Hos, Hookers, Call Girls, and Rent Boys: Professionals Writing on Life, Love, Money, and Sex

A most interesting read. A new view point of those in the sex industry, when you find out they are most times, the boy or girl next door. If your looking for a book full of trash, this is not for you.

This book has six sections. It is comprised mostly of short stories as well as some poems written, by my count, 69 authors, some of whom remain anonymous. A significant number are by gay males. Any compendium featuring so many different perspectives is bound to be somewhat uneven in content. Some of the stories are quite compelling. Particularly those involving the abuse and exploitation of minors. The ingrained contempt held by some providers for customers is evidenced. Though several stories speak of some affection for some customers. A worthwhile read.

I went to Modern Times Bookstore in San Francisco to hear some of the contributors read from this remarkable anthology. These are people who reside on the front lines of humanity, experiencing life's extremes. There's no doubt these stories, poems and essays are naughty and provocative, but they are also ultimately revealing about America's obsession and hang-ups with sex. Putting this book together was a labor of love for David Henry Sterry and R. J. Martin (no strangers to hardscrabble lives themselves), and it's a tremendous achievement. --Kemble Scott, bestselling author of SoMa and The Sower

As a stripper-turned-memoirist (All I Could Bare: My Life in the Strip Clubs of Gay Washington, D.C.), I think it's great that this collection of writings by sex workers is getting such well-deserved attention. The book is a wonderful contribution to a much-needed cultural conversation.

August 10, 2009: Sterry and Martin have managed to bring together a crazy quilt of essays, and work the fabric of the anthology into a rich tapestry. Their successful collaboration initially grew out of workshops conducted at SAGE (Standing Against Global Exploitation) and came to fruition in part, due to determination to give back to a community to which they swear allegiance, if no longer active participation. The entries are loosely grouped under the book's subtitle: life, love, money and sex; though they could be categorized interchangeably since all are inextricably connected. Some of the narratives are polished and savvy, or wonderfully matter of fact about the all too often hushed and vilified matters of fact under consideration. Some are as hard and rough as drug addiction that dogs a body and soul. Others reveal a tarnished realism about the painful truths of being in the life. Many include family relations issues that are not exclusive to hos, hookers, call girls and rent boys; to one degree or another we all know mothers who are witches and fathers who are brutes, lovers and others who berate or betray. The most compelling are those which give voice to the most vulnerable, in the chapter written by sexually exploited youth. Helping Daddy Pay the Rent is a devastating indictment of societal neglect and despicable acts of parental desperation combust in one abused child that will tear at your heart. The writing is diverse and eclectic, a mirror into the nature of the industry itself. Sex workers with advanced academic degrees, porn stars and anonymous phone operators, exotic dancers in various states of gender and undress, have more in common than sex for money; they are united in their courage to tell their stories. They unabashedly relate their emotions, actions and reactions, in situations from victimization to domination, hunger to satiation; size twelve stiletto wearing cross dressers, full body massage providers, plaster casted exhibitionists all tell their tales in gripping first person I-live(d)-it-so-there's-no-sugar-coating-it manner. Hearts, heads and other assorted body parts, seedy strip joints, broken down bars and spirits, upscale hotels and high rollers are exposed with unflinching candor and gritty authenticity, bringing to light the world of industrial sex workers. This book is more than an interesting and affecting read. In its entirety, in its insistence that the gamut of personal histories about sex/money/power/frailty is a reflection of the human condition, it speaks to a broad audience. A bit of paraphrasing may serve to place the content in its most valuable context: Roman philosopher, Terence, said nothing in humanity can be alien to man; and renowned psychoanalyst Carl Jung said that light is revealed by uncovering shadow. HHCG & RB presents the universality of ancient archetypal themes playing out in modern day scenes, and in doing so, uncovers shadow for all.