DAVID HENRY STERRY describes that period in his life — back when he was a 17-year-old living in Hollywood and studying existentialism at Immaculate Heart College in Hollywood — as the time when he was "an industrial sex technician." And it's that experience — during which Sterry was paid to work mostly with women, but also to verbally and physically humiliate men — that inspired him, years later, to put together and edit his latest book, "Hos, Hookers, Call Girls and Rent Boys: Professionals Writing on Life, Love, Money, and Sex."
"This anthology, as it is, could only have happened because I used to be in the Life," Sterry said in an e-mail. "These are voices it would be virtually impossible to get if you were not ... someone who had been in the business. But I was determined to show America the human face of all the people in the sex business, to get people to understand that we are sisters and brothers, aunts and uncles, cousins, grandmothers, dads and moms. ... And if I hadn't first done this myself, struggled for years to try to tell my story, then finally to come out of the sex-worker closet, I wouldn't have been able to help other people do it."
The collection, which has been praised by The New York Times Book Review ("brutally honest and frequently funny"), Publishers Weekly ("heavy with raw emotions") and the New York Press ("it's not just about sex"), runs the gamut from taking pride in the profession ("40 Reasons Why Whores Are My Heroes") to describing its horrifying moments ("Helping Daddy Pay the Rent").
There are pieces both from anonymous writers — with titles like "Boys Shouldn't Kiss Their Father on the Lips" and "Co-Co County Boy" — and established personalities, like porn star and educator Nina Hartley, who proclaims in her entry, "Playing in the Sandbox," that she "became a sex worker for narcissism, altruism, for voyeurism, for exhibitionism, and as a long-term field study." If "Boogie Nights" made you cover your eyes, then you should probably pass the book to a stronger-stomached friend.
But for Sterry, "Hos, Hookers, Call Girls, and Rent Boys" is about more than just the ins-and-outs of the sex industry: It's a chance for the men and women involved to tell their stories.
Sterry — who has written a number of other books, such as "Chicken: Self-Portrait of a Young Man for Rent" and "Unzipped: A True Story of Sex, Drugs, Rollerskates and Murder" — spoke with Express about his idea for the collection, America's most commonly held misconceptions about the sex industry and whether the book should go in the "entertainment" or the "educational" portion of your bookcase.
TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY: The Black Hollies are the zillionth group aping the psychedelic blue-eyed blues of mid-'60s Brit-rock bands such as The Kinks, The Yardbirds and The Who, but this New Jersey quartet carries its homage with upper-class sass. You've heard The Black Hollies' new CD, "Softly Towards the Light," a billion times — but the garage-rock formula is so great, listen to it a billion and one. (And their lives shows are supposed to be hotter than overdriven tube amp.)
After the jump: Check the video for "Paisley Pattern Ground" plus some live clips for proof of the band's style-filled substance. Plus, download a free MP3 of the howler "Gloomy Monday Morning."
» Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW; with Title Tracks, Bryan Scary, Tue., Nov. 10, 8:30 p.m., $10; 202-667-4490. (U St.-Cardozo)
» The Metro Gallery, 700 North Charles St., Baltimore, Md.; with Title Tracks, Bryan Scary, Baby Aspirin, Wed., Nov. 11, 8 p.m., $8; 410-244-0899.
Photo courtesy Big Hassle Media
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