Whores and Other Feminists

by Jill Nagle

Book Overview

Whores and Other Feminists fleshes out feminist politics from the perspective of sex workers--strippers, prostitutes, porn writers, producers and performers, dominatrices--and their allies. Comprising a range of voices from both within and outside the academy, this collection draws from traditional feminisms, postmodern feminism, queer theory, and sex radicalism. It stretches the boundaries of contemporary feminism, holding accountable both traditional...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0415918227
• ISBN13: 9780415918220
• Release Date: August 1997
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 306 Pages
• Weight: 0.98 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A POWERFUL BOOK

What is most fascinating about the war for sexual equality is that sex itself is the principle battlefield. The average American male idolizes Hugh Hefner for having seven girl friends all one-third his age and enjoying a lavish life style that was paid for by the fleshy attributes, surgically enhanced and otherwise, of thousands of women. Yet if a woman claims to have had hundreds of sexual partners and profited from those ventures, she's a social outcast whose potential husbands or boyfriends are silently held to "you're not going to get serious about her, are you?" As far back as the middle 18th Century, the most lascivious of the mainstream women's rights campaigners, Wicked Victoria Woodhull, who coined the term Free Love, was written out of feminist history by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony as an embarrassment to the more serious elements of the struggle. Jill Nagle's book challenges the debate on its most fundamental playing field: is sex part of sexual equality? Is profiting from and enjoying one's sexual skills and powers only a male option? This book is funny, entertaining, sexy, provocative, uncompromising and above all, marvelously intelligent and insightful. Yes, that woman in the Eros Guide ad has a master's degree and finds more freedom, fun, and financial gain in tying up and spanking the bank president than she once had fetching his coffee and dodging his ass-grabbing. Really, not all women who strut about in high heels and nothing else at the Mitchell Brothers theater are the victims of sexual abuse. And yes, if a woman has the right to say no, she has the right to say yes to whatever might feel good and look good and accept the array of consequences without selling out anyone else's political expectations. I loved this book: any man who feels threatened by smart, sexy, independent women has missed the best of them. Read and enjoy, and while you're at it, learn a few things. It will stay on my book shelf for a long time. James Dalessandro, author/screenwriter, Bohemian Heart, 1906

This book will change you.

The perspectives presented in Nagle's revolutionary book made me re-think a lot of my politically correct feminist assumptions. I realized that perhaps prostitutes are not victims. In fact, they may possibly be the most empowered women of all. Men are charged for every minute they spend with them, the smart ones carefully screen their clients, and they don't sugarcoat the services they provide with dishonest romantic rhetoric. I was left with the astonishing conclusion that misogyny's victims are most often housewives, mistresses and girlfriends. These women allow men free access to their bodies, while often serving as maids, cooks, nurturers, escorts, masseuses and companions. Whores prove that a woman's time and sexual attention has real and significant economic value. This book is a must read for any critical thinker. It will change you.

Jill Nagle Smashes Stereotypes

I am mystified by some of the negative customer reviews of this book. Jill Nagle's anthology of essays across the sex worker theme did nothing short of smash every stereotype I had ever held about prostitutes, exotic dancers and other sex workers. These stereotypes have undoubtedly been created by the alternate over-glamorous and sub-realist portrayals from Hollywood. While any critically thinking reader will understand that Nagle doesn't cover the seedy underbelly of child prostitution and harmful sex services, what she shows is voluntary sex work on an equal par with any other skilled profession, though with a healthy dose of self-reflection, feminism and personal growth on the part of the workers themselves. I probably bought five additional copies to send to friends. It's an eye-opener.

This book is enlightening!

As a college student studying American cultural studies and emerging feminist discourses, I found this book to be an important and must read for any feminist regardless of their position on the issue of sex work and feminism. After reading this book, I am interested in learning more about feminist theory and how it relates to sex work. Jill Nagle compiles a various assortment of different kinds of sex work from stripping, to S & M, to phone sex operators. As a woman, as a feminist, as a man, as a critical reader, as a sexual being, please do read this book. highly recommended!