Whore Carnival

by Shannon Bell

Whore Carnival is Shannon Bell's feminist genealogy of prostitution, linking the ancient Greek "hetaera" - the holy courtesan - to the sex industry workers of post-modern Babylon. In these interviews, pleasure texts and "cuntceptual" essays you'll meet the Art Tart and the Slut Goddess, the Scarlot Harlot and the Marquesa, the Dean of Students at the Academy For Boys Who Want To Be Girls, the Mistress of the House of Domination, and many more magical whores and hustlers, sex artists and porno-politicos, all of them with an eye - or some other body part - on the orgiastic issues of sexual and social insurrection.

Genres: Sex Work

288 pages

First published March 1, 1995

Reviews

[Pilouetta · Rating 4 out of 5]

a combination of interviews, essays, photos and performance texts. it is little book about whorepower. what if instead of the workers taking to the streets, the street-workers took to the presses? veronica vera is quoted as saying, "sex workers are the new sex experts. what we do is political. sex is political." labor organizers often overlook sex workers, so much of the activism in this business comes from the rank and file. bell explores the business end of sex work (pornography, hustling, stripping, fetish/fantasy work, prostitution), the legislation curtailing the industry, and provides some international comparisons. her attitude is that a blow job is better than no job. features interviews with candida royalle, annie sprinkle, veronica vera, scarlot harlot, julien francisco and contains pornography by the guerrilla grrls.

[okyrhoe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Shannon Bell interviews Candida Royalle, Annie Sprinkle, and other founding femmes of the post-porn era, who share their experiences and views on professional sexwork and the porn industry.
Unfortunately all the theorizing and the apologetics can't ignore the fact that this is a profession of last resort for 'professionals' in the Western Hemisphere, and an inescapable fate for women elsewhere (E. European, S. E. Asian) pressed into 'the business.'
The logical flaw is that most of the ideas discussed here won't hold beyond the context of a so-called democratic society.

[Bart · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Scarlot: One of my theories is that sex equals woman because we are the life-givers. The earth is mama, a woman, and when people love the planet more then we will all have good sex and we will save the planet" (112).

"Shannon: Do you ask people out?
Julien: No.
Shannon: The onus is on good looking people to do the asking" (182-183). (Shannon is identifying Julien as a good looking person)

The above passages are illustrations of what is messed up about Whore Carnival, a book of interviews and (boring) art work from (mostly) feminist sex workers. The interviewees frequently say really cool stuff, but sometimes the interviews take a turn for the ridiculous/insensitive/etc.