| REVIEWS
Women of the Light:
The New Sexual Healers Dr.
Eleanor Hamilton "Surrogates
and Prostitutes; Sexual Saints Or Sinners?" An
old friend of mine, Ken Ray Stubbs, PhD. has conceived and edited a remarkable
book about the profoundly moving experiences of nine living women who are, as
he calls them "the New Sacred Prostitutes." His 1994 book, "Women of the Light,"
(published by Secret Garden) is an extraordinary illumination of what motivates
such women and of the services they provide. Ray
has aptly named them "sacred," for these women in telling their own stories create
the feeling that not only would the lives of their clients have been diminished
without them, so would the social heritage of all of us.
Ray is careful to point out the difference
between the woman of the street, whose primary object is to earn as much money
as they can, and those women who use their own bodies to enrich their client's
concept of loving and being loved. In
his forward, Ray writes, "These pathfinders represent both what we have been and
what we can become, sexually and spiritually. Each has risked and stepped outside
the common culture and found a more meaningful path that others might also explore.
"Touch, the body, the sensual, the sexual,
the spiritual--these are the common themes throughout all the chapters, for these
temple priestesses are embodiments of profound teachings. Beyond these themes,
the stories present a wide spectrum of human sexual experiences. Their sexual
lives are far from the ordinary. To the extent that we have repressed our sexual
feelings and expressions, we may find reading about these lifestyles to be challenging...
"My hope is that these personal accounts will
open doors of understanding. These women of the light have chosen a different
path than most and have discovered a wisdom available to us all. Their lives,
if we are willing, can shed light on our own." Along
with the stories, Ray has given us a quick picture of how society over the centuries
has treated its "women of the light." From the days of the temple priestesses,
through the chilling murder of "witches," to today's highly trained, but barely
tolerated, sex surrogates, it is a history that can make us shudder.
There is probably nothing so calculated to
bring out the best and the worst in human beings as the acceptance or rejection
of the sexual side of our nature. Over and over, patients have told me--and I
know it from my own life experience--that at the moment of orgasm, we feel at
one with what we think of as God. We also feel at one with ourselves and another
human being. There is probably no experience in which the physical mates with
the spiritual with more positive results. But
when people have been made afraid of their sexual nature by those who would control
them, something else very sad happens. Fear leads to suppressed anger and hate.
Soon a force for good is converted into something evil.
We have all been the victims to some degree
of that conversion. In fact, the current political and social atmosphere of encouraging
sexual repression is creating its share of victims.
As a result, a book like Ray's
is all the more valuable, for it provokes us to take a second look at those teachers
of sex he describes. We may not choose their path, but we cannot help but open
our eyes to the ills that they have set out to alleviate. Nor can we fail to appreciate
the kinds of healing going on at their hands.  The
Journal of Sex Research
Vol.
32, No. 4, 1995
Book
Reviews These life
stories are profound teachings and will confront and enlighten the readerÉ
Typical images of the prostitute include the
women of the street and the drug-addicted victims of oppressive economics. The
Women of the Light clearly do not fit this stereotype. These sexually affirming
stories sharply contrast with the repressive fundamentalist view widely held in
our society. These authors view sex and sexual expression as a choice, as a right,
and as consensualÉ The
life stories of these women will force you to think of the many women and men
who are keeping our sexual expression free, honest, and positiveÉ
The writing is straightforward and understandable.
There is a refreshing lack of jargon and righteousness. It is difficult to find
the unpretentious middle ground between the extremes of scientific writing and
spiritual writing that these authors have achieved. The Women of the Light show
that sexuality arises from a spiritual center, and their stories light the path
for the journey. American
Library Association's Booklist
February
15, 1995 This is
a truly radical book, one that documents living women bringing together spirituality
and sexuality in surprising and moving ways. It will, unquestionably, disturb
those who wish to believe that spirituality can be expressed only incorporeally,
but those who do find embodiment a spiritual condition will be challenged and
excited by the stories in it, such as that of a nurse who helped a quadriplegic
man to transcend his paralysis and experience his firstÑand onlyÑorgasm
and later attended his death, leading him through a similar release. Others who
tell their storiesÑa masseuse, a sex surrogate, a call girlÑare,
to the conventionally minded, hardly spiritual leaders, but they and the other
storytellers consciously regard sexuality as metaphysical as well as physical.
A possibly controversial book for some libraries, but good enough to risk a hubbub.
Whole Earth Review
Winter 1995
This fascinating and highly readable book makes
the convincing case that sex work (that rather euphemistic job category covering
everyone from strippers and call girls to sex surrogates and full-service masseuses)
can be a source of sexual healing, psychological growth, and spiritual awareness.
If this seems like an unlikely proposition, I simply urge you to read Women of
the Light and think again. The
nine women who tell their stories recount numerous touching incidents (including
that of a nurse who risks her career by helping a quadriplegic man to have an
orgasm). Entering into temporary intimate encounters, while keeping the full humanity
of themselves and their clients intact, these women embody the ancient role of
the sacred prostitute, harking back to early Goddess worship, when sex was part
of religious observance.
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