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Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Sex workers and nerds

Really just a way for me to recommend a book and share a book I'd like to read sometime in 2008. I'll be in London for New Year's (leaving Sunday, yay!) and the first week of the year taking a much-needed vacation, investigating cupcakes and museums, working on my novel, seeing friends and having lots of kinky sex. Expect a "Books I'm Looking Forward to in 2008" list sometime soon, and some checking in here while I'm away.



The first is Working Sex: Sex Workers Write About a Changing Industry edited by Annie Oakley. Seal Press's description says:

Dispelling the myth that sex workers are anything short of innovators and artists, Working Sex brings strippers, prostitutes, dommes, film stars, Internet models, and others together into a fascinating and groundbreaking collection. Featuring contributions from a vibrant community of out and proud sex workers, editor Annie Oakley showcases women who dare to take their jobs out of the shadows and into the public consciousness and examines the complexity of a sex worker’s life.

Among the contributors are Chris Kraus, reflecting on her time working in the hustle bars owned by the Jewish Mafia in the late 1970s; Michelle Tea, singing the “Ballad of Bart Starr”; and Ana Voog, describing the early days of her pioneering 24/7 online home webcam. Working Sex offers a glimpse into a changing industry, introducing readers to the messy world of sex workers and their critical insight into class, gender, labor, and sexuality in the 21st century.


I came across Nerds: Who They Are And Why We Need More of Them on Amazon:



A lively, thought-provoking book that zeros in on the timely issue of how anti-intellectualism is bad for our children and even worse for America.

Why are our children so terrified to be called "nerds"? And what is the cost of this rising tide of anti-intellectualism to both our children and our nation? In Nerds, family psychotherapist and psychology professor David Anderegg examines why science and engineering have become socially poisonous disciplines, why adults wink at the derision of "nerdy" kids, and what we can do to prepare our children to succeed in an increasingly high-tech world.

Nerds takes a measured look at how we think about and why we should rethink "nerds," examining such topics as: - our anxiety about intense interest in things mechanical or technological;
- the pathologizing of "nerdy" behavior with diagnoses such as Asperger syndrome;
- the cycle of anti-nerd prejudice that took place after the Columbine incident;
- why nerds are almost exclusively an American phenomenon;
- the archetypal struggles of nerds and jocks in American popular culture and history;
- the conformity of adolescents and why adolescent stereotypes linger into adulthood long after we should know better; and nerd cultural markers, particularly science fiction.

Using education research, psychological theory, and interviews with nerdy and non-nerdy kids alike, Anderegg argues that we stand in dire need of turning around the big dumb ship of American society to prepare rising generations to compete in the global marketplace.

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