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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: another [dancer]
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: Interesting, Entertaining, and Educational
Review: I enjoyed reading this book and have continued to think of it days after I finished. It was well-written and well-organized. I felt the author led me through her thought process, incident by incident, and helped me come to the same conclusions to which she had come. I really got into the story and felt connected with the author. I would recommend this book for feminists born in the 1960s or later who aren't offended by explicit descriptions of pornography. The book isn't particularly "sexy," but does have some explicit descriptions of sex acts in order to get the point across, which works.
Rating: 
Summary: Sensual and Intellectual
Review: This book is a fascinating journey into the world of the stripper. Ms. Eaves is a great writer and the sections where she talks about her life are well-written and compelling -- putting to rest any notions that there are no brains behind the naked beauties. When she dives into the lives of the other dancers, things get a little bit off track, but only for a short while. This book has a lot to teach about the mindset of the stripper; about the sexual politics of stripping; and about how some woman view sex in general; and about how one woman views her body and her boundaries.
Rating:
Summary: Sensual and Intellectual
Review: This book is a fascinating journey into the world of the stripper. Ms. Eaves is a great writer and the sections where she talks about her life are well-written and compelling -- putting to rest any notions that there are no brains behind the naked beauties. When she dives into the lives of the other dancers, things get a little bit off track, but only for a short while. This book has a lot to teach about the mindset of the stripper; about the sexual politics of stripping; and about how some woman view sex in general; and about how one woman views her body and her boundaries.
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