Monday, April 23, 2007
Happy Hooker memoirs
The Daily mail has issues with Penguin. They say that Penguin are rushing out memoirs portraying prostitution as a glamorous lifestyle choice.
The head of the Metropolitan Police Clubs and Vice Unit estimates that at least 75 per cent of prostitutes working in London are foreign - and that as many as 14,000 women from across the world are working in the sex trade in Britain.
Now we switch to a smart drawing room where the latest bestseller is being discussed by keen readers in their trendy book club.
A stream of so-called Happy Hooker memoirs are spewing out of Grub Street and you won't find a trafficked woman in one of them.
What you will find are salacious confessionals by middle-class hooker hacks motivated as much by celebrity as acclaim among the literati.
We've had a clever girl slumming it with Belle de Jour, who led the way with her blog-turned-book The Intimate Adventures Of A London Call Girl, in which she chatted about her punters, lingerie and writing ambitions.
We've had desperate housewives, such as Dawn Annandale, who revealed in Call Me Elizabeth that she would rather sleep with men to pay the school fees than send her kids to the local comprehensive.
Of course, Aneta's is not a story you will find in the raft of prostitutes' memoirs being pumped out by publishers hellbent on peddling the myth that the Oldest Profession is a path to glamour and eroticism for a certain type of woman.
As the bodies of the brutally murdered prostitutes were being found around Ipswich last December, nubile Brazilian Bruna Surfistinha published Scorpion's Sweet Venom: Diary of A Brazilian Call Girl in the UK.
At 17, Bruna is only two years younger than Tania Nicol, the Ipswich Strangler's youngest victim, but how different are their lives.
Poor little rich girl Bruna decided the best way to upset Mum and Dad wasn't to dye her hair green but go on the game, though she calculated: "If I am going to be a prostitute, I don't want to be a run-of-the-mill one." Bully for her: at least she had a choice.
As Aneta and the Ipswich Five demonstrate, what Surfistinha contemptuously regards as "run-of-the-mill prostitutes" are women who live horrible, degraded lives, and whose freedom of choice is stolen with their passports and the descent into addiction the first time they are given crack cocaine by their pimps.
Not that stark reality penetrates publishers' minds.
This summer another author, the seductively named Miss S, joins Bruna and Belle in bookshops with Kinky Confessions Of A Working Girl.
Her editor Katy Follain, of that august publishing house Penguin, proudly proclaims Miss S is "one of London's top five escorts".
How she knows this is a mystery. Is there a FTSE for hookers? The Floosie 100, perhaps?
In an astonishing letter to promote Kinky Confessions, Follain writes that the book is an 'intimate diary' of Miss S's first year in a brothel, aged 21.
She took the job after a vacancy opened in her local massage parlour. Miss S likes the work so much she now runs her own business - whether it employs trafficked women, Follain omits to mention.
She does reveal: "This is her chosen career - she does it because she loves it, and her attitude to sex is empowering, fun and refreshing."
The book, Follain gushes, "will undoubtedly appeal to both curious teenage girls as well as bored housewives".
Teenage girls? What on earth is she thinking?
"Kinky Confessions stands out from the other sex memoirs," she burbles, "because everything in it is absolutely authentic, and will have huge credibility."
Not with me. If you want authenticity, consider that, according to the police, women in brothels are forced to service between 20 and 30 clients a day.
This is the reality of the vice trade, not books like Handy Hints for Hookers, Callgirl: Confessions of an Ivy League Lady of Pleasure, Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl or Concertina: The Life and Loves of a Dominatrix. It is far from the image promoted by the publishers of those literary offerings.
While Belle, Bruna and Miss S emphasise their freedom of choice, most sex workers are no more than slaves and there is nothing glamorous about the world they inhabit.
By peddling the myth of the middle-class call girl, these books perpetuate the insidious idea that inside every young girl and suburban housewife is a woman who regards sex as a commodity to sell.
What these memoirs also fail to acknowledge is the uncomfortable relationship between prostitution and paedophilia.
Belle and Co may be legal, but according to the Home Office as many as 75 per cent of all prostitutes begin their involvement in the trade well before their 18th birthday.
Many start as young as 12 after falling in with bad crowds - the average age of girls being pimped by young hustlers is 14 to 17.
Of the 84 trafficked women rescued from brothels in Operation Pentameter last year, 12 were under 17, some only 14.
Child prostitution is getting worse. From Gatwick to Glasgow, charities report a sharp rise in child abductions from care homes. Once snatched, the children are either trafficked abroad or forced to work in brothels here.
Up to 5,000 children are working as sex slaves in the UK, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation claims. As well as child exploitation, a disproportionate number of sex workers suffered appalling violence and sexual abuse as children, which was a significant factor in leading them into the vice trade.
The Home Office reports as many as 85 per cent of prostitutes suffered physical abuse as children, while 45 per cent were victims of sex abuse.
One woman, Severine, who works as an erotic masseuse, contacted me when I was researching this subject to say: "I did have a childhood that most people would consider emotionally abusive. I don't know if that's why I became a sex worker or not. It was probably part of it."
Severine's acknowledgement is borne out by other prostitutes and ex-sex workers I have met. A few years ago, a room mate of mine was a bright, sassy girl, who admitted to me she'd been a prostitute. She had also suffered horrific abuse.
Aged seven, she was raped on her way home from school. When she was 13 she was gang raped. Her parents were going through a nasty divorce, so rather than turn to them for help, she ran away.
On the streets prostitution was not her 'choice', it was her means of survival and memories of what she went through at the hands of punters haunted her into adulthood.
As a volunteer on the streets, I helped out with a welfare charity and discovered my friend's story was all too familiar.
None of the prostitutes I met had enjoyed happy, secure childhoods free from fear or abuse.
For girls not forced to sell sex by traffickers, heroin has proved the slave driver, as the victims of the Ipswich Strangler exemplify. The Home Office reports that 87 per cent of women involved in street-based prostitution use the drug.
Not a picture you find in the pages of Miss S and her bookish sisters.
Nor is the violence meted out to prostitutes reflected in these vice memoirs - Dawn Annandale alludes to one nasty incident, but it is nothing compared to the beatings meted out by pimps and punters most street girls experience.
Instead of the grim reality, we are peddled the tales of Bruna, Belle, Miss S et al, ready to spill their socalled secrets in return for a fat advance from publishers too busy reading their blogs to bother finding out what really happens in the vice trade.
Publishers who sell this nonsense claim it 'empowers' us girls, showing women sex workers in control of their sexuality and enjoying the work. If it's such a good job, why don't these publishers recommend their daughters take it up?
And if it is such great work then why do brothels use trafficked women to fill vacancies?
Because vice is not nice, which is why women do not choose it as a career.
The image of prostitution these writers promote is utter rubbish, a lie propagated about a profession that relies on coercion, rape, violence and drug addiction to recruit its workers.
For the sake of Aneta, my friend and the victims of the Ipswich Strangler, as well as the 5,000 child sex slaves working in Britain, it is about time publishers dug a little deeper when dealing with the Oldest Profession and stopped trying to sell us this pernicious nonsense.
Quotes from The squalid truth about call girl lit by Danuta Kean of the Daily Mail.
I agree that there are not that many books about trafficked women available.
I wonder whether that is because they do not sell that well?
I feel strongly about trafficked women, but does Danuta Kean feel that Penguin have a moral responsibility to educate the public about the issue?
What Danuta may not be aware of, is that some people who are traumatised, do not want to share their stories. They want to forget what they can,as soon as possible. Recalling or reliving the events, can cause a secondary trauma .So sharing your story, is not always therapeutic.
I have read Dawn Annandale's book Call me Elizabeth and I do not recall it being fluffy. The Daily Mail claim that the violent incident that Dawn mentions in her book, is nothing compared to what happens to streetgirls.
My understanding is that Dawn and Belle de Jour,who I have also read, write about their experiences.
Can they be blamed for not mentioning trafficked women in their memoirs?
They are free to write what they like, and what they experience, in my view.
I think what Danuta Kean fails to realise, is that what is happening in the publishing world, is no different to what happens on punter messageboards, and in the blogosphere.
How many threads do you see about trafficking on messageboards?
Miss S, is quoted as one of London's top five escorts, and Danuta Kean wonders whether there is a FTSE for hookers.
Well she needs to look at the charts on Punternet and Captain 69. Unfortunately, ratings are part and parcel of the industry. Some men are influenced, by these charts.
Danuta Kean, feels that these memoirs do not acknowledge the uncomfortable relationship between paedophilia and prostitution. There is a possiblity that the writers do not believe there is a link.
I agree with Danuta Kean.Trafficking is an uncomfortable issue that some people do not want to think about. The fact is it will not go away, and trafficked woman do not have a choice. I also do not believe that prostitution is a path to glamour.
I have a number of articles about trafficking, and the Ipswich murders on my blog.
The Poppy Project which is listed on my sidebar, is a good resource, for women who are trafficked.
Can anyone point me to any escort blogs, of women who are trafficked?
Have a good week!
Labels: Belle de Jour, books, Captain 69, Daily Mail, Dawn Annandale, Escorts, Hookers, News, Penguin, Poppy Project, Prostitutes, Punternet
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Well, of course the Daily M has to be angry about something. No doubt it will tell us that Tony Blair and 'The War on Terror' are responsible. However I have to disagree with an element of your note - Ptr Leeds' blog certainly has concerns from the john's perspective which I support. I would suspect most posting pnters do not visst working girls who are coerced. The next Mail article will tell you that the trafficked girls are servicing men from their own ethnic background or another where the enforced brothel is an expected element of a male dominated culture....
PeterB
PeterB
# posted by 
:
Mon Apr 23, 11:45:00 am
:
Mon Apr 23, 11:45:00 am
Peter B,
Thank you for your comments.
I am not familiar with the Daily Mail, but thank you for your perspective,lol.
I recognise that there are some johns who are concerned about the issue.
Are they in the majority, though?
Thank you for your comments.
I am not familiar with the Daily Mail, but thank you for your perspective,lol.
I recognise that there are some johns who are concerned about the issue.
Are they in the majority, though?
"Is there a FTSE for hookers? The Floosie 100, perhaps?"
I suppose that the Punternt list could be regarded as this. (I'm not familiar with the C69 one.)
Though that is one of who has the most reviews and this can easily be maniplated.
When one is choosing an escort to pay a lot of money then it can be helpful to have some guidance.
I suppose though that a "FTSE for hookers" would go by their rates per hour with the most expensive at the top. Probably a different list altogether. There are some who believe that price is an indication of quality of escorts whereas others say the opposite. Sadly I'm unlikely ever to be able to afford to find out if the really expensive ones are so much better.
*sigh*
B xx
I suppose that the Punternt list could be regarded as this. (I'm not familiar with the C69 one.)
Though that is one of who has the most reviews and this can easily be maniplated.
When one is choosing an escort to pay a lot of money then it can be helpful to have some guidance.
I suppose though that a "FTSE for hookers" would go by their rates per hour with the most expensive at the top. Probably a different list altogether. There are some who believe that price is an indication of quality of escorts whereas others say the opposite. Sadly I'm unlikely ever to be able to afford to find out if the really expensive ones are so much better.
*sigh*
B xx
Beau,
Thank you for your comments.
The Captain 69 list, is based on member favourites, not number of reviews.
It is not something that is taken seriously, by some, as a member could put in his favourite, and see her rise up the chart.
Beau, who knows, maybe some day someone may pay for you to see a really expensive escort,lol.
Thank you for your comments.
The Captain 69 list, is based on member favourites, not number of reviews.
It is not something that is taken seriously, by some, as a member could put in his favourite, and see her rise up the chart.
Beau, who knows, maybe some day someone may pay for you to see a really expensive escort,lol.
I have to remain cynical about ex working girls who write their "memoirs".
Its the last chance saloon for the aging hooker. A last quick buck before she disappears into oblivion and a hopeful life of luxury??
These books attract the wrong kind of reader. They give young girls aspirations of a rich and self-indulgent lifestyle. What these books fail to do is let the readership know what a tiny minority of us are doing this off our own bat. An even tinier minority are doing it because they actually want to and do not need the money to live on.
The majority of prostitutes are either trafficked, or coerced, or beaten and bullied, maimed and forced to have circumcisions all against their own will.
Their rights to a free life denied.
Books like "Call me Elizabeth" make me want to punch the wall.
Rant over. I feel better now.
Its the last chance saloon for the aging hooker. A last quick buck before she disappears into oblivion and a hopeful life of luxury??
These books attract the wrong kind of reader. They give young girls aspirations of a rich and self-indulgent lifestyle. What these books fail to do is let the readership know what a tiny minority of us are doing this off our own bat. An even tinier minority are doing it because they actually want to and do not need the money to live on.
The majority of prostitutes are either trafficked, or coerced, or beaten and bullied, maimed and forced to have circumcisions all against their own will.
Their rights to a free life denied.
Books like "Call me Elizabeth" make me want to punch the wall.
Rant over. I feel better now.
I tend to think that the phenomenon of trafficking is exaggerated. This does not mean that I don't believe it happens, but that certain interest groups that are opposed to prostitution in general play it to the max.
Here in the US, girls who are trafficked are allowed to get automatic citizenship and are able to be in the witness protection program as long as they provide evidence against their traffickers. The number of traffficked women who apply for this is tiny.
Of course they may be scared of retribution. I accept that, but even so!
If trafficking is so widespread in the UK, surely it is not THAT hard for investigators to find out which massage parlors or agencies are using trafficked girls and to turn some of the proprietors into informants as an alternative to themselves facing long prison sentences.
One obvious way to do this would be for investigators to make appointments to see prostitutes who are advertised and when they meet with them to seek information, give them business cards with phone numbers, offer them alternatives etc.
And, as I have suggested before, have a trafficking hotline number posted in every massage parlor.
Here in the US, girls who are trafficked are allowed to get automatic citizenship and are able to be in the witness protection program as long as they provide evidence against their traffickers. The number of traffficked women who apply for this is tiny.
Of course they may be scared of retribution. I accept that, but even so!
If trafficking is so widespread in the UK, surely it is not THAT hard for investigators to find out which massage parlors or agencies are using trafficked girls and to turn some of the proprietors into informants as an alternative to themselves facing long prison sentences.
One obvious way to do this would be for investigators to make appointments to see prostitutes who are advertised and when they meet with them to seek information, give them business cards with phone numbers, offer them alternatives etc.
And, as I have suggested before, have a trafficking hotline number posted in every massage parlor.
Jo,
Thank you for your comments.
It is tricky. Most of the writers I imagine, have issues that they want to explore, in their books. Trafficking not falling into that.
In some cases, they may have no knowledge, of what goes on outside their worlds.
I do not think "Call me Elizabeth" was fluffy, but it is not something I would read again. That is probably, because I have read too many hooker stories,lol.
James,
Thank you for your comments. I have no experience of the USA scene. However, I do not think trafficking in the UK is exaggerated.
Trafficking is operated by gangs here, and LE do not find it that easy to get the culprits.
Most of the women are so intimidated, they cannot speak. Fortunately, we hear of a number of cases, where the culprits are caught.
Thank you for your comments.
It is tricky. Most of the writers I imagine, have issues that they want to explore, in their books. Trafficking not falling into that.
In some cases, they may have no knowledge, of what goes on outside their worlds.
I do not think "Call me Elizabeth" was fluffy, but it is not something I would read again. That is probably, because I have read too many hooker stories,lol.
James,
Thank you for your comments. I have no experience of the USA scene. However, I do not think trafficking in the UK is exaggerated.
Trafficking is operated by gangs here, and LE do not find it that easy to get the culprits.
Most of the women are so intimidated, they cannot speak. Fortunately, we hear of a number of cases, where the culprits are caught.
After reading the Daily Mail article, I was quite surprised that they were so biased against this new breed of "reality" books!
Why not interview genuine "hookers" in order to provide a more balanced perspective on the issue? Not all prostitutes are either dragged into gang-run rings or glamour puss lovelies! How about the real people who service their clients through choice? I'd love to see them print an article about that!!
Why not interview genuine "hookers" in order to provide a more balanced perspective on the issue? Not all prostitutes are either dragged into gang-run rings or glamour puss lovelies! How about the real people who service their clients through choice? I'd love to see them print an article about that!!
Nia, others,
We all know the trafficing and pimping goes on. And it should be stopped. One thing we can do is to try and avoid that scene as best we can.
The other end of the spectrum is the reality-book scene of would-be-celebs. Best of luck to them, I hope I have not met one. As a client I find it a risky idea that the Escort I see may one day write a book with identifiable details of me in it. I probably will never buy one of those books, and I hope the hype wears out.
In the mean time, I cannot stop or blame the newspaper to try and sell advertising by writing whatever will please the holders of the spending power.
As for my own dating: I feel very little guilt about the girls I see.
I avoid streetscenes and parlours. And most (all) of the Ladies I see seem to be in reasonably control of their own destiny, be they "agency" or Indie. They may be in the Escorting Business for sad reasons, but I do not feel that I'm exploiting them, or that I encourage exploitation.
On the odd occasion, I have pointed nervous girls to coach-type Ladies, and I had some good discussions with students who used Escorting to get by. Some Ladies seem to be like fish-in-water doing the job. The ones that are not comfortable will gradually find other means of earnings.
To any girl who would consider Escorting I'd say: Dont believe the books but do your own research.
Talk to a number of agents and Ladies in the business. And find yourself one or more "coaches" before making the plunge.
But at some point: just go out an try it.
A good agent (let's hope they exist) will provide a mentor or coach. And be prepared to switch agents if you feel uncomfortable.
You might (inevitably?) end up Indie.
We all know the trafficing and pimping goes on. And it should be stopped. One thing we can do is to try and avoid that scene as best we can.
The other end of the spectrum is the reality-book scene of would-be-celebs. Best of luck to them, I hope I have not met one. As a client I find it a risky idea that the Escort I see may one day write a book with identifiable details of me in it. I probably will never buy one of those books, and I hope the hype wears out.
In the mean time, I cannot stop or blame the newspaper to try and sell advertising by writing whatever will please the holders of the spending power.
As for my own dating: I feel very little guilt about the girls I see.
I avoid streetscenes and parlours. And most (all) of the Ladies I see seem to be in reasonably control of their own destiny, be they "agency" or Indie. They may be in the Escorting Business for sad reasons, but I do not feel that I'm exploiting them, or that I encourage exploitation.
On the odd occasion, I have pointed nervous girls to coach-type Ladies, and I had some good discussions with students who used Escorting to get by. Some Ladies seem to be like fish-in-water doing the job. The ones that are not comfortable will gradually find other means of earnings.
To any girl who would consider Escorting I'd say: Dont believe the books but do your own research.
Talk to a number of agents and Ladies in the business. And find yourself one or more "coaches" before making the plunge.
But at some point: just go out an try it.
A good agent (let's hope they exist) will provide a mentor or coach. And be prepared to switch agents if you feel uncomfortable.
You might (inevitably?) end up Indie.
"Callgirl" by Jeanette Angel is a good book because it explores the social side of prostitution. What she has written makes you think about aspects of this work that you may not have done. She is a clever lady in that she gets a certain message across by interspersing her ideas with a story of her time as a working girl.
She makes you think about other topics besides what your own opinions are. You do not learn by having opinions, you learn by listening to facts and gathering information. IMHO
She makes you think about other topics besides what your own opinions are. You do not learn by having opinions, you learn by listening to facts and gathering information. IMHO
Amanda,
Thank you for stopping by. I agree, I think the Daily Mail have a slant, that they like to give the public.
Peter,
Thank you for your comments. It seems that you would not see a woman if you knew she was trafficked. I know that. I think you give good advice to new girls.
Jo,
Call girl, is one of my favourites.
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Thank you for stopping by. I agree, I think the Daily Mail have a slant, that they like to give the public.
Peter,
Thank you for your comments. It seems that you would not see a woman if you knew she was trafficked. I know that. I think you give good advice to new girls.
Jo,
Call girl, is one of my favourites.
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