Rating: 
Summary: Couldn't put it down, deserves MORE than 5 stars!
Review: As one who has always held fast to the stereotypes that surround strippers, it came to my attention that my views were unfair in light of the little knowledge I have of them, or the world they work in. Eaves' book made them real to me. She profiled some of the most fascinating women I have ever read about. They became 3D, more than just a plaything for men, as I had always believed. And once she completely wipes the slate clean of any stereotypes you may have, she tells you what she learned in her years working as a stripper. Wonderfully introspective and a fascinating psychological study of both the dancers and customers, this book is an amazing must read for everyone.
Rating: 
Summary: another [dancer]
Review: At first, I enjoyed the engaging conversational style of the author and could identify with many of her thoughts on the world around her. But frankly, I had to force myself to finish the last two sections of the book. Why?Basically, because this is a book by yet another middle-class white girl from a good family who has an education and danced at a nice peep-show for a single year and decided that it just totally screwed up her life. So much so that she had to go back and try it again. In her struggles for finding her motivation, she overlooks the main reason of why 99% of us [take our clothes off]: money, pure and simple. Trying to find the deeper meaning in using stereotyped ... roles to her advantage in her job, she twists herself into whiny knots about it all. For Pete's sake, she danced at a rather nice peep-show, not a Tijuana trick bar, and she never had to really interact with her customers if she didn't want to. Another minus is that she can't seem to get out of bad relationships, (like most women, really), or figure out what she wants in life (common to most people, I imagine). She also reports in exhaustive detail about the .../dancers she hangs out with. She managed to pick girlfriends who were screwed up as well, which is probably why they had so much free time to socialize with each other. Overall, this book tells a lot about the Lusty Lady in Seattle, ... Other than her Lusty Lady stories, she just went into a lot of detail about her and her friends' lives (more than you'll ever wish to know) and pondered the meaning of it all. She brought up some good points about men, women, [pysical activity] and the balance of power between the sexes, but mostly ignored money issues ...For some reason, she is continually confounded by the whole idea of stage names. She spent a lot of time focused on her own good looks, but never seemed to try and put herself in the shoes of a women who wasn't so good-looking and how her perception of the world might be changed. For a former Reuters reporter, her refusal to pull her head out ... and try to take an objective step back is quite amazing. I give this book 3 stars because I made it ¾ of the way through before I was just sick of her. I'm still waiting for a realistic [dancer] book, preferably from a girl who looks at this as a job, not a life-altering event, and then moves on with her life. Once you hang up those platforms, babe, they should stay hung up.
Rating:
Summary: Bare does not cover the issues.
Review: Author Elisabeth Eaves in the prologue of "Bare" tells us she wants to understand her past experience as a peep-show dancer. The event haunts her for answers about her motives and also larger issues such as the status of women's sexuality within society. Eaves therefore quits her reporter position to return to the stage once again to achieve the aforementioned goal. Besides drawing from her own experiences, she also intimately chronicles the lives of four other sex workers/friends.
As a memoir it works; Eaves writes with ease as if talking to an old friend over a long phone call. However, the author comes up bare on any sociological depth. Prurient interests will be satisfied; there are plenty of detailed scenes about the daily work life of affording men a sexual release. But one is not closer to a lucid view on women's sexuality at the end of the book. "Bare" would be an ideal reading assignment for an introductory women's studies course or a 101-sociology class. Stereotypical notions about strippers-being stupid, abused or druggies-are shown to be inaccurate, the women showcased are far more complex, often having college degrees and considering themselves as "feminist strippers".
Eaves' narration effectively portrays the ladies with a bitter-truth honesty and shows how they " . . . become subservient to cash." We helplessly watch the women's lives slowly over time become increasingly used more instead of using the profession to garner large amounts of money to pay for college, start a business, enjoy free time and so on. Eaves states, "In the end I decided that all sexuality for profit was insidious. Sooner or later, the effect of money would turn sex into something dishonest, and I didn't want that to happen to me." But for the majority of these women it is too late as their life is tainted with ruined relationships, broken family ties, and psychological damage.
Rating:
Summary: Grin and Bare It...
Review: Author Elisabeth Eaves offers deep insight into the world of peep-show dancing, a world that is, in fact, a bit different than stripping. Men watch from glass booths, sometimes exposing themselves to the dancers-- one brings a Barbie doll into the booth and comes by every day. Eaves describes an interesting and sometimes troubling world. Onstage and off, the reader learns what it is like to work in this environment. One of the things I found really interesting was the daily grind (no pun intended) of exotic dancing, Eaves does an excellent job describing a Saturday morning staff meeting between dancers and management.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, Entertaining, and Educational
Review: but then just meandered. I was never quite sure what her point was as it changed every other chapter. It seemed like an awful lot of navel-gazing considering it was frigidly free of any real emotion. She describes bachelor party scenes in great detail (I'm unsure how that furthered the "plot"... honestly, I was confounded by many of the disjointed tales sprinkled in) but in such a clinically removed way as to render them pointless. I'd say she's another toe-dipper who thinks what she's done (for such a short time & so tamely) is just the most "out there" sociological fantasia & by that "merit" makes it worthy of a book. It doesn't. And she must know it. The addition from left field of friends from the Lady & their stories in such mundane detail left me scratching my head. She MUST be coming to some grand conclusion at the end that ties this all together, I rested assured, but no. She may have pranced around naked (for a year) but she's an emotional prude & that makes this an "only okay" read. I did enjoy some of it but she needed to get more real.
Rating:
Summary: I thought it began promising
Review: but then just meandered. I was never quite sure what her point was as it changed every other chapter. It seemed like an awful lot of navel-gazing considering it was frigidly free of any real emotion. She describes bachelor party scenes in great detail (I'm unsure how that furthered the "plot"... honestly, I was confounded by many of the disjointed tales sprinkled in) but in such a clinically removed way as to render them pointless. I'd say she's another toe-dipper who thinks what she's done (for such a short time & so tamely) is just the most "out there" sociological fantasia & by that "merit" makes it worthy of a book. It doesn't. And she must know it. The addition from left field of friends from the Lady & their stories in such mundane detail left me scratching my head. She MUST be coming to some grand conclusion at the end that ties this all together, I rested assured, but no. She may have pranced around naked (for a year) but she's an emotional prude & that makes this an "only okay" read. I did enjoy some of it but she needed to get more real.
Rating:
Summary: Another Stripper rationalizing her career choice.
Review: Elisabeth Eaves wants us to believe that stripping is a power game. And to her it is. She wants us to believe that she is an ultra feminist as well. But the bottom line is that Eaves strips at peep shows for the same reasons that "dancers" strip at gentleman's clubs, and women sell their bodies (for real) at Nevada brothels, and why women pose nude for Playboy. Plain, and simple, MONEY. Sure, a huge ego is involved. Sure, they get off by watching pathetic men drool all over themselves when certain body parts are exposed. But Eaves forgets to write about the part where she, and the rest of the strippers drool. When they see all those "Ben Franklins". Eaves spends much of the book, mystified as to why the boyfriends/husbands of the strippers hate the profession, and why the partnerships collapse at the seams. And she, as do all strippers seem to, has a pure love, and joy at being independent. And travel. Eaves loves to travel, and is never happy settled down, or with a steady flame in her life. She isnt happy unless she is on the road, or at a peep show, watching a pathetic, lonely man pay money to talk to a naked woman. Much of the book is spent bragging about the obscene amounts of $$$ these women make for a few hours of work, and how they can pay off mountains of debt,pay off fancy cars,build enormous homes, ect. and put themselves through college for a few hours of work a couple of times a week. But she does admit that it is a younger woman's game, and these women need to make as much moolah as possible before they hit thirty, and the younger blood takes over. Eaves is so full of herself, she seems ready to burst at the seams at any given moment. Much ado about nothing is made about "control", when it is she that is exposing her most private parts so that 67 year old men can mastrubate in front of her for a few bucks. A raw and brutally realistic look at the pathetic life of a money hungry ego-maniac who refuses to let herself be touched. She should have reconsidered. She'd have made twice as much at the Mustang Ranch.
Rating:
Summary: Well written page turner
Review: Elisabeth Eaves writes from experience about working in a peep show booth and other jobs related to being a stripper. She was not a victim or forced into this--it was a conscious decision and one she used to her advantage.This book offers insight into the women that she meets and the world of strippers.
Rating:
Summary: Canadian Woman Power
Review: Excellent story that reads half like a page-turning novel and half like an interesting academic investigation. Eaves is able to examine her motives impartially, which is an almost impossible task, up until right before the end. The reader feels the same mix of intrigue, temptation, and disgust that stripping and sex-for-money is all about. Are strippers powerful because they extract money from weak men or are they contributing to societal stereotypes that have always placed women well below men? The answer, confusingly, is YES.
Rating:
Summary: Bare...
Review: I enjoyed reading about the author's experiences in the adult nude dancer industry (Seattle's Lusty Lady). The author writes about early feelings and interest over her sexuality and how it affected men. She flirted with the power she felt over men. I was so much fascinated by the details of what the women did on stage or men did in the booths. Especially with regards as to what the dancers really thought about their customers. Another fascination lies in how Elisabeth Eaves used men to get what she wanted and needed. Its an interesting idea whether she was changed to think that way by nude dancing, or not.
I enjoyed this book because it gave me insight into how women view men in regards to sex and power.
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