Behind the Mormon Curtain: Selling Sex in America's Holy City

by Steve Cuno

Overview

“I MAKE A LOT OF MONEY AS A CALL GIRL” wasn’t the answer author Steve Cuno expected when he asked a new acquaintance how she planned to capitalize her start-up business. Wait, hold on, he thought. In Salt Lake City? Home to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormon Church, where all it takes to become the object of steamy gossip is for a neighbor to see you take a sip of coffee? In a religion where nonmarital sex is second in seriousness to murder? “You’ve no idea the people I could get in trouble,” she told him. She’d entertained politicians, police officers, judges, defense lawyers, prosecutors, doctors—all of them married, almost all of them practicing Mormons. Many were highly visible, highly regarded leaders in the faith. So began Cuno’s behind-the-scenes investigation into Salt Lake City’s prostitution industry. Over the course of three years, he interviewed prostitutes, johns, police officers, social workers, and massage-parlor owners—and uncovered a surprising underside to the Mormon Church’s carefully cultivated image of wholesomeness and family values. He found that Salt Lake’s prostitutes—“sex workers” or “providers,” as they prefer to be known—don’t live in the illusory experience they create for their clients. Many are multilingual and hold college degrees. They fix meals, drive kids to school, help with homework, handle household chores, socialize with others in the community, have love lives of their own—and, yes, go to church, sometimes with the very people who sneak out to meet them. With wit and sensitivity, Behind the Mormon Curtain takes a deep dive into the quintessential American religion and the world’s oldest profession, as Cuno tells the story of what he discovered, how he discovered it, and what it reveals not just about Mormons, but about us all.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781634312172
Publisher:	Pitchstone Publishing
Publication date:	11/16/2021
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Steve Cuno is the humor columnist for Free Inquiry magazine, an award-winning advertising writer, and the as-told-to author of Joanne Hanks’s popular memoir, It’s Not About the Sex My Ass: Confessions of an Ex-Mormon, Ex-Polygamist, Ex-Wife. In his spare time, Steve enjoys walking his dogs, playing his piano, and wondering what to write next. A former Salt Lake City resident, he now lives in Portland, Oregon. To learn more about or to contact Steve, visit www.stevecuno.com.

Table of Contents

Author's Note 1: George Carlin's Infamous Septet 11

Author's Note 2: The Tricky Business of Inventing Names 13

Prelude: "Well, This Is Awkward." 15

1 Logo for a Call Girl 23

2 Meeting Annie (While Avoiding Arrest) 31

3 A Brief History of Mormon Sex 45

4 Secret Sexual Activities of Mormon Men 67

5 The Life of a Mormontown Sex Worker 84

6 Mormontown's Asian Massage Parlors 125

Interlude: Busted Mormons and Fuzzy Lines 160

7 Male, Once-Mormon Sex Workers 168

8 The Mormon John 182

9 A Police Officer and a Gentleman 202

10 Should It Be Legal? 215

11 A Mormon Was Naughty. So? 235

Postlude: "Well, This Is Creepy." 243

Afterword: About the Interviews 247

Acknowledgments 249

Glossary 251

Notes 265

About the Author

Editorial Reviews

"With a style calling to mind the whimsy of Dave Barry and the bonhomie of Bill Bryson, author Steve Cuno takes us on a rollicking tour of sex-for-pay in Salt Lake City—Mormon Mecca—as seen through the eyes of its sex workers. Even Mormons, it seems, can find themselves at odds with their own principles. Who knew?" —Tyler Measom, award-winning producer-director of Murder Among the Mormons, Biography: I Want My MTV, An Honest Liar, and Sons of Perdition

"Steve Cuno peers behind the curtain, and under the covers, to provide a fascinating glimpse of the sex industry in the land of the Latter-day Saints. His interviews and in-depth research reveal the struggles of these workers, the abuses they endure, and the corruption and hypocrisy of the community they serve. This story is at once insightful, humorous, and disturbing." —Karen Stollznow, PhD, linguist, academic researcher, and author of On the Offensive, God Bless America, and Haunting America

"The book is fantastic. Grim as hell in places but that’s a feature not a bug." —Ophelia Benson, columnist for The Philosophers’ Magazine

"In Behind the Mormon Curtain you’ll learn how—and why—the randy latter-day sinners in and around Salt Lake City are as human as any of us. Maybe more so. Cuno’s no prophet, but with this explosive book his credentials as a seer and revelator are secure." —Tom Flynn, editor of Free Inquiry and author of The Messiah Trilogy

"Steve Cuno has written a book which can upend the general public’s view of sex workers. He has delved into the motivations and current status of women and men who have chosen this career. As well as being a good read, the book is well written with some psychological underpinnings. As a trained clinical social worker, I enjoyed the interviews and the writer’s sense of mischief." —Sheryl Ginsberg, licensed clinical social worker

From the Publisher