Sugar Girls & Seamen: A Journey Into the World of Dockside Prostitution in South Africa

by Henry Trotter

Illuminating the shadowy world of dockside prostitution in South Africa, this account focuses on the women of Cape Town and Durban who sell their hospitality to foreign sailors. Based on 15 months of research at the seamen's nightclubs--plus countless interviews with sugar girls, sailors, club owners, bouncers, and barmaids--this research provides a comprehensive account of dockside rendezvous in one of the busiest cultural intersections of the world. Simultaneously racy and profound, these stories, analyses, and firsthand experiences reveal a gritty world in all its raw vitality and fragile humanity.

Genres: Nonfiction

242 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2009

Reviews

[Lesley Webb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was impressed by the writer's motivation and thorough immersion in his research in this thorny subject. More journalistic than novel in style, his reporting on the settings, dynamics at play and the multi-cultural exchanges were eye-opening.
The local South African dockside histories were fascinating, and I enjoyed the inclusion of the colourful local vernacular.

(Another excellent exposé on prostitution was "Rachel, woman of the night" by South African authoress Rachel Lindsay which resulted in getting a bill passed in parliament empowering sexworkers.)

[Rachelle Seymore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite an unusual read, but I enjoyed it. The author interviewed many seamen, sugar girls, club owners, bouncers, cab drivers and other role players involved in dockside prostitution in Durban and Cape Town as part of his PhD thesis, but at the end of it, writes a book about it. It is a good, solid account of this shady world. One never considers that economic and political changes also affect other sectors, such as this one and that people make choices in life, albeit difficult ones at times. An unusual read, but a good one.

[Nicolette · Rating 4 out of 5]

SUGAR GIRLS & SEAMEN
A Journey into the World of Dockside Prostitution in South Africa
By Henry Trotter
(Jacana)

LIKE the title suggests, this book is sweet and sultry.

It’s filled with the antics and tricks that prostitutes in the Cape Town and Durban ports use to attract sailors so they can ultimately get their money – to pay for rent, clothes, baby food, school fees or drugs.

In turn it looks at the sailors who have been out at sea for months craving female company, so when they dock, some are eager to find a Sugar Girl.

But it gets more complicated than that. Some of the girls are prettier than others, some shake their booty on the dance floor to show what they can do in the bedroom, a few sit alone at the bar looking all sophisticated, and some even learn a foreign language like Chinese so they can converse with sailors in their mother tongue.

They do all this to attract the sailors’ attention and increase their chances of making money. Henry Trotter is a doctoral student of African history at Yale University. His research on South African port culture led him to write this book – a more interesting read than his thesis notes, he says.

This book is an eye-opener; it’s an entertaining read that will have you laughing in places and gasping in others. — Nicolette Scrooby

(Published in the Daily Dispatch on August 23, 2008)

[Phillipa · Rating 1 out of 5]

So, another book I didn't finish reading. I tried, honestly I did. And I persevered long after I grew bored, in the hopes that it would recover. The book is just tedious. And it feels terribly repetitive. Trotter says that he was thrilled to convert his research study into an actual book, but it still feels like he had no idea how to write something that wasn't technical and academic. A ghost writer or co-author would probably have gone a long way to helping this.

[Nikki Allis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone that lives in a coastal town in South Africa definitely should read this book. A very factual and interesting read. Think I'm going to read this one again. More of a research book than a story, but very cool.