[alert variation=”alert-info”]Publisher: ThreeL Media
Formats: Paperback, eBook, Kindle
Purchase: Powell’s | Amazon | IndieBound | iBooks[/alert]
Writer/musician/activist/sex worker Siouxsie Q has a mission: to bring sex work and sex workers into the light of legitimacy (and legality). Her book – Truth, Justice, and the American Whore – unapologetically pursues that mission using a winning combination of frankness, charm, and feminism.
In addition to her night job, Ms. Q has been a columnist for the San Francisco Weekly (“The Whore Next Door”) since 2014. Truth, Justice, and the American Whore is a collection of her columns along with some other previously published essays. The columns are organized into four major sections by general theme: Q’s personal entrée into sex work, the politics of sex work and sex workers’ rights, the intersection of Silicon Valley and sex work, and the changing culture around sex in San Francisco. Throughout the book, Q’s writing is engaging, passionate, and often funny; the columns range from well-researched journalistic editorials to deeply personal anecdotes, but her central mission never wavers. Even as she describes the Folsom Street Fair (lots of leather!) and discusses the best places to have public sex (the hot tubs on Van Ness are recommended), it’s clear that she does so with a commitment to a politics of sexual freedom, sex positivity, and – most importantly – her ardent belief that the best way to prevent sex work with becoming synonymous with sex trafficking is to decriminalize and destigmatize the sex industry.
While Truth, Justice, and the American Whore makes for intriguing (even titillating) reading, it’s not without a few stumbling blocks. The book’s organization mostly works, but the fact that the columns are not ordered chronologically within each section may cause readers to stumble a bit; it also includes several photos of Ms. Q, and while she is unquestionably an attractive photography subject, the photo pages break up the writing in a way that interrupts the book’s flow. However, these are relatively minor complaints that shouldn’t discourage readers interested in the sex industry and sex workers’ rights from diving into Ms. Q’s collection. Her insights and advocacy may not appeal to everyone, but they will absolutely prompt deeper thought on the sex industry for those with open minds.
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