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Temporarily Yours: Intimacy, Authenticity, and the Commerce of Sex

by Elizabeth Bernstein

University of Chicago Press, 2007

Call Number: New Books Area HQ118 B47 2007

Bernstein attempts to show how cultural and economic changes in major cities of the Western world have changed the nature of sexual commerce. This includes the characteristics of sex workers, characteristics of clients and what clients are looking for. One of her theses is that many clients are now looking for an “authentic emotional and physical connection” rather than an “impersonal sexual release”. She also illustrates how the recent experiences of sex workers and their clients “offer insight into broader trends at work within urban life….”

The numerous quotes from sex workers and clients which are interspersed throughout the text change this work from a book which might be too theoretical for many into something which is both interesting and readable.

Book Review by Sidney Laramie, SWC Librarian