Singapore

In the 1970's, the bookstore in my community had a section on sexuality that included a curious mix of useful books such as Our Bodies, Ourselves and fare with pseudo-scientific titles that was intended for titillation, not edification. Invisible Trade: High-class Sex for Sale in Singapore can't quite decide which of these categories it falls into. It has moments, and even whole sections, that are informative, thought-provoking, and very interesting. These are, however, embedded in a matrix of writing that seems intended to be sexually provocative. While some have praised Lim for letting the women and men of this narrative speak directly, their statements do not ring true. Instead, they sound like the fake confessional statements I recognize from my furtive adolescent reading of books like The Happy Hooker. Lim attempts an objective tone, but a certain men's magazine smarminess still pervades the work. For the reader who is paying attention to social justice issues, the correlation between economic necessity and voluntary prostitution is obvious. Lim glosses over this, but devotes much time to pop psychological explanations for at least some aspects of both prostitution and paying for sex, particularly when it's not vanilla. I was frustrated that this could have been a book about differences in prostitution between countries where it is legal and illegal, but instead was generally stale and superficial. There may be reasons to read this, but do pair it with Louise Brown's Sex Slaves: The Trafficking of Women in Asia for the broader context of involuntary sexual labor. ( )