Being the huge social science dork that I am, my “fun” summer reading has so far consisted of one book: Red Light: Inside the Sex Industry by Sylvia Plachy and James Ridgeway.
Here it is, in all its glory
With chapter titles such as the sex police, do-it-yourself porn, occupational hazards, and mistress anastasia, I was sure of what I was getting myself into. This is definitely not a book that is afraid of getting dirty (excuse the bad pun), but doesn’t go overboard on the shock-to-your-senses details. It is, in essence, simply realistic. I’m a huge fan of the black and white photos that are scattered throughout the pages, all taken by Sylvia Plachy. While many of them are quite graphic, they don’t feel at all dirty or explicit. In fact, they still manage to maintain a lot of beauty, even when portraying highly sexual scenes that many may find offensive. Most of these photos evoke a sense of voyeurism; it’s as if the reader is able to catch a glimpse of something so private, so intimate, and is able to understand not only what is happening but why it’s happening, how these people are feeling. My favorite is a photograph of a poem, scribbled on what looks like the back of an old envelope. Part of it reads, “Ode to the men at the bar, who hide their scabs within the sheath of their sex, wagging tongues, insisting that the girl is the object, not them. Insane throwaways, they refuse to see.”
Now don’t go interpreting my love of these photographs as this book being strictly artsy fartsy- because it’s not. It’s actually really funny. In the introduction, titled “The Business of Sex”, the authors go into great detail to describe Paulie, a man who often pays for sex. Paulie is a stereotype. “He has thick glasses and wears a rumpled suit and has just arrived from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange” (14). He lives with his mother in the Bronx. And he pays between $100 and $300 a night for sex (depending on how many girls he requests). Paulie gets off on being a man of power- his fantasies include having the women act as “the girl next door, the subservient coquette, the slut, or the mistress” (16). He might have the women kiss each other, but only when he allows it. In his world, “the women’s sexual pleasure- feigned as it may be- is controlled by (him)” (16).
Anyway, enough with the book report. Go read it yourselves!
