New Online Interview!
October 29, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Writer Jen Burke has posted part 1 of a two-part interview with me on TheNervousBreakdown.com. She’s interested in the intersection of sex, law, politics and culture. The most important topic we discussed is the mainstreaming of sex work. Now that I think of it, I should’ve brought up the sheer resistance the UK has had to the TV version of Belle de Jour’s book. Oh well.
She asked a few more questions that I’ve really wanted to answer, especially in part II. I’ll post here when it’s up.
And check out her book on Amazon — A Life Less Convenient: Letters To My Ex. Not only is she a good writer, but she really has an incredible story to tell.
Book 1: The Foundation Wins an Award
October 26, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Woo-hoo! It’s a small honor, to be sure, but The Internet Escort’s Handbook Book 1: The Foundation garnered an Honorable Mention in the Nonfiction category of the Writer’s Digest 15th Annual International Self-Published Book Awards. The winners will be published in the March/April issue of Writer’s Digest.
It’s very exciting because I certainly did not expect to win an award, although I fantasized about a first place in Nonfiction. Kudos to the judges for looking past whatever knee-jerk reactions they had to the actual content of the book (they also judged on presentation).
I would love to enter Book 2: Advertising and Marketing in the upcoming year’s contest but I don’t know if I’ll have a retail-ready printed copy ready by the May 1 deadline. If not, well, there’s always the following year. It would just be cool to be in the contest two years in a row.
Although if I have to wait to enter Book #2, it will probably be in tandem with Book #3. I really am pushing to get Book #3 out in 2008 too. Just thining long-term.
It’s a very good feeling to get a little something like this.
Introducing “Fuck Lit”
October 9, 2007 | Leave a Comment
In the ongoing controversy over the UK TV show based on Belle de Jour’s book, plenty of words have been used (I plan on discussing several of the articles very soon). But this one in The Guardian got my attention.
It seems that The Internet Escort’s Handbook just another entry in the sad, sad world of sex workers writing about their experiences. Although I don’t consider the book to be literature in the strictest sense, that I’m a former sex worker writing about sex work apparently tags my efforts as “fuck lit” and not worthy of serious consideration. (Had Bunting actually read my book, she might’ve had more derogatory things to say.)
I’m certainly honored and excited to make it into The Guardian with so little effort on my part. I need the publicity help. But the argument…
Bunting believes the “happy hooker” is just a myth (mostly fueled by fuck lit). She has a problem realizing that prostitution, just like any industry, has a range of experiences. Much as I want to help stop a lot of the problems inherent in the business, it’s not going to completely happen. There will always be women who get taken advantage of and hurt (as with dating and marriage). The best any of us can do is work on harm reduction and helping those who are harmed.
Likewise, there will always be women who never have those experiences and are never touched by negativity in their job.
One extreme does not mean the other doesn’t exist, nor does it mean one set of experiences make the girl better or worse than any other girl. At least fuck lit writers are presenting a balanced view because every book that Bunting mentioned has a different slant, a different perspective.
That’s far more than Bunting offers.
Apparently “real” women’s voices are being drowned out by us fuck lit writers because at the end of the piece, Bunting calls for women to find their voice again.
Thanks for the invite, Bunting. My voice is right here.
Prostitution in Iraq
October 4, 2007 | Leave a Comment
A look at how the forces of war cause women to turn to survival prostitution — a choice they would not otherwise have made.
The part of the post I found most interesting:
As is always the case, the same fanatics who deny women a place in society because of “religion” are the ones who ensure that they can earn money as prostitutes, indeed are much happier with prostitution being the main way that a woman can make money independently of a man, because it allows them to indulge their own dark desires while maintaining their own auras of purity and piety in their public facade.
It’s certainly true in the Muslim world. And the hypocrisy — “it allows them to indulge their own dark desires while maintaining their own auras of purity and piety in their public facade” — is certainly true here in the predominantly-Christian US. Although US women have more options to making a living than just prostitution, those who do make their living as prostitutes (whether by choice or necessity), understand the truth of the statement.
Is this not what the whole DC Madam scandal is about?
Sex Workers and PSTD
October 3, 2007 | Leave a Comment
A recent Canadian article details how street prostitution caused post-traumatic stress disorder in prostitutes.
I feel a large part of the stress and trauma the sex workers feel come from their legal status. In the US, many sex workers are constantly stressed from the fear of arrest and many become quite paranoid (I had my paranoid moments as well). Lifting the threat of arrest and giving sex workers the power to pursue legal action against harmful clients might go a very long way in reducing PSTD.
Another major factor contributing to PSTD seems to have been childhood abuse. While I certainly don’t believe that all sex workers were abused as children, it seems (according to this article) that those who were abused as children are pre-disposed to PSTD. In this case, while their job — and its legal status — may be causing stress, the root cause is from those who harmed them years before.
I don’t believe prostitution itself causes PSTD. I do believe that everything surrounding the job can contribute to PSTD: fear of arrest, fear of violence without legal recourse, social stigmatization, self-medication with drugs or alcohol (in an effort to deal with the stress), inability to easily find other work, lack of social resources and support, lack of understanding or support from the social services that are available.
Changing the legal status of prostitution would be a very big step in easing the mental stress of sex workers. It certainly couldn’t hurt. The current system doesn’t seem to be helping. Why not try a different approach?
Weekly Papers Dropping Adult Ads
October 2, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Over the past few years more and more “alternative” weeklies have been dropping adult ads, mostly due to discomfort with the ads and what they imply. Another round of ad-dropping occurred this summer in New York (when a paper decided to “fumigate” itself).
This is interesting because papers — large and small — are citing declining readership and loss of ad revenue. They hope to cut a major source of revenue (adult ads) which should encourage mainstream advertisers to advertise again. Yet if they drop adult ads, aren’t some of their readers going to go away too? And even if they have a squeaky-clean paper, does that mean their readership is going to increase?
A much longer piece from Ft. Worth details the decision process. The ironic thing about the Ft. Worth article (published 2002; quote from page 4) is:
The Observer toned down its ads last year and is planning more restrictions, Draper said. “Back in November, I made a decision that we’d gone too far and we needed to scale it back,” she said. “This is a business we don’t pursue — they come to us. Obviously we want to keep the door open to all kinds of businesses and new advertisers, but it was too heavy.”
I know from my own experience that wasn’t true. In 2002, I got a phone call from an advertising rep at The Observer attempting to sell adspace to me. They e-mailed me with weekly rates and tried really hard to get my advertising dollars.
It was too expensive and, besides, I didn’t want to advertise in a newspaper. Why would I?
I had the Internet.
As more and more newspapers shut down their adult advertising sections, more and more advertisers will go online. The ill-informed go to CraigsList or other free services. The better-informed go to online paid advertising or create a Web site and start trading links. This means an even higher amount of growth for the online adult industry across all niches and support-services.
