When Belle de Jour, author of the bestselling book that inspired the hit television show Secret Diary of a Call Girl, outed herself as scientist Brooke Magnanti on November 15, she got an unusual break. The press received her unconventional sexual past with respect and open-minded curiosity. Not so for an overwhelming number of people who believe that once a “Belle,” one can never be a decent “Brooke.”

The American Ph.D. candidate had run short on funds and turned to high-end prostitution to fund her education. Now a neurotoxicologist working with the E.U., Brooke revealed her real identity when an ex threatened to expose her. From the New York Times to New Scientist, Brooke comes across as an empowered and informed woman who knew she could handle using prostitution as a means to an end.

Those who commented on these articles mostly sang a chorus of “once a whore, always a whore.” Apparently, marrying a rich man and divorcing him when her studies were done is the morally sound alternative to prostitution. Many were certain that Brooke cannot build a healthy romantic relationship post-Belle.

Brooke, like any woman who has closed a chapter in her life, has moved on. But her past is still a part of her. To the discomfort and scorn of many, Brooke does not try to hide her sexual proclivities. Building a healthy relationship is a challenge everyone is face with. Isn’t the real question “Why are we still shocked by a dynamic expression of female lust?” Looks like the old Madonna/whore fallacy is alive and kicking. Well done Brooke for kicking back.

Thanksgiving lasted a day longer than I anticipated, so here’s the Saturday Book Review Round-Up today.

Penelope Lively

Christopher Isherwood, traveling in China with W. H. Auden, met Madame Chiang in the late 1930s. He caught her aura exactly: “She could be terrible, she could be gracious, she could be businesslike, she could be ruthless. . . . Strangely enough, I have never heard anybody comment on her perfume. It is the most delicious either of us has ever smelt.”

The NYT talks with Alice Munro:

The New York Times has all of their 2009 lists out: 100 Notable 2009, Top 10 from Janet Maslin, Michiko Kakutani, and Dwight Garner.

The Washington Post belatedly discovers Herge. The covers of Harlequin romance novels are on exhibit in Las Vegas. Taffy Brodesser-Akner talks about opening up her own high school life for fiction in the Los Angeles Times feature, “Writers on Writing.” Julie Powell, who wrote Julie and Julia and seemed quite cute in the movie reveals an R-rated side to her life, including infidelity with her husband:

Yet despite some fine writing about butchery, and some not-so-fine writing about romance, “Cleaving” turns out to be not much more than a rambling recitation — not to say defense — of all sorts of bad behavior. Powell would have us believe that she’s in control of her life, but she’s not even in control of her material. She has an agenda, which — ask any student of memoir — is a bad idea. Although ostensibly loving, although she doesn’t butcher or cook anything that isn’t already dead, Powell is not unlike the Glenn Close character in “Fatal Attraction”: She will not be ignored.

Alice Sebold

Determined not to let the traumatic experience rule her life, she resumed her studies and had sex with a boyfriend: “I willed myself to want it. I sensed that if I started shunning men because of the rape, I’d never stop.”

She was in denial. “This rape is not going to f****** get to me,” she vowed. In reality, it took her 15 years to recover. Everything seemed askew: “It’s like when you walk into a house and the floor slants.” After graduate school in Houston, Texas, she moved to Manhattan and ended up living in housing projects. She pursued writing but failed miserably.

The Telegraph has their best novels of the year. Several writers share their favorite books this year. Belle de Jour misses being a prostitute. In his first novel, Brian Deleeuw writes about a destructive imaginary friend. The Guardian has their Christmas list together.

The Guardian editors discuss their picks:

William Trevor. John Banville writes about his hero, his dog Ben. Herta Muller has a “psychosis”:

A former member of the Romanian secret police has launched a blistering attack on the Nobel prize winning writer Herta Müller.

Radu Tinu, who has admitted to spying on Müller as head of the secret police (or Securitate) in the Romanian city of Timisoara, where the Romanian-born German-speaking writer lived until 1987, told a newspaper she was suffering from mental delusion. “She has a psychosis, and has no contact with external reality,” Tinu, formerly known as Major Tinu, told the Bucharest daily Adevarul this week. “She wasn’t interrogated nearly as often as she has claimed.”

Nursery rhymes transformed into French poetry:

End of the celebrity memoir? The Irish Times finds out everybody’s favorite books of the year. Emma Jones – a rising star in poetry circles:

Waking

Here it is again, light hoisting its terrible bells.
As though a world might wake up with it –

The moon shuts its eye. Down in the street
the same trolley is playing the pavestones.

For twenty-five years I’ve been waking
this way. There was one morning

when my mother woke and felt a twitch
inside, like the shifting of curtains.

She woke and so did I. I was like a bird
beating. She had no time for anaesthetic.

We just rolled from each other like indecent genies.
Even the nurses were startled.

Now she says the world and I were eager
from the start. But I was only waking.

Emma Jones talks about her poetry and reads some of it:

Mais uma da Belle de Jour, uma ‘call girl’  - em 2003…

–

Há muitas coisas que esse trabalho torna difíceis de se levar a sério.

 Primeira: transporte público. Talvez as desculpas de rotina “a linha norte, reclamações, sabe, bla bla bla” sejam aceitáveis quando você se atrasa 20 minutos em um emprego normal. Mas quando um marido rejeitado tem 60 minutos entre a hora de almoço e a próxima reunião, e tomou um Viagra que o deixou bastante excitado, você não pode se atrasar. Tomamos um táxi, meu bem.

Segunda: o povo te medindo no transporte público. Se você viu “O Sequestro do Metrô 1 2 3”, sabe do que estou falando.

 Terceira: one night stands. Assim como no Exército, eu me divirto e sou paga pra isso. Às vezes nem é tão divertido, mas eu sempre sou paga. Com certeza eu recebo mais sexo oral de clientes do que já recebi durante toda a época da faculdade.

Quarta: bolsas pequenas. Tente colocar lubrificante, camisinhas, lingerie, meia-calça reserva, kit de maquiagem, telefone, diário e um chicote esporádico dentro de uma carteira da Fendi. É uma mágica que nem o Mister M. poderia explicar.

Quinta: moda. Botas de cano alto, cabelo curto, calça pescador e micro-saias de babado? Eu jamais conseguiria trabalho novamente.

-

Original Post @ http://belledejour-uk.blogspot.com/2003_11_01_archive.html

Por Belle – a Bruna Surfistinha inglesa, mas com muito mais elegância.

–

É uma questão de saúde pública, eu sei.

Entendo bem como você se sente. Esse trabalho que eu faço, o número de pessoas com quem tenho contato. Morar em uma cidade em que as doenças chegam de toda parte do mundo.

E a época do ano – a estação festiva quando as pessoas saem pra fazer farra, pra esbanjar dinheiro, aquelas coisas que normalmente não fariam porque pensam, hey, é o final de outro ano. Já passei por isso. Depois acordam no dia seguinte sem saber o que tomaram e com quem estiveram. E mesmo que você se lembre, nunca saberá se os outros vão ou não se lembrar.

 Sou um vetor que espalha doenças. Ninguém está seguro, claro, mas alguns de nós correm mais riscos que outros, mesmo com as precauções disponíveis nos dias de hoje – hospitais públicos, vacinação, campanhas públicas de conscientização…

E é importante pra mim. Não há nada do tipo “licença remunerada para garotas de programa.”
Deus me livre ir parar num hospital.

Então quero tranquilizá-los o máximo que puder. Quero que saibam.

Tomei a vacina contra gripe.

–

Original Post at http://belledejour-uk.blogspot.com/2003_11_01_archive.html

Michael Chabon interviewed over at The Boston Globe.

Lit.

• Move outta the way hooker with a heart of gold, Belle de Jour is the “new Pretty Woman” says The Rumpus.  (Book Deal, TV series, etc.)

• At The Millions, they discuss “literary sausage parties“.

• Jack and Jill in French.

• Oprah can’t take publishing with her.

Black Friday ideas.

• Be one of the masses.

• You can “curl up” with these books says The Huffington Post.

• Coolio has a cookbook in case your interested.

• Don’t go to the mall, watch Dawn of the Dead.

• Maybe invite David Byrne over to make you some Jell-O?

I’m going to see New Moon on this Black Friday.

• The vampire things is explored by n+1, and sorta by The Awl.

• On second thought, I don’t need to see it, I can just look at this storyboard.

People who make music.

• Xiu Xiu’s new album is called Dear God, I hate Myself.

The way it was

• Some beautiful photos from World War 1-era Canada.

Aquí estamos ante un juego erótico de necrofilia con la ¿ingenua? actitud de Séverine.
Otra vez más, la mirada de Buñuel nos lleva desde la sonrisa a la admiración.

Las fantasías de Séverine (Catherine Deneuve) y la virtud mezcladas con la mancha del “pecado” del erotismo.

¿Es todo el film una fantasía imaginada por Severine o es la realidad?

Belle de Jour, numa foto publicada pelo site do Daily Telegraph

“POR QUE VOCÊ decidiu escrever?”, pergunta a loira de baixo para a loira de cima. Há um tom de reprovação na pergunta, expresso no semblante carregado da mulher que a fez. Era a primeira entrevista de Belle de Jour, a cientista que para pagar seu doutorado decidiu ser, como ela diz, ‘trabalhadora do sexo’, ou marafona, como Tio Fabio gostava de falar com um sorriso. (Abra o link acima, recomendo.)  Enfim, uma prostituta, e de luxo, em Londres, uma mulher bonita, culta e divertida que você só poderia desfrutar se pagasse 300 libras a hora, e isso num período de 14 meses entre 2003 e 2004.  Tão logo arrumou seu novo emprego, ela começou a escrever um blog, que fez um sucesso imediato, e no qual narrava suas aventuras sexuais secretas. Era, e é, tão bem escrito que as pessoas desconfiavam se tratar de um profissional das letras. Dois livros vieram do blogue, e mais uma série de tevê.

Com o título de doutora conquistado, e também com o ponteiro do relógio avançando, e posto que passou dos 30 uma escorte é titia, ela deixou de ser garota de programa e retomou a carreira científica. Revelou a identidade secreta porque um ex-namorado ameaçava falar. Imagino que estivesse chantageando-a. O caso teve repercussão transatlântica, e aquela era a primeira vez que Belle ou Brooke falava com a mídia depois da confissão.

Isso tudo colocado, faz sentido a pergunta da entrevistadora? Ora, Brooke começou a escrever porque tem uma imensa vocação literária. Vi textos de seu blogue, e estou lendo seu segundo livro, e é uma prosa de alta qualidade.  Tão boa que sequer parece ser o que é, a rotina de uma ‘trabalhadora do sexo’ que, ao contrário do que se vê no cinema, não tem por clientes apenas galãs. O lado degradante, que evidentemente existe na prostituição, é atenuado nos textos de Belle por um humor elegante e jovial que faz você rir quando poderia ficar chocado.

A entrevistadora parece cobrar arrependimento de Brooke e ficar desapontada quando ela diz que fez o que achava que tinha que fazer, sem remorsos. Diz ainda, sem afetação, que sente alguma falta de determinados aspectos da sua vida passada. A emoção, por exemplo, de chegar a um hotel para um encontro marcado, sabendo que terá que trabalhar bem, ter um bom desempenho, seja isso o que for.

Sou muito mais Brooke que a entrevistadora arrogante, severa, toda produzida e engomada, uma Barbie de toga que se dá ares de juíza e gostaria que os espectadores levassem a sério seus vereditos impiedosos.

São duas mulheres frente a frente, uma entrevistando e julgando, a outra respondendo com graça. Uma parece pesada em seu papel inquisitivo, a outra leve, suave, alguém que não se autoflagela por ter feito o que fez. Uma deve dormir mal e acordar mal, a outra dormir leve e acordar mais leve ainda.

Não quero ser juiz, e acho a prostituição um horror, naturalmente, mas se tivesse que escolher entre as duas loiras não faria como Pôncio Pilatos. Não lavaria as mãos. Optaria, sem dúvida, por Belle de Jour.

A entrevistadora, numa foto publicada no Daily Mail

]]> http://cinemacuts.com/2009/11/25/belle-de-jour-1967/ Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:29:42 +0000 cinemacuts http://cinemacuts.com/2009/11/25/belle-de-jour-1967/

done

If you are interested in the whole Belle de Jour saga, her ex boyfriend, called The Boy in her novels and blog has his own blog called Brookes Owen. It’s totally overblown and icky but it’s another side to the story.

So the ultimate lady blogger of mystery has been unmasked. The writer of “The Diary of a London Call Girl” has revealed all.

I first discovered her just after I began blogging. In that pre-dawn semi-darkness between Usenet and true blogging. One of my usenet acquaintances, long since disappeared into the past, had her on her blog roll. In the course of checking all the entries on this, the first blogroll I had found, Belle de Jour stood out.

Not for the subject, which was titillating and fascinating it its own right, but for the quality of the writing which was that deceptively simple readable style which is so very difficult to achieve. For several months I was a regular reader of her work. For the writing, of course. Not that there were any pictures on Belle de Jour’s daintily scurrilous blog

Always there was the wondering about the identity of this obviously highly paid escort worker. She had been blogging for a number of years and had already had one book of her posts published out in the real world. Another book was in the pipeline and there was talk of a TV series. All about the life of this well hidden author.

My blogging confidence grew, I stopped visiting her, even removed her from my own blogroll and she faded into my past as so many cyber people do. The TV series eventuated and interest in her identity grew.  Until this past week.

Reading the BBC News I found that, about to be unmasked by a tabloid, she had stepped in ahead of time and spilled all to one of the weekend broadsheets, thus positioning herself invulnerably upmarket, where she will undoubtedly stay.

Just who is she?

She is Brooke Magnanti, 34, Florida State U graduate student of informatics, epidemiology and forensic science. Brooke moved to England to study as a postgraduate student and between 2003 and late 2004 she wrote anonymous blogs under the title Diary Of A London Call Girl. Brooke is now a research scientist in Bristol.

The report in the Daily Mail suggests that in the perfect literary world of Belle de Jour, Brooke insists she thoroughly enjoyed her naughty sideline as a high-class escort girl. Others, though, might now be considering that her ability to compartmentalise her parallel lives as research scientist, student girlfriend, college oarswoman and London escort girl was, at best, emotionally distant and at worst glacially cold.

Read more here and here

So it turns out that the blogger formerly know as Belle de Jour–Dr. Brooke Magnanti–is an American from Florida. Good luck to Billie Piper trying to do an American accent if another series is commissioned.

I’m sure Dr. Magnanti will try to find herself int he likes of other Americans in Britain like Caprice (from Hacienda Heights, CA–a 10 minute drive from my hometown), Kevin Spacey, and David Soul. Well if the British can export people like Anna Friel (who has since returned to the UK) and Hugh Laurie, I’m sure America will bring some of its people to stir the pop culture for years and years to come!

Social and economic implications of Social Computing

The European Commission JRC, Institute for Prospective Technological Studies
released a comprehensive report on social and economic implications of Social Computing [aka Web2.0, social media].

‘The Impact of Social Computing on the EU Information Society and Economy’
(Eds.) Yves Punie, Wainer Lusoli, Clara Centeno, Gianluca Misuraca and David Broster
Authors: Kirsti Ala-Mutka, David Broster, Romina Cachia, Clara Centeno, Claudio Feijóo, Alexandra Haché, Stefano Kluzer, Sven Lindmark, Wainer Lusoli, Gianluca Misuraca, Corina Pascu, Yves Punie and José A. Valverde

Report: http://ftp.jrc.es/EURdoc/JRC54327.pdf
News release: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/jrc/index.cfm?id=1410&obj_id=9410&dt_code=NWS&lang=en

This wide report covers different thematic areas. In addition to a cross-cutting analysis across areas in
Ch1: Key findings, Future Prospects and Policy Implications

It contains thematic analysis:
Ch2: The adoption and Use of Social Computing
Ch3: Social Computing from a Business Perspective
Ch4: Social Computing and the Mobile Ecosystem
Ch5: Social Computing and Identity
Ch6: Social Computing and Learning
Ch7: Social Computing and Social Inclusion
Ch8: Social Computing and Health
Ch9: Social Computing and Governance

WTO May Challenge Internet Censorship

WTO May Challenge Internet Censorship: “Reuters is reporting that the World Trade Organization (WTO) is set to release a study claiming that censorship of the Internet is open to challenge by the global regulatory body due to its restrictions on trade.”

Belle de Jour revealed

The Guardian One of the best kept literary secrets of the decade was revealed last night when 34-year-old scientist Dr Brooke Magnanti announced she was the writer masquerading as call girl Belle de Jour.

Featured Editor: Onnik Krikorian

Onnik Krikorian is a British blogger, journalist, and photographer of Armenian decent who has been living in Yerevan, one of the world’s oldest continuously-inhabited cities, for the past 11 years. He is the Caucasus Editor for Global Voices where he amplifies the latest discussions taking place among bloggers in Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia. Most recently he has focused his efforts on covering the case against two Azeri bloggers who were sentenced to two and two and a half years in jail.

Social media in South America: Orkut & Brazil

The first in a series of posts on social media in South America by Raquel Recuero for DMLcentral.net, University of California Humanities Research Institute.

To start my participation here in DMLcentral, I want to write about social media outside the U.S., specifically in South America. Let’s take the case of Orkut in Brazil, an interesting and relatively-unknown subject that I’ve researched and followed closely for years. Orkut is very much a cultural phenomenon in Brazil. Although Brazilians had experience with other social networking sites (Fotolog, for example, was very popular among young Brazilians in 2003 and 2004, before Orkut appeared), Orkut caused a revolution in Internet access in Brazil.  As Orkut grew quickly in Brazil starting in 2004, it became synonymous with the Internet. Being on the Internet meant being on Orkut. The question of course is, why?

Against Crowdsourced Politics

The last post begins with the seemingly benign phrase “the promise of digital activism is to crowdsource global political transformation.”  I wrote it and I was pretty proud of myself.  I thought it succinctly summed up the potential of decentralized politics, where power is defined at the edge and by the grassroot, by thousands of ordinary citizens mobilizing together.   Well, Michel Bauwens set me straight.

An Unpoular View of Google Books

I’m starting to feel like the only person who thinks the Google Books settlement with authors and publishers is a good deal. One voice that seems not to be heard, however, over the din of Google competitors, panicky law professors, and regulators who wouldn’t know a workable solution to a copyright problem (created by regulators) if it bit them, is anyone speaking for consumers.

The effects of blogging on small business websites

HubSpot conducted a study recently with more than 1,500 of its customers and determined that small businesses that blog saw, on average, 55% more visitors than those that didn’t.

BBC appoints Alex Gubbay as first social media editor

After announcing late last month that it would create the role of Social Media Editor, the BBC has appointed Alex Gubbay as the first to fill the position.

Currently the Interactive Sports News Editor for BBC Sport, Gubbay will commence his new title in January.

The creation of the position come amidst a wider general campaign run by the BBC to be more ’social media conscious’ and Nic Newman, the BBC’s future media and technology controller, journalism has previously said: “Like a lot of other news organisations, we are at the beginning of something very exciting.”

Italy: Online activism fires up “No Berlusconi Day”

On October 9, Italy’s highest Court ruled that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s immunity from prosecution while in office — guaranteed by a special law passed by his own center-right government in 2008 — was unconstitutional. This decision has reopened two pending trials that accuse Berlusconi of false accounting and bribery.

The Internet, Obama and the Chinese Censors

By Patricia H. Kushlis

I’ve been dubious about the efficacy of social networking for government – or commercial – communication purposes for some time.   At least, I’m skeptical of too much reliance on social networking and the Internet in lieu of all other forms of communication – especially abroad. It is no panacea. Especially in countries like China.

OK.  So call me Neanderthal.

NSeries Nokias Say Goodbye to Symbian, Hello to Maemo

Here’s a bold statement: Symbian S60 is simply not good enough. I’m sure that many Nokia owners and analysts who know that Symbian currently holds around 50% of the smartphone OS market would disagree. But I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: the new generation of smartphones – primarily Androids, the iPhone, and webOS based devices – are simply better than Symbian S60 and Windows Mobile (up to) 6.5 when it comes to doing what the today’s users want from a smartphone: browsing the web, using Facebook and Twitter, gaming, and finding simple apps that will satisfy their specific needs.

JOURNAL: How to Break and Open Source Insurgency

Short Answer:  divide it.

It’s long been my contention that Iraq was stabilized at an acceptable level of controlled chaos due to a happy accident by al Qaeda (in an attempt to expand/lead the loose insurgency in a new direction).  What did they do?   They blew up the Golden Mosque in Samara in 2006.  This act of symbolic terrorism did indeed disrupt social networks as anticipated, however the consequences were ultimately disastrous for the Iraqi open source insurgency.

5Across: Social Media Marketing 101

There’s a new series of demands being made in company meetings everywhere: “What is our social media strategy? What are we doing on Facebook and Twitter? I want followers and fans, and I want them now!”

Henry’s hand gets Twitterers texting

Last night’s tension filled 2010 World Cup Qualifier between France and Ireland exploded in extra time when French captain Thierry Henry set up what would be the decisive goal after keeping the ball in play with his hand from an offside position.

Did anyone else find Belle de Jour’s unmasking earlier this week really irritating? Her smug photoshoot in her slinky satin nightdress? Her declaration that she found her sex work “so much more enjoyable” than working as a computer programmer?

I don’t really care that Belle de Jour, or Dr. Brooke Magnanti, sold her body to help fund her science career, I only care that she published a blog glamourising a sordid and life-ruining trade, in which victims regularly experience rape, GBH, substance abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder.

As Tanya Gold comments in the Guardian:

“A study published in the Journal of Trauma Practice interviewed 854 working prostitutes (including male and transgender prostitutes) in nine countries. It is a saga of battery and desolation. Behind the dry percentage figures we find punched faces, beaten bodies, broken ribs, black eyes and strangled necks.

The report found that 70%–95% of the interviewees were physically assaulted while working as prostitutes. 60%–75% were raped while working as prostitutes; of these, more than half were repeatedly raped. 65%–95% meanwhile were sexually abused as children; the line of continuity between being used as a child and being used as an adult is clear.

Over two thirds of those interviewed – 68% – developed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). That is more than twice the number of Vietnam war veterans who developed PTSD.”

So, on the balance of probabilities, anyone entering the sex trade as a prostitute is likely to experience  repeated rape, physical violence and mental illness. They are also likely to have experienced sexual abuse as a child. There is clearly nothing glamourous about these statistics.

According to Home Office research, nearly all prostitutes are addicted to drugs or alcohol. These women (and men) are not living out a fantasy, funding a PhD or creating publicity for their latest film/blog/book, they are risking their lives and carrying out degrading acts with often physically repulsive punters in order to support a physical addiction.

Also, lets dispel the myth that prostitutes enter their profession willingly: research from the US shows that the average age of entry into prostitution is 13-14 years, and that most of these children were recruited or coerced into prostitution.

After Belle de Jour revealed herself to the national press on Sunday, it emerged that her estranged father used more than 150 prostitutes himself, and even introduced some of these women to Belle when she was in her twenties. Her father told the Daily Mail: “Of those, four or five were deep emotional relationships, and Brooke met those women. She saw that prostitutes were human. They were women. Brooke did not approve of me seeing the prostitutes, not because they were selling their bodies for sex but because of their drug use. We had a very big falling out.”

So Belle’s father taught her that prostitution was acceptable, and Belle seemingly agreed, but strongly disapproved of drug use. I’m no psychoanalyst, but was Belle’s behaviour an attempt to prove by example that: a) prostitutes can be pleasant, intelligent people who shouldn’t be shunned be society (in agreement with her what her father taught her), and b) that prostitutes should not use drugs (challenging the aspects of her father’s behaviour which she disapproves of, and felt so strongly about that she decided to break ties with her father)? In any case, if Belle’s father had been a more positive and ethical role model, and given her a more realistic view of the dangers of prostitution, perhaps she wouldn’t have considered it as an acceptable way of funding her career.

My final complaint is about the term ‘high class prostitute’. Does anyone else see this as a bit of a contradiction?! The term is usually used to describe prostitutes who charge hundreds of pounds per hour – those who, like Belle, have university degrees and don’t solicit on the street. But surely this doesn’t make their activities ‘high class’? They are still carrying out a fairly classless transaction, the only difference being that they are charging large amounts of money for it. Wouldn’t the term ‘expensive prostitute’ be more appropriate?

Here are 2 more interviews with famous sex blogger Belle de Jour, who revealed herself as a research scientist named Brooke Magnanti. One from the New Scientist and one from Freakonomics.

From what I read last week, it appears that she only outed herself because the Daily Mail was going to bust her. She got wind of the interview and decided to upstage them. So basically, it didn’t come as a choice, the choice was made for her.

Both interviews don’t reveal much more than what was circulated in the UK papers.

The Persephone Bookshop in Kensington Church Street, by this lyre lark

Persephone are not just a bookshop.  They are a publisher of, to quote the website:

neglected classics by C20th (mostly women) writers. Each one in our collection of 86 books is intelligent, thought-provoking and beautifully written.

The 20 of those 86 which I have personally read certainly fit that description. It would be impossible to pick a favourite, so here are my top three: Monica Dickens’ Mariana, a romantic and funny coming-of-age story, Rachel Ferguson’s Alas, Poor Lady, about a family of Victorian girls struggling to find either a husband or a purpose in life, and Winifred Holtby’s The Crowded Street, about much the same thing forty years on.

On to the new releases.  Persephone #85 is Dorothy Whipple’s High Wages.  It’s my favourite of Whipple’s books, which are insightful, entertaining and brilliantly observed. This one, first published in 1930, is the story of a shopgirl, Jane, who wants her own shop.  Jane is talented, determined and resourceful, and you just know she is going to end up with a retail empire to rival Emma Harte’s in A Woman of Substance.  But along the way she struggles to reconcile her career and her love life and to make her own way in a male-dominated, snobbish world.

Persephone #86 is To Bed With Grand Music, by Marghanita Laski, published in 1946 under a pseudonym (Sarah Russell) for reasons that will become obvious. Marghanita Laski was a novelist, journalist and critic, but all you really need to know about her is that she wrote a wonderful parody of the repetitive how-to-please-a-man advice then and now to be found in women’s magazines.  There’s one line I just have to quote:

Men are impressed by mink – but then, so are you.

Deborah, the heroine of To Bed With Grand Music, is the epitome of the mink-wearing man-pleaser.  When her husband goes to war she is adamant that she will be faithful to him even though he says he can’t promise the same.  Once he is out of the way, she keeps her vow for about five minutes.  Deborah is a snob, a social climber, a bad daughter and a worse mother, a serial adulteress who abandons her country’s service in order to live like a wartime Belle de Jour.  And I loved every minute of reading about her.

Photo by scribbletaylor

The recent revelation that ‘Belle de Jour’ – a notorious call-girl blogger whose witty, well-written and frank posts describing her experiences as a high-class prostitute drew attention from around the world – is, in fact, a highly intelligent PhD graduate came as a surprise to many.

Dr Brooke Magnati, now working as a researcher for the University of Bristol, turned to prostitution to support herself financially whilst working towards her PhD.  Not only did it earn her up to £300 an hour, her experiences and memoirs gripped the internet community, and were eventually turned into a TV series, ‘Secret Diary of a Call Girl’.

Assuming that she was a medical ‘doctor’, I overheard someone crying out in disgust that a doctor would never be allowed to work as a prostitute and would be struck off by the General Medical Council.

I must admit, far from shock and disgust I find myself somewhat envious of Dr Magnati’s self-confidence and complete lack of shame. ‘I stand behind every word with pride,’ she says, ‘ a perfect storm of feelings and circumstances drew me out of hiding. And you know what? It feels so much better on this side.’

It’s not easy being a student; I find myself permanently at the end of my overdraft, biting my fingernails and desperately seeking an additional source of income beyond the Student Loans Company and my parents.  Medicine is so time-consuming a degree that to work part-time would be impossible.

In my second year, I found myself browsing lists of jobs on gumtree – all of which I could never have fitted around my degree.  Then I spotted an advert for ‘female entertainers’ at a high-end Gentlemen’s Club. The only requirement was that you were a well-spoken, friendly sort of girl who was willing to ‘engage men’s attention’. There was no mention of sex.  The club was in Chelsea, and the advert spoke of ‘generous tips’.  I wrote down the empolyer’s contact details and the deadline for applications, and went on to question whether I could pull it off.

In the end I never applied, simply because I knew how many lies would be involved.  My friends, my boyfriend, my family – they would all be horrified.  I have to say the temptation was there though.

I am quite sure I’m not the only medical student who has considered prostitution as a way to make ends meet. The question in my mind is this: would working as a prostitute compromise the high ethical standards demanded of medical students and doctors?

When I typed ‘prostitution’ into the General Medical Council’s search engine, it returned no results.

I think there are two issues at stake: would working as a prostitute impair a doctor’s clinical judgement and performance? And if not – is there something inherently ‘immoral’ about the sex industry that by working within it a doctor would bring the whole medical profession into disrepute?

Prostitution could impair performance in a number of ways. Working late at night, outside clinical hours, could leave the doctor physically exhausted; prostitution often stems from drug addiction, but by working in such an environment could a doctor be drawn into substance misuse herself? Doctors have a responsibility to take care of their own health – but would working as a prostitute necessarily compromise their well-being?

The dangers of prostitution are clear – but Dr Magnati has demonstrated that not all sex-workers inject heroin and contract sexually-transmitted infections.

In their guide to ‘Personal Beliefs and the Doctor-Patient relationship’, the GMC makes it clear to doctors that:

‘You must not allow any personal views that you hold about patients to prejudice your assessment of their clinical needs, or delay or restrict their access to care. This includes your view about a patient’s age, colour, culture, disability, ethnic or national origin, gender, lifestyle, marital or parental status, race, religion or beliefs, sex, sexual orientation or social and economic status.’

In other words, we must treat prostitutes like any other patients, regardless of what we may think of their lifestyle. But can a patient select, or deselect a doctor on such grounds as those described above? We would be shocked if a patient demanded to see a doctor of a certain race, religion or sexual orientation, but could a patient refuse to see a doctor who worked part time as a prostitute? Could a medical school refuse to offer a place to a lap-dancing sixth former?

I suspect that in most cases, a patient would never discover their doctor’s exploits. But imagine if a patient trotted off to Soho on a Saturday night only to discover their GP working in a brothel. Wouldn’t their trust in their doctor be completely undermined?

I suspect that the number of doctors who have worked for the sex industry is extremely low – so low that the GMC does not have to address the issue directly on their website. And I suspect that any medical student found to be working as a prostitute would not be disciplined, but would instead be offered emotional and medical support, and possibly financial guidance.

In response to her revelations, a spokesman for the University of Bristol has stated: ‘This aspect of Dr Magnati’s past is not relevant to her current role at the University’.

If I consulted a doctor who gained my trust, listened to me, and took appropriate clinical actions not blurred by poor health, I like to think I would not judge them if I discovered they worked as a prostitute as a medical student.

That aspect of their past would not be relevent to their current role as my doctor.

I’ve stayed concentrated on pushing my word count as hard as possible for NaNoWriMo, so the last month hasn’t really seen me cut into what is happening in the wider world. I’m starting to miss writing about the insanity which bounces around the internet, so this is a brief encapsulation on my views over the last month which don’t concern the WIP. There have been a lot of things happening, but my interest has focused on a few cases of note.

Google Sets Out To Take Over The World

Yes, Google (that bastion of fair play) has yet another plan for digitized books, and they seem to be ignoring both common sense and the writers whose work they are abusing. It seems (to me, at any rate) more like a hostage situation than a negotiation. They’ve taken the books – by means of digital photography – and now they want to talk about money. There are few things sadder to watch than a company sowing the seeds of its’ own downfall, and their constant manipulation of the situation has gone from ludicrous to insane with a well-timed press release. They are saying to authors and publishers worldwide “you are our bitches.”

Did I miss something here? They’re a massive international company, yet they act like the playground bully… Justifying their actions is nearly impossible, so why isn’t a stronger stance being taken? Here’s an idea, and anyone can feel free to use it: Next book you get into print, put something along the lines of “Google can suck my cock” in the indicia. Lets see if they scan that fucking page, huh. While the idea of getting out-of-print books online is worthwhile, Google is the last company I would trust to get it done right.

US Publishers Eye British Libel Laws Warily

And so they should. The libel laws in the UK are important, yet they are seriously worrying some American publishers. The law prevents me from calling Gordon Brown the liar he is, or saying that the UK police force is still an institutionally racist group, or from pointing out that 90% of British ‘news’ is more fanciful than anything D** B**** has written. They halt the slide into anarchy which would occur if anyone was allowed to write about how stupid and out of touch the royal family are. The libel laws are a godsend for anyone wanting to break the law, then hide behind their right to a secret life – just ask half of the celebrities in the UK.

My initial instinct was panic when I heard this. Are American newspapers and magazines really going to disappear? Please say it ain’t so – I don’t think I would be able to survive without at least some serious journalism in the UK, and we aren’t going to get that from The Daily Mail or The Sun. Imports are the only way to keep up with the really important news. I don’t care about lame boy bands, or which actress has flashed her crotch at the paparazzi, or whatever minor and irrelevant crap the scum press are pushing as world-shattering news today.

The Books Which Are Making Waves In The News

Dr Brooke Magnanti was revealed as the author of Belle de Jour (which was about her life as a “high class” prostitute) earlier this month, with hilarious results. The research scientist had the blog (from which the book sprang) published anonymously, so some people assumed it to be written by a famous male author, or a witty prankster. Turns out that it was true after all. On a similar note, Sarah Palin’s book (which is about her life as a “low class” politician – a whore by any other name) is out now.

I’m trying to take this shit seriously, but I just don’t know how any person can.

Yo!

Since my chum Belle de Jour (whatever her name is) is in the news I thought I’d write something about sex work, or getting paid to have sex.

Before I go on, just because I’m a fan of Belle de Jour and her wonderful sex positive writing skillz, doesn’t mean I’m a fan of sex work. If I’d have known her before she became a call-girl I would probably have said it was a bad idea, and she would probably have ignored me too. Anyway, as she says, she’s worked as a call girl and written about it, so you don’t have to!

So on with the blog. Lots of people have strong opinions about sex work: whether it’s right or wrong is up to you, but I’d encourage you to think about the reality of life for men and women involved in having sex for cash whatever you think.

I reckon that there are people in sex work who are fortunate and those that are less fortunate and some people who are in between.

For all sex workers there are other difficulties too.

• It’s sometimes illegal to be a sex worker (or to earn money from a sex worker, in the UK)
• It makes other relationships very difficult
• It can make writing a future CV very difficult
• It can be hard having a social life
• It’s hard work (the ultimate customer service position)
• Sometimes family aren’t that proud of their kids doing sex work

Now it makes me angry and sad that some people are treated very badly and become victims as a result of sex work. My anger and sadness is directed at people who force people to do this, at dodgy clients who don’t treat sex workers with respect, the laws which do not seek to protect sex workers in any way, the media that do not treat sex workers with the same dignity that they would treat non-sex workers and at the problems of drugs and homelessness and the fact that we still have massive amounts of poverty.

I’m not in the least bit angry at Belle and the many thousands of others like her who choose to make a living this way.

Just sayin’.

Here are some links you might be interested in.

The Internation Union of Sex Workers http://www.iusw.org/

Actual stories from real people who are paid to have sex http://www.myfirstprofessionalsex.com/

A blog from a man paid to have sex with women http://post-gradgigolo.blogspot.com/

This report from Channel 4 news about Belle and other real stories

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Num mundo com crianças de 12 anos usando botas sexy e babás usando mini-vestidos brilhantes, o jeito mais efetivo de reconhecer uma prostituta entrando num hotel em Heathrow é procurar pela dama usando uma roupa de grife. Fato.

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Por Belle, em 2 de novembro.

Original Post @ http://belledejour-uk.blogspot.com/2003_11_01_archive.html

Por Belle, em 30 de novembro de 2003

Ele: “Por que você faz isso?”
Eu: “Acho que não tenho uma resposta.”
“Deve ter alguma coisa que você diz pelo menos pra si mesma.”
“Bom, talvez eu seja o tipo de pessoa que não precisa de um bom motivo pra fazer algo. Além do mais, não consigo pensar em qualquer motivo pra não fazer.”
“Então se alguém te pedisse pra pular de uma ponte…”
“Depende da ponte. Depende do quanto me pagassem. Por quê?”
“Ah, por nada. Pode me chupar, agora.”

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Original post @ http://belledejour-uk.blogspot.com/2003_11_01_archive.html