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Ladies Of The Night
Rock legend, best-selling author, reality television star, accomplished entrepreneur, and renowned ladies' man Gene Simmons presents an entirely original take on a traditionally taboo topic—prostitution. In this informative and entertaining mix of narrative history and Simmons' own unique philosophy, the Kiss frontman delves deep into the legacy of the oldest profession in the world. From the very first cavewoman to the brothel-women of Rome; from the geisha girls of Japan to the courtesans of Europe's Renaissance period; and from the saloon ladies of the Wild West to today's modern madams and high-end call girls, Gene covers it all. At once audacious and enlightening, Ladies of the Night is an entirely original take on a traditionally taboo topic.
- GenresErotica
176 pages, Hardcover
First published July 8, 2007
1 person is currently reading
98 people want to read
About the author
Gene Simmons
83 books68 followersLibrarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
From genesimmons.com
Gene Simmons was born in Haifa, Israel in 1949, and is the only child of his mother, a German Nazi Concentration Camp survivor. He has always attributed his ethics, morals and drive to his mother's notion's about life. "Every day above ground, is a good day," his mother is apt to say.
He came to America at eight and a half years of age. He graduated State University (NYSU) and City University (CUNY) and got a Bachelor of Education degree. He taught sixth grade in Spanish Harlem in New York City.
He then became the Assistant to the Director of the Puerto Rican InterAgency Council, a government funded research and demonstration project. He worked at Glamour and then at Vogue, as the assistant to the editor, Kate Lloyd.
Gene speaks a few languages: English, Hungarian, Hebrew, German and is getting better at Japanese every day.
Gene Simmons has never been married.He has had live in relationships with Cher and Diana Ross. He has been happily unmarried for 25 years to Shannon Tweed, the mother of his two beautiful children.*
*Simmons and Tweed finally wed on October 1, 2011
From genesimmons.com
Gene Simmons was born in Haifa, Israel in 1949, and is the only child of his mother, a German Nazi Concentration Camp survivor. He has always attributed his ethics, morals and drive to his mother's notion's about life. "Every day above ground, is a good day," his mother is apt to say.
He came to America at eight and a half years of age. He graduated State University (NYSU) and City University (CUNY) and got a Bachelor of Education degree. He taught sixth grade in Spanish Harlem in New York City.
He then became the Assistant to the Director of the Puerto Rican InterAgency Council, a government funded research and demonstration project. He worked at Glamour and then at Vogue, as the assistant to the editor, Kate Lloyd.
Gene speaks a few languages: English, Hungarian, Hebrew, German and is getting better at Japanese every day.
Gene Simmons has never been married.He has had live in relationships with Cher and Diana Ross. He has been happily unmarried for 25 years to Shannon Tweed, the mother of his two beautiful children.*
*Simmons and Tweed finally wed on October 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
January 12, 2009
To my credit, when I ordered this book from the library system I had no idea that the Gene Simmons in question was THE Gene Simmons. My husband (?!) was standing over my shoulder while I surfed the library Web site and asked, "You're ordering a book written by Gene Simmons?"
"It's not that Gene Simmons," I said scornfully. "It's, like, an academic history of prostitution."
Ha! Irritatingly, the library Web site doesn't provide actual descriptions of its books, nor images, so I was surprised when I went to the Ballard branch and discovered something the size and shape of a child's picture book, replete with a padded cover.
The book starts with a lengthy diatribe about women and sex. Simmons tries hard to offend and the result is more irritating than offensive. His basic premise is that all women are prostitutes because we trade sex for protection or financial security or free dinners at fancy restaurants and he argues that women who accept money for sex should be admired because they are at least up front about it. Although I agree that we all make our unspoken bargains, and I do have respect for women working in the sex industry, Simmons' thinking is irritatingly reductive and narrow in scope. He refuses to address women who are completely financially independent or men who make the same bargains. It would be more interesting if he spent more time focusing on the way all people trade their services for money instead of accusing the average woman of being a hypocrite AND a whore. Instead of elevating women who work in the sex industry he just sort of denigrates all women and sounds like he is trying way to hard to be a chauvinist asshole.
This book isn't all bad: the pictures are nice and the histories of prostitution in various parts of the world, though perfunctory, are larded with verifiable facts. Furthermore, I appreciated that Simmons' eschews words like prostitute and whore and consistently refers to the book's subject as Ladies of the Night with a capital L. Sweet.
That said, Simmons' historical and personal perspective on the first and oldest profession is written at about a sixth grade level and is, on the whole, more annoying than it is informative.
"It's not that Gene Simmons," I said scornfully. "It's, like, an academic history of prostitution."
Ha! Irritatingly, the library Web site doesn't provide actual descriptions of its books, nor images, so I was surprised when I went to the Ballard branch and discovered something the size and shape of a child's picture book, replete with a padded cover.
The book starts with a lengthy diatribe about women and sex. Simmons tries hard to offend and the result is more irritating than offensive. His basic premise is that all women are prostitutes because we trade sex for protection or financial security or free dinners at fancy restaurants and he argues that women who accept money for sex should be admired because they are at least up front about it. Although I agree that we all make our unspoken bargains, and I do have respect for women working in the sex industry, Simmons' thinking is irritatingly reductive and narrow in scope. He refuses to address women who are completely financially independent or men who make the same bargains. It would be more interesting if he spent more time focusing on the way all people trade their services for money instead of accusing the average woman of being a hypocrite AND a whore. Instead of elevating women who work in the sex industry he just sort of denigrates all women and sounds like he is trying way to hard to be a chauvinist asshole.
This book isn't all bad: the pictures are nice and the histories of prostitution in various parts of the world, though perfunctory, are larded with verifiable facts. Furthermore, I appreciated that Simmons' eschews words like prostitute and whore and consistently refers to the book's subject as Ladies of the Night with a capital L. Sweet.
That said, Simmons' historical and personal perspective on the first and oldest profession is written at about a sixth grade level and is, on the whole, more annoying than it is informative.
January 2, 2013
I like Gene Simmons as long as he has his make up on and his bass in his hand and up on stage. I accept the fact that the man has an ego. But this is an ego that Donald Trump would have a hard time scaling. Maybe it is an act, I don't know.
The book is beautiful. Padded cover, lovely illustrations. BUT the writing is on par with a 12 year- old. I know Gene had a great education and even taught in his early years, but this writing was bad. At least in his autobiography he told it as it was.
This book started with me being curious about how a man can write about prostitution, then I figured, he (supposedly) had over 4000 women maybe some of them were hookers.
As I read the book, I started to get angry. His observations of being a expert on the workings between men and women were based on the kind of women he was accustomed to. He says that on the whole, all women are prostitutes.
Gene feels that all women barter our bodies for expensive dinners out, movies, dancing, expensive gifts, etc. I will agree that there are some women out there who are very much like this because it is all they have going for them.
Gene belongs to that group of men who feel that if they take a woman out on a dinner date they fully expect sex at the end of the evening. Not all women expect a man to pay their way, especially when all the women get in return is a dinner and 15 seconds of sex.
Gene is (was) a rock star of the higher order in the 70's. I was also a member of the KISS army, mainly because I loved the music and it drove my step-father up the wall.
Being that he is a rocker, certain kinds of women gravitate towards him. The gold diggers, the groupies, roadies, celebrity hunters. If these are the only women he has ever known (God knows Shannon isn't exactly a reasonable person when it comes to spending Gene's money) then he has no right to paint all of us with the same sticky brush.
The book is beautiful. Padded cover, lovely illustrations. BUT the writing is on par with a 12 year- old. I know Gene had a great education and even taught in his early years, but this writing was bad. At least in his autobiography he told it as it was.
This book started with me being curious about how a man can write about prostitution, then I figured, he (supposedly) had over 4000 women maybe some of them were hookers.
As I read the book, I started to get angry. His observations of being a expert on the workings between men and women were based on the kind of women he was accustomed to. He says that on the whole, all women are prostitutes.
Gene feels that all women barter our bodies for expensive dinners out, movies, dancing, expensive gifts, etc. I will agree that there are some women out there who are very much like this because it is all they have going for them.
Gene belongs to that group of men who feel that if they take a woman out on a dinner date they fully expect sex at the end of the evening. Not all women expect a man to pay their way, especially when all the women get in return is a dinner and 15 seconds of sex.
Gene is (was) a rock star of the higher order in the 70's. I was also a member of the KISS army, mainly because I loved the music and it drove my step-father up the wall.
Being that he is a rocker, certain kinds of women gravitate towards him. The gold diggers, the groupies, roadies, celebrity hunters. If these are the only women he has ever known (God knows Shannon isn't exactly a reasonable person when it comes to spending Gene's money) then he has no right to paint all of us with the same sticky brush.
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January 28, 2025DNF @ 10%
Small dick energy.
Small dick energy.
March 27, 2025
I didn't like the book much; it has apocryphal stories that were proven wrong, like the story of Khofu's daughter doing prostitution and receiving the pay in the form of one stone per customer to build her dad's big pyramid. disgusting!
March 11, 2025
Poorly edited and in some ways downright amateurish. Amazed that Gene signed his name to this.
March 18, 2025
There were parts of this book that I agreed with and parts that I disagreed with. It was very well-researched. The audio book was narrated by Gene Simmons. That was an unexpected treat.
June 27, 2015
DNF
I can't finish this book. The source is just too dubious. I don't know why he feels the need to defend the profession over and over again. I don't really feel the need to attack . Anyways, in this book, he goes over stereotypes about men and women and how men feel the need to branch out, and how prostitutes are more virtuous by telling things upfront UNLIKE wives. I don't know, I just found it too ridiculous and the academic front was too suspect for me to take seriously. I was looking for a history book on prostitution but the author had an agenda that involved the virtue of prostitutes. It wouldn't be so bad but in the process, he perpetuates generalizations that have no real substance to me. Also, male prostitutes also exist. He also made pronouncements about breast sizes and how men are visual creatures. I don't even know how to respond to that but say that people have different preference. He also posited a question about finding bliss with one woman versus finding bliss with many women. It isn't a gendered issue. I suspect some men and some women will choose the former and some men and some women will choose the latter. I just can't take any more of his generalized statements and the trustworthiness of his research seems very unreliable.
I can't finish this book. The source is just too dubious. I don't know why he feels the need to defend the profession over and over again. I don't really feel the need to attack . Anyways, in this book, he goes over stereotypes about men and women and how men feel the need to branch out, and how prostitutes are more virtuous by telling things upfront UNLIKE wives. I don't know, I just found it too ridiculous and the academic front was too suspect for me to take seriously. I was looking for a history book on prostitution but the author had an agenda that involved the virtue of prostitutes. It wouldn't be so bad but in the process, he perpetuates generalizations that have no real substance to me. Also, male prostitutes also exist. He also made pronouncements about breast sizes and how men are visual creatures. I don't even know how to respond to that but say that people have different preference. He also posited a question about finding bliss with one woman versus finding bliss with many women. It isn't a gendered issue. I suspect some men and some women will choose the former and some men and some women will choose the latter. I just can't take any more of his generalized statements and the trustworthiness of his research seems very unreliable.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 14, 2014
As a longtime fan of Gene Simmons, I didn’t need to buy a fancy book to give me his opinion of prostitution, but I am a fan of KISS as well as a fan of glossy coffee table books, and this fits that description.
It is a nice overview of the history of prostitution written in an accessible manner. So if you don’t know about the history of prostitution, or Gene’s opinion of it, this is what you want to read.
It is a nice overview of the history of prostitution written in an accessible manner. So if you don’t know about the history of prostitution, or Gene’s opinion of it, this is what you want to read.
December 7, 2011
I found this book fun to read, and somewhat enlightening. As usual, I agree with Gene Simmons on his opinions, particularly those on the differences between men and women.
June 29, 2011
Interesting reading and research too!
March 3, 2013
I had just finished, Kiss and Make-Up so I thought I'd read another book by Gene Simmons. It was ok, but I enjoyed Kiss and Make-up much more.
June 22, 2013
This was better than expected!
July 12, 2014
Really expecting more; or at least there was too much hype about this book. There is still space for improvement, because Gene missed out all the "dark" parts of this oldest profession.
September 7, 2011
This book is terrible. But you expected that, right?
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews