. Is this because you, the reading public, are actually idiots content with whatever pap is crammed down your throats? I don't think so; but I think that the publishers believe it. They're afraid, at any rate, scared to take a chance on something which may not provide maximum return for their money. Small presses are, of course, different, and we have brave small publishers to thank for keeping interesting books around. There are exceptions, I'll grant - no point in arguing that, so let's just move on. Yes? Yes.
Like the customers Lewis describes in her book, the publishing industry currently seems to prefer that women writers be slightly less intelligent - dim enough not to be threatening, at any rate. Smart women writers are either a) dead b) foreign or c) expected to indulge in slapstick, at their own expense, to take the edge off. Take the entire career of Chelsea Handler, certainly nobody's fool, or the otherwise enjoyable "Mennonite in a Little Black Dress", in which the author - a professor of poetry - softens the possibly intimidating force of her advanced degree and perfect grammar with seemingly endless self-deprecating jokes about her age, her figure, and her gay ex husband. Cue hysterical chick laughter here.
And if you're going to avoid downplaying your intelligence, it's even more important that you adhere to other standards of female comportment. Stripper memoirs - and they do seem to be becoming a genre in their own right - follow a standard structure similar to those old 1950s gay pulps, and for similar reasons: their intent is, in the main, to titillate. First, you must provide some background, a wholesome upbringing, a good school. This is so the reading public can identify with the girl, see that she's a good girl about to be immersed in a shocking world of corruption. Next, she must enter this world by degrees, but never losing her plucky courage or her compassionate heart. She will meet colorful women who will give her a sense of meaningful sisterhood and provide her with colorful anecdotes. The stripper with the heart of gold is a nice touch at this juncture - no one gets sick of that one. Maybe she'll become jaded, as who wouldn't, but she will meet a man who proves that not all men are pigs, or otherwise be saved from her life - redeemed, forgiven, her stripping past just a slightly naughty interlude before her real life commences. Alternately, she might claim to be empowered by her work, and her memoir might end with a faux riot-grrrl ode to the pleasures and freedoms of getting paid to take your clothes off. The end.
See? A formula with something to appeal to everyone, a clear narrative arc with a little voyeurism thrown in to spice up a typically American tale of sin and redemption. We like those the best. Lewis' memoir refuses to play along, as if sex work demanded so many concessions and lies she simply wasn't willing to sling them any more. Her venomous contempt for the work and for her clients burns through every page. She gleefully recounts her murderous fantasies and the joy she took in robbing drunken clients. The men in her book are pathetic or disgusting, never to be fully trusted. Sisterhood is here, true, but the real kind, the fierce kind, the kind closed to outsiders. And her closing, heartfelt plea: that commerce has no place in intimate relationships, that money for sex cheapens and demeans all of us as human beings, is practically anti-American.
There's no redemption in this book, no lessons learned and no sunset to be ridden into. Just a brutal story about the world that coexists with ours, that we try not to see, an indictment of our culture, a sad hard true story told by a survivor. That is not what sells a book. But it makes a damn fine read.
One of the great sad truths of the book industry is that very few great books succeed. Is this because you, the reading public, are actually idiots content with whatever pap is crammed down your throats? I don't think so; but I think that the publishers believe it. They're afraid, at any rate, scared to take a chance on something which may not provide maximum return for their money. Small presses are, of course, different, and we have brave small publishers to thank for keeping interesting books around. There are exceptions, I'll grant - no point in arguing that, so let's just move on. Yes? Yes.
Like the customers Lewis describes in her book, the publishing industry currently seems to prefer that women writers be slightly less intelligent - dim enough not to be threatening, at any rate. Smart women writers are either a) dead b) foreign or c) expected to indulge in slapstick, at their own expense, to take the edge off. Take the entire career of Chelsea Handler, certainly nobody's fool, or the otherwise enjoyable "Mennonite in a Little Black Dress", in which the author - a professor of poetry - softens the possibly intimidating force of her advanced degree and perfect grammar with seemingly endless self-deprecating jokes about her age, her figure, and her gay ex husband. Cue hysterical chick laughter here.
And if you're going to avoid downplaying your intelligence, it's even more important that you adhere to other standards of female comportment. Stripper memoirs - and they do seem to be becoming a genre in their own right - follow a standard structure similar to those old 1950s gay pulps, and for similar reasons: their intent is, in the main, to titillate. First, you must provide some background, a wholesome upbringing, a good school. This is so the reading public can identify with the girl, see that she's a good girl about to be immersed in a shocking world of corruption. Next, she must enter this world by degrees, but never losing her plucky courage or her compassionate heart. She will meet colorful women who will give her a sense of meaningful sisterhood and provide her with colorful anecdotes. The stripper with the heart of gold is a nice touch at this juncture - no one gets sick of that one. Maybe she'll become jaded, as who wouldn't, but she will meet a man who proves that not all men are pigs, or otherwise be saved from her life - redeemed, forgiven, her stripping past just a slightly naughty interlude before her real life commences. Alternately, she might claim to be empowered by her work, and her memoir might end with a faux riot-grrrl ode to the pleasures and freedoms of getting paid to take your clothes off. The end.
See? A formula with something to appeal to everyone, a clear narrative arc with a little voyeurism thrown in to spice up a typically American tale of sin and redemption. We like those the best. Lewis' memoir refuses to play along, as if sex work demanded so many concessions and lies she simply wasn't willing to sling them any more. Her venomous contempt for the work and for her clients burns through every page. She gleefully recounts her murderous fantasies and the joy she took in robbing drunken clients. The men in her book are pathetic or disgusting, never to be fully trusted. Sisterhood is here, true, but the real kind, the fierce kind, the kind closed to outsiders. And her closing, heartfelt plea: that commerce has no place in intimate relationships, that money for sex cheapens and demeans all of us as human beings, is practically anti-American.
There's no redemption in this book, no lessons learned and no sunset to be ridden into. Just a brutal story about the world that coexists with ours, that we try not to see, an indictment of our culture, a sad hard true story told by a survivor. That is not what sells a book. But it makes a damn fine read.
October 11, 2011
The author freely admitted in a LJ interview that the publisher cut hundreds of pages of material from the original draft, including critical analysis of the author's mindset and motivations for sex work, as well as a feminist critique of the whore-john relationship. Reading this book gave me the feeling that the author's narrative voice was as much of a persona for her readers as Emma, Holiday, or Lily were for her customers. That being said, this is still an enormously entertaining and open account of a decade in the sex industry.
August 31, 2007
I wrote a little review of Indecent back when I first read it. It went something like this:
Work has been on my mind lately, which might be why I broke my rule about non-scholastic reading during the semester and picked up a copy of Indecent: How I Make it and Fake it as a Girl for Hire by Sarah Katherine Lewis. If I had more publishing industry savvy, I would talk about how trendy sex-industry memoir has become. Perhaps I'd go on to tie it all to the mainstreaming of the porn aesthetic and reality television. Fortunately, I am lazy. All that I know is that Indecent goes on my bookshelf next to Michelle Tea's Rent Girl and approximately a thousand miles away from anything ever written by Tracy Quan. No one will ever call Lewis' book a "funny, insightful romp."
Gentlemen and ladies, imagine that the next time you find yourself in the professional company of a lingerie model, stripper, or peep show girl, imagine that while she is gyrating in front of you that she is thinking about how much her feet hurt in those lucite heels. She is thinking about making her stage fee. Imagine that while she pantomimes desire, if she thinks of you at all, it is only because she is thinking about how much she would like to stab you repeatedly in the face. Yes you, especially if you're trying to relate by asking her if she's putting herself through school.
Tracy Quan's sex industry is half HBO special, half chick-lit novel, full of urbane, supernaturally slender women rushing from the gym, to their waxing appointments, to $300/hour in-calls. Lewis and Tea's sex industry is decidedly proletarian, full of women in itchy wigs peeling their clothes off for what adds up to minimum wage. While I'm finding a place for Indecent on my bookshelf, it ought to go next to Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickle and Dimed. In the manner that all service industry drones come to hate their customers, Lewis and Tea come to hate men, or at least whatever it is that drives men to pay women money to simulate desire. The Michelle Tea in Rent Girl hates everyone. She's a mean little sociopath who has stopped seeing interactions between people and can only imagine interactions between herself and the contents of your wallet. Lewis, on the other hand, genuinely loves her co-workers - the smartest, funniest, kindest, wisest, and most beautiful women in the world. That affection is what enables her to chronicle ten years of peep shows, whack shacks, and strip joints and still come out of it seeming rather...well...sweet.
May 6, 2016
An engrossing, up-close-and-very-personal tour of the adult industry through one very perceptive, insightful woman's eyes.
Having read Sarah Katherine's blog in the past, certain slices of this were familiar to me, like the faux spiritual temple where she offered "root chakra adjustments." I was a bit surprised by her pre-adult life -- as a girl in white cotton panties who didn't shave her legs. I suppose that's a sign that I've bought into the pervasive sexy stripper myths -- women go adult because they're hot, horny vixens, not because they prefer hustling as independent contractors to slaving in soul-sucking straight jobs.
I've been joking all weekend that I'm going to assign this book to my male friends who think they're going too find true love at the strip club (and who only seem to be able to talk to women who are being paid to seem available). If they read books, it might be beneficial. Maybe I can copy a few key pages and surreptitiously tape them to their apartment door (better yet, tape something to the TV; that they'll see).
It's important to have independent, ass-kicking role models when you want to independently kick ass.
Quotable:
"It was bizarre to me that entire processions rotated around simply having vaginas, and managing them, as if they were limited environmental resources, like natural gas or diamonds. Roderick's job depended on vagina management: With no vaginas, he'd be completely out of luck and out of business. Butterscotch's ran on vaginas, like trains ran on coal in the old days."
Having read Sarah Katherine's blog in the past, certain slices of this were familiar to me, like the faux spiritual temple where she offered "root chakra adjustments." I was a bit surprised by her pre-adult life -- as a girl in white cotton panties who didn't shave her legs. I suppose that's a sign that I've bought into the pervasive sexy stripper myths -- women go adult because they're hot, horny vixens, not because they prefer hustling as independent contractors to slaving in soul-sucking straight jobs.
I've been joking all weekend that I'm going to assign this book to my male friends who think they're going too find true love at the strip club (and who only seem to be able to talk to women who are being paid to seem available). If they read books, it might be beneficial. Maybe I can copy a few key pages and surreptitiously tape them to their apartment door (better yet, tape something to the TV; that they'll see).
It's important to have independent, ass-kicking role models when you want to independently kick ass.
Quotable:
"It was bizarre to me that entire processions rotated around simply having vaginas, and managing them, as if they were limited environmental resources, like natural gas or diamonds. Roderick's job depended on vagina management: With no vaginas, he'd be completely out of luck and out of business. Butterscotch's ran on vaginas, like trains ran on coal in the old days."
June 26, 2009
I adore the brutal honesty and humor in this book.
Sometimes, all you can do is find the humor in the situation to get yourself through it.
It's a raw, candid look at a darker side of the sex industry than you usually see, yet still left me feeling empowered.
It shows the industry for what it is - good, bad and ugly. She doesn't make excuses, she just paints a vivid picture and lets the reader draw their own conclusions.
Sometimes, all you can do is find the humor in the situation to get yourself through it.
It's a raw, candid look at a darker side of the sex industry than you usually see, yet still left me feeling empowered.
It shows the industry for what it is - good, bad and ugly. She doesn't make excuses, she just paints a vivid picture and lets the reader draw their own conclusions.
August 28, 2020
When Lewis saw a sexy scene in a television show as a child it put into her mind that the exhibitionist side of sex work could well be for her. This memoir charts her career through peep shows, striptease and work in 'massage parlours' that operate on the thin line between legal and prostitution. Interesting glimpse into a world that many of us (women, anyway) rarely venture into.
June 17, 2008
I may not know the first thing about the world of strippers and masseuses – the latter who give a hand-finish, if you know what I mean – but Ms. Lewis sure knows how to make the life of the these ladies of the fringe downright hilarious. From the subversive acts that her kind inflict on their unwitting and horny clients (like absconding with their wallets during the heat of their cock-teasing seductions), to humiliating unsuspecting and desperate men (by way of verbally abusing them for being the cheapskates that so many of them can be), I nearly rolled off onto the floor laughing at the insanity of this grotesquely smelly and romantically-challenged world. Lewis’ style is delightfully fresh and surprisingly riveting in its attention to detail in both setting and character. (And there is an abundance of characters, let me tell you.) I don’t know what’s more riotous: the delusional and pathetic male customer who thinks he’s the shit, or the sugar-sweet stripper/masseuse who finds subtle ways to get her revenge on the former by simply not taking any shit. And I do mean that last part literally. (Since I mention it, what is it about guys and blown-out underwear, anyway? A little more attention with toilet paper will do wonders for lonely guys seeking female companionship, I dare say.)
September 21, 2011
Lewis does a great job describing her former sex work, sparing no details related to bodily fluids. She has a real attraction to filth, so her tales of venues where she sold her body are fascinating. Still, there are no real moments of insight or revelation. To an extent that's refreshing in the memoir genre, but I was at least expecting minimal discussion of: past traumas, psychological problems, customer abuse, and family. She describes writhing around before ejaculate-stained peep show windows, getting abused by a customer at a "massage parlor," and forcing herself through unthinkable humiliation. But never does she look internally; it's all observations of her environment, as if she engaged in sex work out of some cerebral curiosity or journalistic impulse.
September 14, 2016
I really enjoyed this book. I have a habit of picking up grim and dirty memoirs and this one did not disappoint! Sarah Katherine Lewis left little to the imagine as she took the reader through her journey in the sex industry.
Though her writing style is not 100% polished- She was blunt and funny, honest and raw. I found myself laughing out loud at multiple parts and horrified by others. Sarah Katherine Lewis is a beautiful and confident lady- I really do admire her honesty and bravery. I do not think I would have the guts to try 10% of what she delve into effortlessly.
Lots and lots of dirty language. If you think 50 Shades of Grey is too raunchy for you- You'll definitely have to pass on this one ;) hahahaha.
Though her writing style is not 100% polished- She was blunt and funny, honest and raw. I found myself laughing out loud at multiple parts and horrified by others. Sarah Katherine Lewis is a beautiful and confident lady- I really do admire her honesty and bravery. I do not think I would have the guts to try 10% of what she delve into effortlessly.
Lots and lots of dirty language. If you think 50 Shades of Grey is too raunchy for you- You'll definitely have to pass on this one ;) hahahaha.
July 7, 2016
Lewis' not-so-cautionary tale of a decade of sex work is incredibly blunt and matter-of-fact with its subject matter in a way that seems to lend itself to maximum humor.
While the language and narrative was not as artful as that of Diablo Cody's "Candy Girl"--Sarah Lewis' story was grittier both in actual content as well as the delivery.
I have never read the word "Pussy" or "Puss" so many times in my life--and I have read a LOT of explicit fan fiction in my lifetime, ladies & gentlemen.
Certainly not for the prudish or squeamish! For me and my bestie--this is the ULTIMATE beach read.
While the language and narrative was not as artful as that of Diablo Cody's "Candy Girl"--Sarah Lewis' story was grittier both in actual content as well as the delivery.
I have never read the word "Pussy" or "Puss" so many times in my life--and I have read a LOT of explicit fan fiction in my lifetime, ladies & gentlemen.
Certainly not for the prudish or squeamish! For me and my bestie--this is the ULTIMATE beach read.
April 14, 2015
The memoir of a woman who decided to try out adult work in Seattle, including private shows, massages, cage shows, and amateur porn. It's funny and real, and the author is open about not being sure herself how she feels about how adult work & feminism work together.
September 3, 2017
I did like Sex and Bacon more. But there is great honesty and truth in this book. And we need to be better to sex workers. And realize it is definitely a legitimate job that deserves status and safety. I would love to read more from Sarah Katherine Lewis.
November 20, 2007
As far as "sex worker" memoirs go--this one is the best. Brutally honest about the industry, totally devoid of self-pity.
Read
October 14, 2013This was less helpful a career guide for me than I'd hoped.
March 14, 2015
I've never laughed so hard reading a book before. A hilarious and quick read. Warning: as you can tell from the description, this is very graphic. Not for the squeamish or easliy offended.
January 21, 2016
Nothing deep or inspirational about this book, but it is incredibly entertaining, funny and dirty as all hell. Good stuff!
October 22, 2007
I have to give this book five stars because I laughed out loud several times as I read it, and I couldn't put it down! (Which is how it went from my "to-read" shelf to my "read" shelf in one day.)
I must disclose that I knew Miss SKL years ago. It feels weird to put that in the past tense, because she is still the same person I "knew," and it shows in her writing. I will be a bit intentionally vague here, as I don't know enough about her industry etiquette to properly cloak her personal details, and would like to err on the side of privacy.
So! I knew her when we were kids, and always thought she was cool. So cool, in fact, that I had written in my diary about mundane things that she enlivened with her presence. (I discovered I had done so only recently, as I sifted through my diaries to read them on stage at Salon of Shame.) Sarah was/is fun, smart, and able to deflate or inflate any person in any moment to the exact degree necessary, by sheer skill of wit.
So I had great luck when I moved back to Seattle from NYC with my tail between my legs in 1995, and ran into Miss Sarah when she was doing retail in a little shop near where I was living with my mom. Sarah was witty and gracious and fun and we struck up a friendship. She was a great boost at a time that was mostly sad and strange.
Then she moved away and came back, and we hung out some more. I was rather lost, working as a software engineer because I happened to have the skills and didn't know what else to do. I was OK at it but never great, and not particularly well-paid at the time. Sarah, though, had a vitality and confidence about her. She had just gotten into her new trade at Butterscotch's. Soon she would work for Eros and pose for photo layouts, all of which she describes in her book.
I admired that Sarah threw herself into her work with gusto so much that, as we sat in a pizza place in Belltown ten years ago, she encouraged me to give Butterscotch's a try if software really wasn't working out. I admired the camaraderie and admiration she felt for her colleagues. And of course she had TONS of hilarious stories about work--and a few scary ones. She seemed to view it with 20/20 vision, and she told her tales in cinematic detail. She held her privacy and her time as precious commodities, and I felt special that she thought enough of me to share them.
Sarah has been a fun, smart writer for as long as I've known her, and has an admirable public integrity about her. She is self-aware, and almost brutally aware of how others see her--which, as she says in her book, is necessary in her line of work. All of that comes through in her writing.
Sarah entertained me very generously with tales of her work and getting by financially. I'm so happy she's parlayed that into this book. I hope she benefits from it greatly and is always proud of it.
I must disclose that I knew Miss SKL years ago. It feels weird to put that in the past tense, because she is still the same person I "knew," and it shows in her writing. I will be a bit intentionally vague here, as I don't know enough about her industry etiquette to properly cloak her personal details, and would like to err on the side of privacy.
So! I knew her when we were kids, and always thought she was cool. So cool, in fact, that I had written in my diary about mundane things that she enlivened with her presence. (I discovered I had done so only recently, as I sifted through my diaries to read them on stage at Salon of Shame.) Sarah was/is fun, smart, and able to deflate or inflate any person in any moment to the exact degree necessary, by sheer skill of wit.
So I had great luck when I moved back to Seattle from NYC with my tail between my legs in 1995, and ran into Miss Sarah when she was doing retail in a little shop near where I was living with my mom. Sarah was witty and gracious and fun and we struck up a friendship. She was a great boost at a time that was mostly sad and strange.
Then she moved away and came back, and we hung out some more. I was rather lost, working as a software engineer because I happened to have the skills and didn't know what else to do. I was OK at it but never great, and not particularly well-paid at the time. Sarah, though, had a vitality and confidence about her. She had just gotten into her new trade at Butterscotch's. Soon she would work for Eros and pose for photo layouts, all of which she describes in her book.
I admired that Sarah threw herself into her work with gusto so much that, as we sat in a pizza place in Belltown ten years ago, she encouraged me to give Butterscotch's a try if software really wasn't working out. I admired the camaraderie and admiration she felt for her colleagues. And of course she had TONS of hilarious stories about work--and a few scary ones. She seemed to view it with 20/20 vision, and she told her tales in cinematic detail. She held her privacy and her time as precious commodities, and I felt special that she thought enough of me to share them.
Sarah has been a fun, smart writer for as long as I've known her, and has an admirable public integrity about her. She is self-aware, and almost brutally aware of how others see her--which, as she says in her book, is necessary in her line of work. All of that comes through in her writing.
Sarah entertained me very generously with tales of her work and getting by financially. I'm so happy she's parlayed that into this book. I hope she benefits from it greatly and is always proud of it.
November 29, 2012
When I started reading this book, I quickly became engrossed in Lewis's trials. Sometimes the content disgusted me but I couldn't wait to find out what she would do next. The writing is raw and evocative. Not only is it a fascinating window into the adult industry from a female's point of view, but Lewis gives a profound overview of what it means to sell intimacy.
She says, "my main problem with the adult industry is simply this: When we take part in it, we increase our alienation from each other. We become objects to each other, whether we're cash vending objects or pleasure-vending objects. We take something as beautiful and communicative as sexual ecstasy and commodify it, and in doing so we destroy everything that it stands for."
Lewis clearly has a deep hatred of any man who would use the adult industry and describes the falseness of the way adult entertainment portrays female sexuality.
"My customers' capacity for suspension of disbelief was without boundary," she says, while describing how, "A girl who could make a customer feel good about dumping his sexual feculence in her presence was a girl who made money."
The only parts that seemed slightly contrived were the author's attempts to explain why she did these things: apparently just insatiable curiosity. This didn't really touch on the extreme dissociation necessary to repeatedly perform acts one finds abhorrent until one hardly cares.
Anyway, I am grateful to Lewis for her honesty and for plumbing the depths of her identity in order to understand why people relate to each other in these illusory arenas rather than directly and in real life.
She says, "my main problem with the adult industry is simply this: When we take part in it, we increase our alienation from each other. We become objects to each other, whether we're cash vending objects or pleasure-vending objects. We take something as beautiful and communicative as sexual ecstasy and commodify it, and in doing so we destroy everything that it stands for."
Lewis clearly has a deep hatred of any man who would use the adult industry and describes the falseness of the way adult entertainment portrays female sexuality.
"My customers' capacity for suspension of disbelief was without boundary," she says, while describing how, "A girl who could make a customer feel good about dumping his sexual feculence in her presence was a girl who made money."
The only parts that seemed slightly contrived were the author's attempts to explain why she did these things: apparently just insatiable curiosity. This didn't really touch on the extreme dissociation necessary to repeatedly perform acts one finds abhorrent until one hardly cares.
Anyway, I am grateful to Lewis for her honesty and for plumbing the depths of her identity in order to understand why people relate to each other in these illusory arenas rather than directly and in real life.
November 3, 2016
Oddly enough the most pressing question I had was: what does she spend all her money on? No kids, no boyfriend or significant other, no drug habits..... this book was severely lacking in the personal details, which is...fitting as that was a mantra of hers in the field, no personal data. I mean but after 300 pages, I didn't even know she had a brother until I read the last page of thank yous.
The sex work, scene, and business was fully detailed and everything more you didn't actually want to know about it. There was nothing about what her family thinks of her work. She didn't seem to have any friends, but they were mentioned here and there. What's dating like in the sex industry? Never a significant other mentioned or pursued. She had blatant hatred for the men she serviced and the work she did but it wasn't much explored past 'he's just another customer'.
The sex industry was fascinating and horrible to read about. Car crash in the midst of happening. Some things were honestly hard to read, but once I got used to her voice, I seemed to find a pace with this book. I loved getting her opinions and observations about what men sought from her as paying customers. So interesting. I straight up thought the journey of going deeper and deeper into the scene would end us up at full on prostitution. Can I say I was disappointed we didn't get to see that story unfold? There I said it. I wanted to watch the car crash.
I did like the ending wrap up though. She wasn't trying to prove a point or sway the average reader's mind. It's her story and the truth. It is what it is.
The sex work, scene, and business was fully detailed and everything more you didn't actually want to know about it. There was nothing about what her family thinks of her work. She didn't seem to have any friends, but they were mentioned here and there. What's dating like in the sex industry? Never a significant other mentioned or pursued. She had blatant hatred for the men she serviced and the work she did but it wasn't much explored past 'he's just another customer'.
The sex industry was fascinating and horrible to read about. Car crash in the midst of happening. Some things were honestly hard to read, but once I got used to her voice, I seemed to find a pace with this book. I loved getting her opinions and observations about what men sought from her as paying customers. So interesting. I straight up thought the journey of going deeper and deeper into the scene would end us up at full on prostitution. Can I say I was disappointed we didn't get to see that story unfold? There I said it. I wanted to watch the car crash.
I did like the ending wrap up though. She wasn't trying to prove a point or sway the average reader's mind. It's her story and the truth. It is what it is.
June 14, 2014
Wow, I just really hope she got counseling after this.
I wish that she had given us more information about how her adult work affected her personal life. What did her family and friends think she was doing? Did they know about her stripping? Did she date when she was in the adult industry? Did she date men again given the hatred and disgust she developed for them after being in the industry for so long? If she did, how did she separate those extreme negative emotions? Did she grow to hate all men or just her customers?
Ah, well it was an interesting read all the same. So much of her experiences were just mind-boggling and I thought I had a fairly good idea of the lengths people will go to satisfy their lust. I mean, that whole introductory paragraph about Eros' Galaxy...nightmares, ugh. Just when I think human beings can't surprise me any more.
Anyway, this was really eye-opening and not at all in a good way. But thank Goodness she never caught anything and wasn't assaulted or hurt.
I wish that she had given us more information about how her adult work affected her personal life. What did her family and friends think she was doing? Did they know about her stripping? Did she date when she was in the adult industry? Did she date men again given the hatred and disgust she developed for them after being in the industry for so long? If she did, how did she separate those extreme negative emotions? Did she grow to hate all men or just her customers?
Ah, well it was an interesting read all the same. So much of her experiences were just mind-boggling and I thought I had a fairly good idea of the lengths people will go to satisfy their lust. I mean, that whole introductory paragraph about Eros' Galaxy...nightmares, ugh. Just when I think human beings can't surprise me any more.
Anyway, this was really eye-opening and not at all in a good way. But thank Goodness she never caught anything and wasn't assaulted or hurt.
June 25, 2007
Sarah Elizabeth Kramer does a fantastic job of exposing the sex industry. She maintains an interesting balance of observer and participant, really showcasing the difference between taking a job to write about and writing about one's job. This book really goes into the grueling day-to-day tasks of her various jobs, so it is not for the squeamish or easily offended.
There are certainly attitudes expressed -such as opposing the sex workers union in Seattle- that I wish were given more meat, but this wasn't really the platform for going into those issues. I'll stay on the lookout for future articles, essays and books.
There are certainly attitudes expressed -such as opposing the sex workers union in Seattle- that I wish were given more meat, but this wasn't really the platform for going into those issues. I'll stay on the lookout for future articles, essays and books.
November 9, 2009
I picked up this book because I read Sex and Bacon, also by Sarah Katherine Lewis, and really enjoyed it. Indecent is an interesting narrative about one woman's journey from barista to lingerie model to illegal work, and back again, but it isn't nearly as engaging as Sex and Bacon. I think it's a good introductory book for someone who hasn't read a lot about the sex industry because it does give insights into the real reasons women choose to participate in sex work. I think I've just read too many other books and essays on the topic, so those insights didn't seem as novel. And yes, I recognize that's a weird statement!
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September 5, 2012this book was alright... I guess I just didn't understand this girl. she says she's a feminist, says she loves the sex industry, and hates all her customers. I don't understand how you can be a feminist and totally exploit yourself. I understand the whole "it's my body thing" but the things she allows her customers to do to her just is disgusting. by the end of the book shes been a stripper, a masseuse, a porn star and everything in between for the last ten years and has nothing... no family, no home, no money yet she is proud of what she does. I really think she has some deep psychological issues but never talks about anything but business.
March 12, 2016
Five stars simply for keeping me turning page after page. A book that you read by yourself because you can't keep a poker face while reading it. I laughed out loud more than once, and I had disgusted full body shivers more than once. It certainly shows the "real" and "raw" side of the sex industry. It never gets too dark, but at the same time always stays serious enough to respect it. Not one I hand over to many of my friends, but I would secretly recommend it anonymously mainly because it's so honest and entertaining. Not for the faint of heart or for anyone that can't handle a lot of x-rated slang.
May 7, 2018
Hilarious, revolting, and brutally honest.
As a probation officer I have witnessed first hand the toll that sex work takes on both women AND men. One offender, a 25 year old street prostitute, looked me in the eye and said, "there's no humanity in it." I never forgot that and wonder how she is doing to this day. So I always sought books to explore what lives they lead so I can understand what they are going through.
This book pales in comparison to what my clients endure, but what she does detail is written in such a way that makes the reader burst out laughing in one sentence and gasp at the next. I absolutely loved it.
As a probation officer I have witnessed first hand the toll that sex work takes on both women AND men. One offender, a 25 year old street prostitute, looked me in the eye and said, "there's no humanity in it." I never forgot that and wonder how she is doing to this day. So I always sought books to explore what lives they lead so I can understand what they are going through.
This book pales in comparison to what my clients endure, but what she does detail is written in such a way that makes the reader burst out laughing in one sentence and gasp at the next. I absolutely loved it.
March 3, 2009
This book was fantastic and I'm not just saying that because I was LJ friends with Sarah-Katherine for several years. A warning, this book is not for the squeamish, nor is it for anyone who wants to maintain illusions about the sex industry. Actually, it probably is for the latter (like, all you dudes who go to strip clubs and think the girls are just dying to let you poke them in the vajays with your grubby fngers), if only because S-K tells it like it is. The book is great, and I look forward to reading more from her in the future
July 10, 2016
This was a very interesting. Tantalizing at first, this book developed into an uncomfortable read which should not to dissuade you from picking it up.
There is a lot of vulgarity, and graphic detail of her career as well as a lot of humor making this an overall, quick and fascinating read.
The author did not mention much about how this affected her relationships outside of the sex industry as well as how prevalent alcohol/drug abuse and sexual assault was which I was hoping to learn about.
I would read more from this author and would recommend the book if this topic is of interest.
There is a lot of vulgarity, and graphic detail of her career as well as a lot of humor making this an overall, quick and fascinating read.
The author did not mention much about how this affected her relationships outside of the sex industry as well as how prevalent alcohol/drug abuse and sexual assault was which I was hoping to learn about.
I would read more from this author and would recommend the book if this topic is of interest.
July 31, 2008
This is the greatest book EV-ER.... I have never known an author with a command of the most delectably, deliciously VULGAR language/visuals known to man, coupled (beautifully) with the most scholastic, intellectual ideas/concepts I have ever had the pleasure of reading. I read this author's blog daily, she lives at the base of Queen Anne, and I'm happy to report she read excerpts of this book on NPR. You Go Girl.
September 3, 2008
I know this author and I am fascinated by her life. The book certainly explains some of the crazy. The writing is very good, and I found it both compelling and profoundly distressing. Her portrait of the journey from naivete to hardened skill in the sex trades is finely balanced and so gradual that you wake up at the end of the book an wonder how she got there. Also, it's amazing entirely about sex without being sexy in the least.
June 21, 2012
I became familiar with SKL from the golden days of LJ....ah, LJ...
Anyhow, I bought this out of both acquaintance-allegiance and a true enjoyment of the lurid tales she told on her blog...and this ended up being just as enjoyable. A great first book, and a good even-handed take on the sex industry, neither glorifying nor condemning.
The men--all strip club patrons, really--come out looking HORRIFYING. Never will you be able to stomach one mindlessly again. Just so you know.
Anyhow, I bought this out of both acquaintance-allegiance and a true enjoyment of the lurid tales she told on her blog...and this ended up being just as enjoyable. A great first book, and a good even-handed take on the sex industry, neither glorifying nor condemning.
The men--all strip club patrons, really--come out looking HORRIFYING. Never will you be able to stomach one mindlessly again. Just so you know.
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