Travels in the Skin Trade: Tourism and the Sex Industry

Rating:
Summary: A sensitive, revealing look at the seamier side of tourism
Review: Studs Terkel-style, Seabrook presents interviews, recorded and transcribed, with both sex workers and their mostly male clients in Bangkok, Thailand. This powerful volume peruses the commodification of sexuality, the sex trade, through the eyes and voices of the men who tramp the sex markets--the bars and brothels--and the women, men and children who service them. Also, addressed are a variety of related topics, including the global economy and developing countries, sociocultural costs of economic development, organized sex tours and agencies, human rights, children's rights, and HIV / AIDS. A highly readable travelogue, recommended for tourists, travel agents, and anyone interested in this controversial and sordid subject.

Rating:
Summary: this book is good
Review: this book is very informative and blows the lid off the illusion of paradise that thailand is perceived by many to be. the real truth of the relationships between the prostitutes and the "farangs" is exposed in detail. if you want to know why men seek out these prostitutes, how long the relationships last, why the prostitutes treat the johns as they do, and if you want to understand the miscommunication and false feelings that go on between john and prostitute, this is the book to read. the harsh reality of thailand is exposed.

Rating:
Summary: this book is good
Review: this book is very informative and blows the lid off the illusion of paradise that thailand is perceived by many to be. the real truth of the relationships between the prostitutes and the "farangs" is exposed in detail. if you want to know why men seek out these prostitutes, how long the relationships last, why the prostitutes treat the johns as they do, and if you want to understand the miscommunication and false feelings that go on between john and prostitute, this is the book to read. the harsh reality of thailand is exposed.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book
Review: This is an excellent book and as real as it gets. Highly recommended. I have read the book several times. It really helps you understand why so many predatory low lives wind up in Thailand chasing prostitutes. It really is very interesting.

Rating:
Summary: Not much new here
Review: This volume is interchangeable with any number of of other sociological tomes. The author tries to depict a cross section of aging customers, some human slaves working in debt bondage after being sold (often by their parents) to a brothel.some of the helping organizations-but it doesn't hold together very well as a book unless you have been living on another planet of late. The inclusion of sex in the title is somewhat misleading as this could just as easily be about poor Pakistanis in slavery to brick kilns.