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Archive for the ‘Book review’ Category

Can You Help Finance a Book Promotion?

Posted in Book review, tagged , , , , , , , on 2 May, 2013 | Leave a Comment »


I have been asked by a sex worker friend who has written a superb book if I would help. She is trying to raise funds to promote her book to reach as wide an audience as possible. Like many authors today she is self publishing. Getting book deals, even with a well written book is not easy and even if an author does secure a deal the chances of making any money from their work is virtually nil for lots of reason. This is why many authors are now self publishing, Self publishing allows authors control over their work and gives them a greater return on sales. The big draw back however is that you have to promote and advertise your work which costs money.
I have read this particular book and have previously written a review for it on Harlots. It is very good and as Aphrodite suggests could be very useful in the battle for rights. If you could help her raise the funding she needs to publicise her work so that it will reach the widest audience I am sure she would be very grateful. Every piece of work helps in the battle for rights.
It would also be helpful if other bloggers could help publicise the book and of course I urge readers to purchase the book.

Below is her email explaining what she is doing.

I am a sex worker and author/advocate for sex workers’ rights. I have
written a book entitled Are They Bad Girls or Brilliant?. If you visit the
book website, http://www.aphroditephoenix.com, you’ll find excerpts and rave
reviews.

2booksnew8-2011

The print version just came out on Amazon and I will soon be presenting
the Kindle version at an extremely low price.

I am confident that if fence-riders read this book, their views about sex
work, the human rights of sex workers, and a woman’s right to choose the
work will morph to wholehearted support. I feel that my arguments are so
powerfully presented, written with such emotional appeal, and are so
well-sourced, that even if the extreme opposition experiences this book,
many will find themselves dismantling their views.

I am seeking help to promote this book in order to enlighten the world
about the true nature of sex work, which is empowering for independent sex
workers, healing for clients, and eternally and rightfully needed. Any
donation, no matter how small, will help with the promotion. Go to
http://www.gofundme.com/2p55qw if you’d like to contribute. Thank you so
much!

Sincerely,

Aphrodite Phoenix

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Red Harlot Publishing launching soon.

Posted in Academic, Biographical, Book review, Erotica, Horror, Pagan and Spiritiual, Red Harlot Publishing, Sex Positive, tagged , on 1 March, 2013 | 5 Comments »

Publishing Logo 2
Red Harlot Publishing will be launching in the next few weeks to compliment the Harlots Parlour Blog. It has been on my mind for some time to create a vehicle for “especially” new authors to advertise and promote their work. I wanted to create a place that was welcoming to sex positive and creative writers who self publish or use traditional publishers to present their work, talk about their work, give interviews and present reviews.

The site is a work in progress but can be viewed “HERE”

Red Harlot Publishing will be complimented by a face book page and a twitter account (please follow @redhpublishing) where authors will be promoted on a daily basis on a revolving quota. I hope to keep this service free although I plan to ask anyone using the service to buy one of two or three book choices published by Red Harlot Publishing costing no more than £2.99 which will cover some of the costs involved in maintaining and running the sites. I may also look at a forum but that will depend upon interest shown in the venture.
There will also be links to publishers and designers. Anyone interested in advertising publishing services can contact me now for rates. Reviews and links to sex positive books are welcome and people willing to contribute articles regularly to Red Harlot Publishing are also welcome.
I would love some feed back on this idea and if people would be willing to help publicise the service and place links on their web pages I would be very grateful.
I am looking at the following genres:

Sex Work (Academic and Biographical)
Horror
Historical/Art
Pagan and Spiritual
Erotica
General/other

Douglas. Editor Harlots Parlour.

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NORMAL a film on trafficking by Nicola Mai

Posted in Book review, Research, sex worker politics, tagged , , on 24 February, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

I met Nicola Mai at Oxford, researcher on migrant labour and trafficking from London Metropolitan University famous for his research into Sex Work and trafficking in London.  The occasion was the screening of his film Normal, a film covering the realities of the victims and perpetrators of trafficking in the sex industry.

The film featured six people, a male prostitute selling sex to men, a hard man trafficker from Albania, the boy friend trafficker, a women brought to London by her boy friend who immediately made her work as a prostitute on arrival,  the women who came to London to work as an Escort but found she had to sell sex and pay off a large debt bond, and finally a TS from Columbia who wanted to get a sex change and used sex work to achieve her aims. The interviews took you through the lives of subjects from where they came from, their families, how they became involved in trafficking, their thoughts, their views and for the trafficked what happened to them in the end.

The film used actors who were using the original dialogue, and was successful in keeping  my attention for the 65 minutes. The technique was to use quickly changing camera angles, cutting between the subjects of the interviews as the stories of their lives unfolded.

Don’t go to the film expecting a rehash of Nic Mai’s research. This film was about trafficking and not the sex industry in general. It looked at the different nuances of trafficking, how the traffickers were drawn into trafficking, the different types of trafficking, and how the subjects of trafficking can become involved in trafficking. Parts of the interview showed how the subjects of trafficking, by stating to the police that they are trafficked and coerced can soon be released from detention and not deported. I missed some nuances in the film which came out in discussion, so I am going to watch it again.

The audience, mainly Oxford undergraduates seemed generally appreciative of the film and the techniques. There was much praise for the actors. You could relate to the actors and really believe they were the trafficked and traffickers.

In the discussion afterwards we heard from Nic and Ellis from the SWOU. Ellis explained what the SWOU was, and their education programs . They answered questions from the audience and both explained that this was the ugliness of trafficking, but that in the huge majority of cases those coming to the UK were not trafficked. Nic mentioned the figure of 6% trafficked from his studies. There was discussion on the laws, and how the current laws stopped migrant sex workers seeking medical help here, making them fly back to Romania or where ever they come from in emergencies. Both felt total decriminalisation was the only safe way to go. Decriminalisation ultimately reducing stigma. Stigma was mentioned, and Nic could relate that to his homosexuality.

It was heartening to hear students ask what they could to help the cause of sexworkers. Ellis answered this by asking that people should facilitate opportunities like this, where the voice of sex workers could be heard.

The film is on in London

Date: 21 March 2013
Time: 6pm
Place: Room LG01, New Academic Building, Goldsmiths, University of London, New Cross, London, SE14 6NW

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Fantastic New Sex Worker Book Published

Posted in Book review, tagged , , , , , , on 11 February, 2013 | 1 Comment »

I had the pleasure of proof reading it and would like to introduce it to you all

Image

I was asked to write a review for a book by a fellow escort. I personally am not a huge fan of books about escorting lives but I said yes. I was surprised when I started to read it that it was not another boring life story or a story that judges sex workers for good or bad but rather a book that tells the story of a sex worker through his sexual adventures. Yes it is a dirty sex book and very dirty and very explicit in places. It is also a very human story. Perhaps there is a little to much philosophy at the beginning for those who want action from the first page but this is what makes this book that little bit different and believe me it gets dirtier and is well deserving of the title “My Dirty Memoirs.”

Christopher Harlot (not his real name) is now an erotic masseur with an infamous blog. This is “book one.” Apparently there will be three books in the series. Book one tells us of his privileged life (I mean his family had stabling for ten horses) and how he lost his virginity, how he became very popular with many of the college rugby team and of his love affairs. I gather book two will detail his early years escorting, mainly in Edinburgh and London and Book three will bring us up to date with what he is doing now.

I enjoyed reading this book and yes it even made me blush in places but was nice to read something a little different. Very erotic, very graphic, very honest and written from a gay/bi man’s point of view. The book details his sexual encounters with women and men and couples. I agree so much with his philosophy about sex. I just wish that I had his honesty and his staying power.

Visit it’s available for Kindle, Kobo, iPad and many others

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/284548

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“An Agency of Their Own”.

Posted in Book review, Campaigns and Groups, Escorting Lives, Research, Safety, sex worker politics, Uncategorized on 23 July, 2012 | 1 Comment »

Review of:

An Agency of Their Own, a book by Gregor Gall, published by Zero books.

As a reference book “An agency of Their Own” explains and records the development of sex worker unions around the world. Unionisation has, as the book notes, given authority and legitimacy to sex workers, both in their battle to be recognised as workers and in their demands for human rights.

The author recognises in his book however, that although unionisation gives legitimacy to the voices of sex workers that authorities find hard to ignore, the selling of unionisation to a group of workers as stigmatised and criminalised as sex workers, is not an easy task. It takes time and persistence to sell unionisation, not only to sex workers but to other unions, who are naturally cautions of accepting into their midst a group of workers that some, consider to be morally and ethically, controversial.

Selling unionisation to sex workers, as the author explains, has often relied upon the cooperation of sex worker managements, ie brothel owners and escort agents and strip/erotic dance establishments owners and managers. The Co operation of sympathetic managements has offered unioniser’s access to sex workers, who, especially in the west, usually work as self employed and use third parties for discretion and safety. Conventional methods of recruitment have often not proven to be the best way to reach workers who often work in secret and often in semi legal or even illegal environments. Adapting recruitment policies therefore, has been a learning curve, not only for unions but for sex workers themselves.

Where the book is less clear, is in discussing the current situation of sex worker unions. Notably, for example, the attempted radicalisation of the GMB sex worker branch by some members which has led to often bitter infighting and to accusations of bullying. It is a situation that waits to be resolved.

This book is definitely however a must read for sex worker activists and for others interested in the history of unionisation and the positive affect that unionisation has had in mobilising and creating a voice for marginalised groups within society.

You can purchase the book“HERE”

Douglas Fox,
Editor of http://www.harlotsparlour.com.

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