International Gay & Lesbian Review

Assuming the Position

• Nonfiction
• Publisher: Four Walls Eight Windows
• Publication Date: 1999
• 179 pages

Alternating between autobiographical narrative and diary entries, Assuming the Position chronicles the experiences of well-educated hustler in New York City's world of high culture. The book chronicles over 100 encounters, melding together stories of sexual encounters with quotations from Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, Freud, and Pascal. Whitaker's story is a classic tale of the small town Midwest boy going to the Big Apple to make a big splash. Finding himself on the verge of starvation, one night of random prostitution turned into a lifestyle and profession. Whitaker worked both as a 'free agent' from a bar as well as for an escort service. Much of the narrative is in the style of a confessional, explaining what circumstances brought him to prostitution. His stories bring light to the seedy underbelly of the cultural aristocracy of New York City. Despite self-loathing because of his prostitution, Whitaker kept at it for years mainly to support the cocaine habit he developed.

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