Heaven or Belle?

Published on Monday 16 November 2009 19:39

HERE'S no doubt that Dr Brooke Magnanti took a risk when she revealed herself to be Belle De Jour, author of a blog and book The Intimate Adventures of A London Call Girl, whose revelations inspired outrage, controversy and titillation in equal measure and fuelled endless speculation as to its veracity.

From the office watercooler to the most elite literary salon, virtually everyone – whether or not they had followed the blog, read the books, or watched the TV adaptation featuring Billie Piper in an assortment of skimpy underwear – wanted to know the real identity of the mystery call girl who told us all how it was. And now that we do know, what do we think of her stance as the "happy hooker" with no regrets? Did she do the right thing in unmasking herself? What did she stand to lose or gain by doing so and how will it affect her future?

According to Magnanti – whom we now know to be a 34-year-old research scientist working for the Bristol Initiative for Research of Child Health – what provoked her move was chiefly a threat of exposure from a former boyfriend, which forced her to consider her options and put an end to the paranoia and uncertainty that was clouding her existence. Better, she felt, to stand up and be judged than let someone else drag her out into the public eye to face interrogation. Magnanti took control and did the last thing anyone expected her to do: she contacted the press.

Prior to her revelatory interview in a Sunday newspaper, Magnanti had told her mother (who lives in America) and her colleagues in Bristol to prepare themselves for a bombshell. It can only be with mixed feelings that any parent receives the news that their academically accomplished daughter has not only been hiding the fact that she was once a prostitute who earned 200 an hour having sex with strangers several times a week, but that she also became a bestselling author and one of the publishing sensations of the decade as a result.

"My mother is being fully supportive and says she's 'not one to judge'," Magnanti told a reporter after the deed was done. "I, for one, am happy and relieved." Her all-female team of colleagues, she said, were also "kind and supportive" when she revealed her past. A spokesman for the University of Bristol said: "This aspect of Dr Magnanti's past is not relevant to her current role at the university."

Ruth Morgan Thomas, founder and co-ordinator of the Edinburgh-based Scot-Pep (Scottish Prostitutes Education project) was a sex worker for eight years, from the age of 22, and applauds Dr Magnanti's decision: "It's a very positive step when people like Brooke come out and when other women are courageous enough to stand up and challenge the stigma forced upon sex workers. The more that sex workers can come out into the open, and the more understanding society can have about it and see that we are normal – for want of a better word – the stronger and more equitable our society will be."

Although the image of the happy hooker is one that refuses to die in popular culture – from Holly Golightly in Truman Capote's novella Breakfast at Tiffany's, Shirley Maclaine's adorably flaky dance-hall escort singing If My Friends Could See Me Now in the 1960s musical hit Sweet Charity, to Julia Roberts's Pretty Woman Cinderella story – few of us would imagine it to be one of life's easiest career choices, not least because of the stigma attached to it. It was an aspect that Ruth Morgan Thomas decided to confront at the age of 30 when she moved on: "I was an academic at Edinburgh University (as part of an HIV epidemiology study] and when I went there I was open about having been involved in the sex industry. They took me on knowing I was a sex worker, but I think it's still a challenge.

"My employers were supportive but not all of my colleagues were – some of them didn't see why or how a sex worker could possibly be an academic, researching sex work; they thought that was unacceptable and that somehow I might bring a bias (to the study]. Somehow, when it comes to sex workers, we're more questionable. It's understandable that people choose not to be public, not to share that they're involved in sex work."

And she adds: "I was a sex worker for eight years, and that leaves quite a significant gap on your CV. Having that is always problematic. If you do account for it on a job application form then your chances of being recruited are very much reduced. Women do end up having to lie about it."

But she is keen to stress that it is prejudice rather than illegality that causes this situation: "Neither I nor Belle De Jour committed a crime in selling sex. It's not illegal to sell sexual services, though many people presume that we're criminals. As individuals, we're not acting illegally."

Morgan Thomas admits that many job applications she submitted which included her past as a sex worker simply went unacknowledged. Some potential employers, however, were either bold enough or sufficiently intrigued to address it directly.

"I've had questions about why I revealed that I was a sex worker, whether I've left that form of work behind me, whether I'd be attracted to go back into it," she says.

Magnanti has said that she would not return to sex work, mainly because of not wishing to jeopardise the relationship she has with her current boyfriend, who is fully aware of her background. Presumably, too, she is now in a situation where she will never again experience panic over how she is going to pay her next month's rent – and it is that financial desperation which is the main driver for women to enter the world's oldest profession, not the desire to find material for a bestselling book.

There are about 1,000 sex workers in Edinburgh at present, and it's a shifting community which constantly sees new arrivals, as well as waving goodbye to those who move on into more conventional forms of employment.

Alexandra is in her early twenties and has been a sex worker in Edinburgh for less than a year, working independently for private clients. But like Magnanti, she originally planned a very different career, having taken a psychology degree in England and worked for the NHS. Unlike Ruth Morgan Thomas, she is unconvinced that Belle De Jour's revelation will have a positive effect on the image of sex workers among the public.

"This woman being who she is makes it more acceptable, and the one thing I am glad about is that she's said she doesn't regret having had sex for money, but the fact is that the great majority of people don't understand (sex work] and don't agree with it. For me it was a positive choice – I didn't enjoy the job I had (in the health services] and when I saw an ad in a magazine for escorts to join an agency I thought it sounded exciting, so I went for it.

"There's a lot of stigma attached, which is why my parents and my friends from university don't know about what I do. Thank God my parents live abroad, because a lot of the time I've had to live a double life and when I was working for the NHS and seeing clients in the evening, I had to be very careful about covering my tracks. I even read the TV reviews for programmes I hadn't seen, in case someone in the office asked me what I'd done the night before.

"When I meet new people now, though, in wine bars or clubs, I often tell them I'm a sex worker. I hate lying and I enjoy what I do for a living, so I'm prepared to be honest about it in certain social situations."

About Magnani's motives for honesty, however, she is more circumspect: "You've got to ask why she's coming out now – the tendency is to think that she's doing it for personal gain, or for self-protection when someone threatened to name her in the press.

"People's views are not going to change because of one woman standing up and saying she was a sex worker. I mean, they don't even advertise condoms on television!"

We've still got a hell of a long way to go, she claims, in altering public perception of the woman who earns her living from sex. "A lot more has to be done, and that can only happen through education and legislation."

Belle De Jour may be a symbol of our times, but long after she's hung up her Agent Provocateur suspender belt, life for the great majority of sex workers in the UK will continue to be no bed of roses.