An Honest Woman

A Memoir of Love and Sex Work

De: Charlotte Shane

Narrado por: Caitlin Kelly

Duración: 4 h y 38 m

Resumen del Editor

Through the lens of her years spent as a sex worker, Charlotte Shane offers a provocative and tender reckoning of what it means to be a heterosexual woman and a feminist in a misogynistic society.

In her early twenties, Charlotte Shane quit her women’s studies graduate program to devote herself to sex work because it was a way to devote herself to men. Her lifelong curiosity about male lust, love, selfishness, and social capital dovetailed with her own insatiable desire for intimacy to sustain a long career in escorting, with unexpectedly poignant results.

Shane uses her personal and professional history to examine how men and women struggle in their attempts at romantic and sexual bonding, no matter how true their intentions. As she takes stock of her relationships—with clients, with her father, with friends, with married men, and later, with her own husband—she tells a candid and haunting tale of love, marriage, and (in)fidelity, as seen through the eyes of the perpetual “other woman.”

Braiding the personal and the universal, Shane’s memoir is a merciless and moving love letter to straight men and an indictment of habitual dishonesty, a condemnation of every social constraint acting on heterosexual unions, and a hopeful affirmation of the possibility for true connection between men and women.

©2024 Charlotte Shane (P)2024 Simon & Schuster Audio

beautiful work

feels so personal and reminds me some little episodes of my life. narrator did great job

Word choice

Flowery language use to describe a somewhat boring life of high end sex work. And she love her husband just so you know.

Uncomfortable Truths

This is a brilliant, albeit short, foray into the insights of an educated (master's degree) woman who is truly in control of her sexuality. She is completely open and possesses insights into her own psyche and erotic development sadly lacking in many non-fictional accounts. No academic work will shine a light into the shadows of this central aspect of human behavior. The work will undoubtedly be the subject of condemnation by the neo-puritans that infest both wings of the political spectrum. If you find it provocative, in subject or treatment, ask yourself why instead of judging the author her perspective.

How typical horror story sounds. I’ve now read about five books like this and they are so the same.

I didn’t like the backstory as it shows how people end up making these types of decisions.

Raw and honest memoir of an escort

This is a raw, brave, well-written story of a world I knew nothing about, a business most people know nothing about. It's riveting, sad, and powerful.

Interesting Page Turner

The book both informs and entertains in its telling of an amazing life. I felt like chapter 7 was a curveball that was necessary for the ending but inconsistent with the story. Listening to it during my drives made me look forward to my hour long commutes.

Brutally Honest & Brave

Shane‘s book came onto my radar because we share the same last name. While her narrative might take us out of our comfort zones, Shane deftly articulates what we all have thought. Dangerous behavior notwithstanding, she makes the best of explorations into love and the human spirit.

insightful at times, missed opportunities at others

overall a good listen, and some great nuggets of insight. but I feel like the focus was on just one client a bit too much when deep dives into different types of clients would have provided more insights, experiences, etc. and the final chapter about the husband felt forced as a "found love" type ending instead of covering anything about how their dynamics work with her still seeing g clients. big missed opportunity there. but again, overall a good listen with some interesting insights, even if some opportunities were missed.

Honestly oblivious

It was a well crafted narrative that had a great deal of hard truth in it which somehow managed to ignore the obvious implication that sex is by nature possessive and exclusive. That is a subjective statement, but feel free to listen to her account of how she feels of her longest running patrons and tell me it isn’t true. It hurts to hear her ignore the implications that her chosen profession has on her fellow women or even the men. She doesn’t express much regret over her choices or theirs even when it results in the ruin of their lives. That’s a tough reality to live in and it makes sense that she mostly chooses to look the other way. I appreciate her boldness in writing it, and as someone who has worked for nonprofits that help people in her industry to escape it- she is the first person I have ever encountered that was not first raped before she entered the industry. I do not find this or other account I know of it empowering.

Not as advertised

The book is basically a long discussion of the drama around one relationship rather than an overview of different experiences etc. I gave up before finishing.