The book is a standout because it is a good read, not a mean feat in anthropological ethnographic writing today. Readers will not only want to know more about the lives of the women being chronicled but also will be challenged in more profound ways. . . In short, this is not a feel-good book to make the reader comfortable with the theories that they have already adopted, but it is a “think-good” book. . . The book deserves particular attention in current anthropology because of its balanced portrait of lives in relative imbalance, like so many people who anthropologists approach in their investigations of sex work, alcohol and drinking, and tourism.

Current Anthropology

Bourbon Street, B-Drinking, and the Sexual Economy of Tourism by Angela R. Demovic is timely as strip clubs in the heritage site are under attack. People need the kind of illumination that Demovic provides to dispel myths and stop restrictive legislation and law enforcement. She sets the record straight for stigmatized clubs contrary to religious belief in modesty and patriarchy, misinformation that clubs cause crime and property depreciation, and efforts to gentrify or ‘Disneyfy,’ when it is the revelry and sensual atmosphere of the French Quarter that attracts tourists and provides work for all the club stakeholders.

Judith Lynne Hanna, University of Maryland

This brave and detailed book focuses on the real experiences of working in the sexual economy of Bourbon Street. Demovic’s study of B-girls breaches the rarely discussed movement of sexual entertainers across the spectrum of sexual labor, uncovering the diversity of identities of sex workers. This fluidity of practices defies clear divisions, and Demovic deconstructs the historical creation of one such legal type, the B-girl. Her long-term research reveals the sisterhood that develops within our industries, despite potential for horizontal hostility. Her investigation humanizes and destigmatizes sex workers who are central to the image of New Orleans’ Bourbon Street.

Carol Leigh, Bay Area Sex Worker Advocacy Network

This book is unique among scholarship on sexual economies, as long-term social research on the lives of sex workers rarely occurs. Bridging tourism studies, anthropology, and feminist jurisprudence, Demovic incorporates various sources, such as local news, legal documents, court cases, surveys, and ethnographic observations and interviews to offer a “thick description” of this sexual economy in the Gulf South. Ultimately, Demovic explores how B-drinkers cater to the tourist’s desire to have interactive experiences with people who represent the intangible heritage of Bourbon Street, and how the B-girls use this form of eroticized labor as an advancement strategy to meet their financial needs and aspirations.

Erica Lorraine Williams, Spelman College