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books 2008: Callgirl, by Jeannette Angell
Jan. 22nd, 2008 07:18 pmFull title: Callgirl: Confessions of an Ivy League Lady of Pleasure. Back cover: "A revealing, unflinching memoir of a university professor by day and callgirl by night." I'm sure none of you are surprised that this book ended up on my reading list, given my oft-commented-upon (by Jorn, at least) penchant for books about whores.
This was an interesting and well-written memoir, I thought. A bit sensationalistic, but how could it not be, given the subject matter? Angell really draws you in to her world and makes it very vivid. That's what a memoir is about, really.
She takes you on the whole journey with her, too. At the beginning, she describes her thought process behind taking the escort job to begin with, and I found myself nodding, agreeing with her. Angell argues that a callgirl is the same as a tax accountant or computer technician or any other skilled professional: a callgirl provides a service that the client cannot do on his own, for which she is paid an hourly fee. Makes sense. And she describes her first few clients, and you start thinking, this doesn't sound so bad. And then she got in a bit deeper, and saw more of that life, more of the addictions and everything that makes it bad. And still she was lucky--her madam was on her side, protecting her "girls" from a lot of bad stuff.
Angell really isn't all that different from me. She's an academic; she had her PhD in anthropology and was adjuncting in Boston when she first started working for the escort service. I can understand how she came to do what she did. Boston's expensive and she had a ton of student loans and her ex-boyfriend cleaned out her checking account. I can sympathize with that.
But as much as she talks about the difference between work and love, and how callgirls are just doing a job, acting, being a fantasy, and as much as she hates the word "degrading", I still can't think of a word that describes it better. Yes, she provided a service that is necessary and important in today's world, and throughout time immemorial, and yes, people are needed to provide this service, and their work isn't valued enough. But the treatment she described from some of the clients she serviced--the way they treated her was degrading. Accepting money for being treated that way doesn't make it less degrading, to my mind. Money doesn't wipe your memory clean--she still remembers all the terrible things that people said and did to her. I don't know that any amount of money could make that damage to a soul worthwhile.
I am thankful up one side and down the other that I have never been in a place where I would even need to consider doing that kind of work. I am thankful that I've never had sex with anyone I didn't really want to have sex with. That seems to be kind of a rarity, I guess. While she was working part-time as a callgirl, Angell was also teaching part-time, and she taught a class on the history and sociology of prostitution. And it seems to me that I would really like to take that class. I do my feminist thing, and I read all my books and novels about prostitutes, and I'm pretty good, but there are a lot of serious issues surrounding prostitution that I've never considered, and don't know how to begin considering.
This was an interesting and well-written memoir, I thought. A bit sensationalistic, but how could it not be, given the subject matter? Angell really draws you in to her world and makes it very vivid. That's what a memoir is about, really.
She takes you on the whole journey with her, too. At the beginning, she describes her thought process behind taking the escort job to begin with, and I found myself nodding, agreeing with her. Angell argues that a callgirl is the same as a tax accountant or computer technician or any other skilled professional: a callgirl provides a service that the client cannot do on his own, for which she is paid an hourly fee. Makes sense. And she describes her first few clients, and you start thinking, this doesn't sound so bad. And then she got in a bit deeper, and saw more of that life, more of the addictions and everything that makes it bad. And still she was lucky--her madam was on her side, protecting her "girls" from a lot of bad stuff.
Angell really isn't all that different from me. She's an academic; she had her PhD in anthropology and was adjuncting in Boston when she first started working for the escort service. I can understand how she came to do what she did. Boston's expensive and she had a ton of student loans and her ex-boyfriend cleaned out her checking account. I can sympathize with that.
But as much as she talks about the difference between work and love, and how callgirls are just doing a job, acting, being a fantasy, and as much as she hates the word "degrading", I still can't think of a word that describes it better. Yes, she provided a service that is necessary and important in today's world, and throughout time immemorial, and yes, people are needed to provide this service, and their work isn't valued enough. But the treatment she described from some of the clients she serviced--the way they treated her was degrading. Accepting money for being treated that way doesn't make it less degrading, to my mind. Money doesn't wipe your memory clean--she still remembers all the terrible things that people said and did to her. I don't know that any amount of money could make that damage to a soul worthwhile.
I am thankful up one side and down the other that I have never been in a place where I would even need to consider doing that kind of work. I am thankful that I've never had sex with anyone I didn't really want to have sex with. That seems to be kind of a rarity, I guess. While she was working part-time as a callgirl, Angell was also teaching part-time, and she taught a class on the history and sociology of prostitution. And it seems to me that I would really like to take that class. I do my feminist thing, and I read all my books and novels about prostitutes, and I'm pretty good, but there are a lot of serious issues surrounding prostitution that I've never considered, and don't know how to begin considering.
