- Hardcover: 276 pages
- Publisher: Stephens Press (August 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1932173048
- ISBN-13: 978-1932173048
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 15.5 x 3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 499 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,811,129 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Sheehan (Above Las Vegas) migrated to "Skin City" in 1976 in pursuit of "adult fun," and asserts that Vegas is where America goes to be legally licentious. Yet despite sweet little dice imprints throughout this work, the only gambling he describes is the gambling men (and sometimes women) do with their bank accounts: Vegas's nubile beauties don't come cheap. An hour in a strip club's VIP room costs no less than $400; a hotel room "escort" starts at $500 and ranges upward. In chapters that read like snappy magazine pieces, Sheehan tours the Strip as well as the strip clubs, swingers clubs, massage parlors and porn conventions. He interviews porn stars turned soccer moms, soccer moms turned dominatrixes and young couples funding their futures with for-profit swinging sessions. Interpolated throughout are tips for sex-driven travelers: how to choose a strip club, what to expect in a lap dance, what to look for in a swinger's club, how to avoid being arrested and even where to go for a good meal. This often tame and oddly old-fashioned erotic travelogue affects an "oh, my gosh!" attitude that's both endearing and perplexing, given Sheehan's lengthy tenure in the town, but it's an engaging and occasionally shocking voyage. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
From Booklist
A 2004 British book making its U.S. paperback debut, Sheehan's examination of sex-based businesses in America's mecca for hedonists depends on interviews with a variety of sex workers and entrepreneurs. Consequently, the line between titillation and reportage is heavily trod. Nevertheless, Sheehan conveys a plausible sense of what services are actually available, regardless of various disclaimers and legal descriptions. The interviewees defend their occupations on comparative moral grounds, and they offer insights into, say, the kind of customer who spends big bucks on a no-contact lap dance. Sheehan is also a helpful tipster who includes lists of "Off-Duty Hangouts for Hot Bodies" (i.e., where to find "smokin' strippers after hours") and the top 10 "outlandish requests" put to strippers (from "No, no . . . keep your top on" to "How 'bout I give you a lap dance?"). To prospective Vegas conference attendees, Sheehan's effort well might prove invaluable, descriptions of sexual situations and all. For stay-at-homes, it's a good read-alike to Legs McNeil and Jennifer Osborne's The Other Hollywood (2005). Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Movie or Reality Show,
By A Customer
This review is from: Skin City: Uncovering the Las Vegas Sex Industry (Hardcover)
I loved the book and found that it showed the "other side" of Las Vegas that I "Joe Average" tourist never gets to see and never quite understood--it is nice to be able to put actual faces with the characters you only hear about...I have read several of Sheehan's books and the humor is once again captivating...This book would be great material for a movie or a TV reality show....
5.0 out of 5 stars
Couldn't put it down,
By
This review is from: Skin City: Uncovering the Las Vegas Sex Industry (Hardcover)
The first chapter, in which Sheehan describes his visit to the "Oscars of Porn" is the one that stood out for me. He plays the role of "Everyman" as he becomes our peephole into a world we've all been curious about but have never seen. His humor is infectious - I kept laughing out loud as I read about the people who call porn their career. Some of it is so outrageous - you just have to laugh.Everything in this book is just fascinating - I couldn't put it down. I highly recommend it - though given the cover - maybe read it in the privacy of your own home. Excellent!
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Vegas sex industry is probed through latex lenses,
By SCOTT R WEBER (Aliso Viejo, Ca USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Skin City: Uncovering the Las Vegas Sex Industry (Hardcover)
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Having been a visitor to sin city since the fifties I've always found fascination in the growth of the sex trade. Each of the eleven chapters details a different aspect of the industry, from porn, outcall, madams, strippers, swingers, male prostitution, and the police. the stories are written in more of a journalistic vein which gives the author more lattitude for exposition however I had hoped for a section(s) on the history and evolution of the sex industry in Southern Nevada. Most of the information is just an elaborated confirmation of what you can gather in a day in Vegas from the sex litertature you can get from the postcards and sex magazines given away freely on the streets. But several chapters ie. "The Oscars of Porn" and the chapter about "Mate Swapping" did explain areas of sexual interest that only a guide could explain without first hand knowledge. One thing that was clearly a revelation to me was the enormity of the industry and how it extends into all aspects of life, and not only in Las Vegas.The book reads easily and is enormously entertaining. It certainly takes a sympathetic view of the participantants and shows the industry from their side. I applaud Jack Sheehan's openness to withhold judgement. I also appreciated the time spent to allow the sex workers to explain how the made the psychological jump (excuse the pun) from a lay person to a service provider. Anyone who has ever wondered how the collective mind of the sex industry works will find an honest an open explanation that should lighten up even the most callous of conservatives.
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