A trade as old as time: Prostitution.
One woman shocked the world with her “spare no detail” accounts of her intimate adventures as a London call girl. Her blog became so popular that it turned into 3 books and a hit show on Showtime. Taking the world by storm, Belle de Jour brought the hot, raunchy truth right into our living rooms and became our favorite dirty little secret.
Her identity remained anonymous, both on her blog and the show, until now. Dr. Brooke Magnanti revealed herself as the woman behind the words of Belle de Jour, this week in The Sunday Times. She explained that while she had planned to remain anonymous, she feared that a former flame was going to out her to the public. So naturally, our little Belle had to beat him to the punch. She went on to say that “Belle and the person who wrote her had been apart too long. I had to bring them back together.”
So why is it that a woman with a PhD is being cast out and judged for simply having the nerve to tell it like it is? She’s not the first woman to use her body as a mean to pay for school, and you know she won’t be the last. Instead of being damned, shouldn’t she be applauded? For making her own way…without leaning on anyone’s shoulders? Let me rephrase that. For making her own way without leaning on a man’s shoulders?
Why is it that since birth women are prepped, primped and polished? Some mothers’ teach their daughters to be ladylike and polite, while others teach their daughters to be strong and opinionated. One thing they always tell us is that it’s a man’s world. A statement that through the ages, has kept women working twice as hard just to prove they belong.
A wise woman once said “I don’t mind living in a man’s world, as long as I can be a woman in it.” Her lifestyle ultimately shaped the views of a nation, becoming the stepping stone for a society where women use their sexuality as a weapon. A way of thinking where sex sells and power is everything. So why are we still fighting for it more than a decade later?
Are the Monroe’s of our time still topping the female power charts? In a world where a woman ran for President and actually had a fighting chance? Where women are continuously dominating the charts in music, film and non-profits without showing a little skin. Perhaps it was never female sexuality that was the weapon, maybe it was pure female spirit. Tell a woman she can’t start a business and she’ll build you an empire.
I guess in the end, it’s true what they say. You’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
Jennifer M Lima 