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In Lust We Trust: Adventures in Adult Cinema

Page 24

by Gerrie Lim


  He is the bestselling author of three previous books: Invisible Trade: High-class Sex for Sale in Singapore (Monsoon Books, 2004), Idol to Icon: The Creation of Celebrity Brands (Cyan Books/Marshall Cavendish, 2005) and Inside The Outsider: A Decade of Shooting the Pop Culture Breeze (BigO Books, 2001). He spends his time in Los Angeles, London, and Singapore.

  Also by Gerrie Lim

  Inside the Outsider:

  A Decade of Shooting the Pop Culture Breeze

  * Invisible Trade: II

  Secret Lives and Sexual Intrigue in Singapore

  Idol to Icon:

  The Creation of Celebrity Brands

  * In Lust We Trust:

  Adventures in Adult Cinema

  Absolute Mayhem:

  Confessions of an Aussie Pornstar

  * Singapore Rebel:

  Searching for Annabel Chong

  * (published by Monsoon Books)

  Invisible Trade

  High-class sex for sale in Singapore

  Gerrie Lim

  When an ambitious, adventurous gent named Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles “discovered” the tiny Southeast Asian island of Singapore in 1819, claiming it for the British Crown, he envisioned it as a geographical gateway between East and West. Now an independent city-state, Singapore is considered an Asian economic miracle, still a strategic crossroads, but its position on the map has also garnered bluechip status in the international sex industry. Thanks to the constant influx of business travelers, a floating world exists that few talk about, where beautiful escorts from various countries offer discreet companionship for a price, one not usually proffered in the bars and brothels of Asia.

  Writer Gerrie Lim investigated this phenomenon and gained access to the secret world of highpriced sex workers. The result is a series of lucid portraits offering insights into this remarkable area of modern commerce. His subjects are women who are lavishly rewarded with money and gifts, some diverging from the oft-trod path to perform kinky services that include whipping and spanking, others being flown to exotic resorts in the company of men with money to burn. He also enters the shadowy domain of gay male escorts and karaoke hostesses, whose views challenge societal norms and question assumptions made about their career choices. The result is a fascinating work of cultural observation, from the vantage point of an eloquent literary voice.

  Invisible Trade II

  Secret Lives and Sexual Intrigue in Singapore

  Gerrie Lim

  In this long-awaited sequel to the Singapore bestseller Invisible Trade, journalist Gerrie Lim seeks to unravel and demystify two major aspects of the sex industry in modern Singapore: the secretive double lives led by the beautiful, upscale escorts and the reasons why men habitually need to spend money to pay for sex. Both, he discovers, involve addictive behavior fed by deep existential forces fraught with anger and pain, often disguised as carnal longing.

  There’s the girl who works at a public relations agency by day and moonlights as an escort by night, the karaoke-bar mamasan who deals in wild and wanton girls from mainland China, the American male escort who gets paid by visiting Shanghai socialites for his companionship both in an out of their hotel bedrooms, and the Singaporean university student who freelances as a bondage model. Male customers include the Englishman who went on a rabid sex spree in the red-light district of Geylang following his divorce, and the self-proclaimed diehard sex tourist from Los Angeles who came to Southeast Asia to sample its professional paragons of feminine perfection, finally facing his nemesis among the nightbirds of Singapore.

  As with Invisible Trade, this is investigative reportage with a startling difference—smart and sardonic, based on true lives and vivid memories, often evocative and haunting.

  Singapore Rebel

  Searching for Annabel Chong

  Gerrie Lim

  Back in January 1995 in Los Angeles, California, a Singaporean pornstar named Annabel Chong took cultural rebellion to an extreme, on terms that had never been negotiated before. She was filmed having sex with a long receiving line of men, servicing them 251 times, over a ten-hour period to set a new world record. While this was recorded as “The World’s Biggest Gangbang”, and later scrutinized in the documentary film “Sex: The Annabel Chong Story”, many of its actual participants were completely clueless as to the significance of such history being made.

  Now, Annabel’s longtime friend and confidante, and bestselling author, Gerrie Lim revisits those events and re-examines those scenarios—to shed new light on her legend, to discover why such an enduring curiosity about her exists and to learn why she is still regarded in her own native Singapore as something akin to a mythological figure and an urban legend. This book, featuring many of the author’s own conversations and correspondences with Annabel over the years, is the first serious inquiry into the fascinating persona of a seldom discussed, yet often secretly venerated, Asian celebrity.

  About Monsoon Books

  Monsoon Books is a leading independent publisher of English-language books and ebooks on Southeast Asia. We publish literary and commercial fiction (historical, crime, thriller, kid’s, romance, erotica) and quality nonfiction (biography and autobiography, true crime, food and drink, sexuality, journalism, travelogue and current affairs) from outstanding writers worldwide and we have numerous best-sellers to our name.

  If you are looking for books set in Southeast Asia, or if you have a manuscript you want us to look at, please visit our website or chat with us on our Facebook page.

  www.monsoonbooks.com.sg

  www.facebook.com/pages/Monsoon-Books/31108587442

  sales@monsoonbooks.com.sg

  Copyright

  First published in print in 2006 by Monsoon Books This electronic edition first published in 2012 by Monsoon Books.

  ISBN (ebook): 978-981-4358-12-5

  ISBN (print): 978-981-05-5302-9

  Copyright©Gerrie Lim, 2006

  The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

  Monsoon Books Pte Ltd

  71 Ayer Rajah Crescent #01-01

  Mediapolis Phase Ø

  Singapore 139951

  www.monsoonbooks.com.sg

  Visit www.monsoonbooks.com.sg to learn more about all our books.

  Follow us on Facebook at www.monsoonbooks.com.sg/facebook to find out about our latest news, forthcoming events, new releases and special discounts.

  Table of Contents

  Cover Page

  Title Page

  Contents

  Foreplay

  Part One

  Landing on Mars

  Enter Drew McKenzie

  The Weird Turn Pro

  Plot? What Plot?

  Part Two

  Damsels in Undress

  Jammin’ with the Jennarator

  The Ballad of Ava Vincent

  Lust on the Orient Express

  Foreign Affairs

  Czeching in at the Hotel California

  Part Three

  Naked Hollywood

  Going, Going, Gonzo!

  A Dream Called Janine

  Contractual Obligations

  Death and Taxes

  Photographs

  Acknowledgments

  Recommended Reading

  About The Author

  Also By Gerrie Lim

  Invisible Trade

  Invisible Trade II

  Singapore Rebel

  About Monsoon Books

  Copyright Page

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