Media discourse on sex work and its relationship to class has been evolving slightly in recent years, as attention has been brought to upper class, educated women working as sex workers by choice. "Belle de Jour: Diary of a London Call Girl" was an extremely popular anonymous blog by a British woman who had worked as a prostitute. The blog inspired a series on Showtime, "Secret Diary of a Call Girl." After years of speculation her identity was revealed as Dr. Brooke Magnanti, a research scientist at Bristol University. Her website is now brookemagnanti.com, and it includes the article from Times Online (where her identity was first revealed).
After reading about institutional attitudes toward prostitution as a marker of the "other," I'm interested in these kinds of representations. Why do you think this narrative has caught on with so many readers/viewers? Is there a significance to the semantics used in the sex industry (prostitute vs. call girl).
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I definitely think that there is significance to the semantics used to describe a womens position in the sex industry. Regardless of whether or not the act is the same (sexual intercourse) a prostitute is still looked down upon more than a call girl or escort. Prostitute has a negative connotation that has been attached to the title for several years. I think this narrative has become so popular because it gives its viewers insight into a world that is not public knowledge. I feel like her commentary through out the clips helps engage the audience more and capture their attention. It's like a key into a secret world that someone is trying to educate you about.
ReplyDeleteThe whole Prostitute Vs Call Girl thing is complicated because I feel like call girl is a safe term. Prostitute is linked to such bad connotations like disease, this need for sex you can not get on your own and this lower class that provides it for you in exchange for money. where as the call girl I find is for more privileged people who want more than what they have and can afford to have this luxury of a call girl who isn't this lower class individual who needs money but just a person who chose to provide this service for a living. I think even though in my mind they are the same they are different because one is attached to all these negatives and the other isn't.
ReplyDeleteI agree Prostitute is seen as a negative connotation. They are lower class people. Some people who are victims of sex trafficking are seen as prostitute, but they are force into the industry. Call girl is someone who wants to do the sex for money and go beyond to get the things they want. Prostitute is a need to do for most women and the call girl is a person who wants more. But I believe both is sexual actions that people to have power.
ReplyDeleteI agree and it also reminds me of the Third World and the sex industry that exists in these developing countries. These women wouldn't be called "call girls" because of their economic and social standing - as the "other" to their Western 'consumers' (if you will). I find it really interesting the way that we even socially contruct different forms of the taboos that exist within our society such as the sex industry. A porn star, a prostitute, and a call girl all have varying levels of class and (to an extent) respect to them.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting discussion. I feel like the two terms are very much racialized and had specific class distinctions. Like the above comment, there is a safety and classiness to being a call girl. When one thinks of prostitution they oftentimes would think of a low class urban, primarily African American field. We are so far from colorblind. What's unique about this story is that foremost personal choice is involved. It's luxurious. And apparently the biggest probably is communicating with friends about it. Sounds nice! As Nadel so brilliantly puts, "ethnic boundaries are also sexual boundaries." Can a lower class citizen of color be a call girl? What's so much better with a white person performing sexual activities for money than a person of color?
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that a prostitute position is one of the lowest jobs a woman can have. A woman can never be viewed as clean or respectable if she works this type of job. In regards why the narrative is so popular, is because people like to hear about people struggling and living on the edge. People are so used to trying to conform to the norm that narrative like this give them an out a place to escape to. In short people are intrigued and want to know about things like this because it goes against the norm.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone, for the difference between the two words is the class status, maybe even a racial thing. I thin it is funny that we hear a lot of celebrities who are involved in sex scandals with "call girls", but they are never prostitutes, even though they may do the same thing. When we think of a call girl, we think about how rich white men "buy" these girls for a date/sexual favor while splurging them with lavish gifts, but a prostitute is usually a woman on the street, who looks like they are on drugs and disease-infected. So basically, a call-girl will only do favors for a rich man while a prostitute will sleep with anyone regardless of the amount of money or the race/class/age of the man.
ReplyDeletesemantics are antics, for sure, like everyone is saying!
ReplyDeleteI love that Bola pointed out the complete non-respectability of being a prostitute. (whereas perhaps being a call girl allows you the ability the legitimacy of another purpose; like academia in the case of brooke magnanti).
I also wanted to point out the "rite of passage" that exists in Sambian society--a boy in pubescence takes the sperm of an older man into his mouth, as a sort of ceremony to indicate the aquisition of his manhood. The semantics of homosexuality, I think, are questioned by social situations like this, OR situations like man on man prostitution--many assume that this is gay prostitution, but the sexual act is a semantic thing, too. it can be transcribed in many different ways....
I think you question some good things here. But to answer your question, I believe that this narrative has caught because America can sexualize the idea of women, but when it comes to it being represented in the work place from the prospective of a woman, it is not really seen. So I believe people want to learn about things that they have been locked out of foe so long. And many women know acts of this exist and often question it or have some interest in it. And it like "finally something that I'm interested in". I think the fact that we know sex sales, literally, we want to know how it is being sold. And I think women want to know how can they sale their sex. Maybe not in regards to prostitution, but the at least now have an idea of how they can present their sexuality.
ReplyDeleteThe author seeks to tell us that we should explore more of the power dynamics as they exist within society. The author of Queens of Anal, Double, Triple, and the Gangbang definitely makes it clear by referring to her work as “race-positive sexuality.” This, in my opinion, states that there is a very big difference because the author focuses on the real representations of Asian women in pornography while the other women “termed” yellow face play roles of authentic Asian culture within this sexually heightened genre of entertainment. When it comes to semantics, the same thing applies culturally. The reason to why a “Call Girl” and a “Prostitute” are different is by levels of class and cultural basis. In the movie directed by Spike Lee called “Call Girls,” the woman showed her power in her ability to use her sexual, erotic nature to spark men into giving her their possessions in hope to establish her own self worth. The problem is that there are deeper elements to be concerned with in talking about and discussing these type of things.
ReplyDelete