BOOK REVIEW
A review of The Donna Gentile Story
By David Block of Phila Free Press. July, 2019
The Donna Gentile Story by Anita DeFrancesco.is an important read because it delves into the painful reality that a specific group of people – sex workers – cannot expect police protection, nor could they expect people to care.
Today, we are reprimanded if we neglect to fully embrace same sex marriages and people with transgender issues. However, sex workers remain on the chopping block. Their predicaments are met with indifference and sometimes pure contempt.“You brought this on yourself,” is a standard response they hear when they ask for help. This is why you should read this disturbing book.
Anita DeFrancesco paints a painful picture of how her loving cousin Donna Gentile had no choice but to run away from home. She had to sell her body in order to survive on her own. The teenaged Gentile had to fend for herself.
You will learn how life at home in Philadelphia with her family was a living hell. She had to drop out of school, get as far away from The City of Brotherly Love as possible. .
She joined the ranks of the voiceless, the pariahs, who in reality were nothing more than the sex workers.
You will read how specific San Diego police officers exploited Gentile’s predicament. They used her for sex; for snitching. They did it because they could. In their eyes, she was nobody – just a sex worker whose life did not matter.
To prevent another Gentile tragedy, read this book and then organize. Make sure that what happened to this young lady does not happen again. Although December 17 is The International Day to End violence Against Sex Workers. This book stresses that we cannot just help them once a year on December 17. .