from www.encorepub.com – Sexually Deprived for Your Freedom” is the newest slogan framing my license plate. Recently, I debuted my coping technique at my neighborhood coffee shop.
Unsurprisingly, the heated body language delivered from passersby practically melted the snow on the sidewalk. Some, I admit, smiled at my forward and brazen bravado of being a military wife. Others, with their pierced lips, scanned their eyes over me as if I were classless, uneducated and undeserving to park at this swanky over-priced coffee house. I wondered what was the big deal. What were these Puritans beholden to Victorianism afraid of? Whom was I corrupting? Within this book-club preview, I can say that, for the first time, I didn‘t want to travel elsewhere. I did not want to escape. No, no; I wanted to stay put. I wanted to become an anchor. I wanted to slide our next club read out of my bag and flaunt it. So, I did—and I enjoyed the gawking.
David Henry Sterry’s latest epic work, Hos, Hookers, Call Girls and Rent Boys, is perhaps the most daring work of literature yet presented for encore book-club members to read. As we turn the pages this month, Sterry will break society’s double standard regarding sex, and he will challenge our common misconception that all sex sells well. Composed of raw, to-the-bone and uncensored first-hand positive (and negative) accounts of what it’s like to work in this billion-dollar industry, Hos, Hookers, Call Girls and Rent Boys is perhaps our most important anthology to submit to. It defiantly peels away the glamour, the myth, the sparkle, the prejudices and fear that capture our daily, sheltered lives.
“Let me start at the beginning: I was in the sex business when I was 17 years,” Sterry opened up immediately to me within our phone date. His voice echoed a man who has been there, done that and proves far better from it. “That exposed, I made the decision I was going to give these people a voice. So we can put a human face on this group of people who are so misunderstood. They are glorified and vilified by people who can only write and wonder about it. Hardly anyone, basically none, have never done yet. Rather than show the real humanity of these people, rather than listen to their voices, it’s cheaper and lazier to characterize these people pejoratively and sensationalistic. I am tired of it.”
The unique anthology has, over the course of its original release, acquired more attention than anyone expected or cared to admit. Sworn to be an original, down to its cover art, Hos, Hookers, Call Girls and Rent Boys provides an interior look into an otherwise unreachable and suspicious demographic. Showcasing writing from such sex-worker literati as art-porn priestess Dr. Annie Sprinkle; the infamous Happy Hooker, Xavier Hollander; author and LGBT activist Mattilda Berstein Sycamore; shining star of The Devil in Miss Jones, Georgina Spelvin; and our very own favorite dominatrix, Shawna Kenney, Hos, Hookers, Call Girls and Rent Boys will open our eyes and ears to an unprecedented inclusiveness.
“I think [placing this anthology in a book club] could be a great thing. It will humanize sex workers—who are often made fun of, if not completely degraded and discarded in our society,“ Kenney told me. I originally feared that this choice of work would be too alternative—even for encore. “Look at games like Grand Theft Auto where one gets points for killing hookers. Tiffanie, reading stories about the reality of that industry and it is big business has great potential to educate if not placate fears. Of course, I’m speaking about people who are open to learning about it. People who already have sex workers condemned due to religious or philosophical beliefs, well, we’ll never reach them.”
Or will we? It is a goal. Take heed, this selection does come with a warning: The stories are not sexy. They are not anything like our beloved fantasy starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. As Kenney points out, not much of the work is truly sexy. But, she promises, it is at its core honest.
“Keep an open mind,” Sterry asks readers daring enough to partake in the joy ride and submit their thoughts at the end of the month. “Keep a sense of humor and check your prejudices at the door. Remember, this book club is not your mother’s book club.”