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Belle de Jour: Slut or Celebrity?

B

booktin

New Member
I personally LOVE Belle, I think her writing is direct, to the point and totally addictive. I do know however, that people have great issues with her chosen subject matter: her life as an escort - I know she is a real person blogging some aspects of her life but...the way female sexuality is presented, in her case, is almost like a man's! Is this a sign of progress or regression?

I just wanted to know what people's opinions were ...
 
I think she's bigger in Britain than the US - but I was talking to this guy from Brooklyn who said he's seen billboards of her book around.

She's an anonymous call girl who has documented her life - it's spawned three books and a TV series here - I think it's being made into a film. Check out her blog, it's awesome - her writing style is addictive
 
Yeah, this is the person that Secret Diary of a Call Girl is based on. They run it on Showtime over here in the States.

I thought I read that some people were questioning her authenticity/identity, they were thinking it's just someone making it all up.
 
They have tried to track her down I think - there was this flurry of media attention over who it could be..
 
From a Joseph Kessel novel of 1928. ;)

She's one of a number of anonymous female bloggers who have upset some people by being open about their sexuality. We still do not readily accept voracious female sexual appetite. It makes some people feel uncomfortable.

As a slight aside, in some areas of life, 'slut' is used by women in the same way that 'queer' is – as a way of claiming the word the word for themselves. It's one of those very many emotive and judgemental words that have been employed against women (in the English language) down the years for daring to be anything less than a virginal, asexual madonna figure. Strangely enough, there are nowhere near the same number of words to describe sexually voracious men – and the words that do exist are in no way as condemnatory.

So if she has done nothing else, she has helped drag the issue further out of the closet and allow discussions like this.
 
Sybarite said:
From a Joseph Kessel novel of 1928. ;)

She's one of a number of anonymous female bloggers who have upset some people by being open about their sexuality. We still do not readily accept voracious female sexual appetite. It makes some people feel uncomfortable.

As a slight aside, in some areas of life, 'slut' is used by women in the same way that 'queer' is – as a way of claiming the word the word for themselves. It's one of those very many emotive and judgemental words that have been employed against women (in the English language) down the years for daring to be anything less than a virginal, asexual madonna figure. Strangely enough, there are nowhere near the same number of words to describe sexually voracious men – and the words that do exist are in no way as condemnatory.

So if she has done nothing else, she has helped drag the issue further out of the closet and allow discussions like this.
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I totally agree - however, it says a lot about cultural attitudes (or me) that I found Belle's sexual openess completely alien. You do not really read about stuff like that and if you do then you have the woman go back on what she did and tries to repent for her actions. There is hardly a representation of a woman being unapologetic - unless you look at Samantha from S&TC. On facebook Belle has about 2000 friends and we are all completely in love with her so maybe that says something about her likability.
 
from the ap:
British scientist says she penned call-girl blog
The Associated Press

Sunday, November 15, 2009 1:06 PM EST

LONDON (AP) — A British scientist says she is Belle de Jour, the anonymous blogger whose accounts of life as a call girl were turned into books and a TV series.

Brooke Magnanti was quoted by the Sunday Times as saying she decided to reveal her secret because she was afraid an ex-boyfriend would expose her.

Magnanti, 34, is a child health researcher at the University of Bristol in western England. She told the newspaper she turned to the sex trade in 2003 while finishing her Ph.D. and worked as an escort for more than a year.

She blogged about the experience in the guise of Belle de Jour, a legal secretary who moonlights as a sex worker.

The blog formed the basis of three books and the British TV series "Secret Diary of a Call Girl," shown on Showtime in the United States.

Debate swirled about whether the anonymous author was real or fictional, and Belle de Jour was accused by some of glamorizing prostitution.

Magnanti said on her blog Sunday she was relieved "to be able to defend what my experience of sex work is like to all the skeptics and doubters."

Magnanti said her scientific colleagues had been "amazingly kind and supportive" about the news. The university said her past was not relevant to her current job.

Her publisher, Orion, said in a statement that it was "a courageous decision for Belle de Jour to come forward with her true identity and we support her decision to do so."
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