I think Belle de Jour is great. And not just because she included a dedication to me in a book (although that kind of thing does warm the cockles of a girl's heart).
She's funny, literary, independent, intrepid. She's also kinda cheeky - she clearly appreciates and exploits the value of titillation, and isn't afraid of courting controversy.
Long ago, before the TV series, before the book deal and before even the Guardian weblog award, BdJ and I were blogging contemporaries. So I've been reading her for almost five years. And the more I read her, the more I like her.
And I liked her quite a lot in the first place. If you'll follow me over the jump I'll tell you why.
Does Belle de Jour glamorise prostitution? Yes. Her brand of high-class (eg expensive) prostitution - yes. Even the most tawdry of her hotel encounters with clients seems somehow... glossy. But she glamorises everything. Bad dates, conversations with her mother, pooing on men's chests, the Thames. There could be three reasons for this:
- It's all fiction
- She's a little bit poetical
- Both of the above
I lean towards option 2. There's a lot of beauty and art in what Belle writes and, to me, that comes across as a trait of a person who enjoys life. I mean, that's the whole reason she says she became a prostitute - she likes money, she likes sex - why not combine the two?
And Belle does likes her sex. With gusto, in all its squelchy glory. She also seems to have mastered the art of separating sex from emotion which women are apparently notoriously unable to do. I like the way she's so contrary. Like being a label fiend and a voracious consumer of highbrow literature. Hard-headed and big-hearted. A pragmatic yet aesthetic purchaser of sex toys. Arch yet warm. Prim yet lusty. Girly yet listy. A maker of mixtapes, I'll bet.
And what about her identity? Is she a she? Is she a he? Is she a them? Is she one of the final five Cylons?
Literally GAZILLIONS of people have been outed as the 'real Belle de Jour', most of them journalists. There's another theory that she's actually a COVEN of acquisitive ne'er-do-wells hellbent on corrupting the type of innocent souls who buy paperback prostitute confessionals.
But over the years she's always struck me as consistently the same person. And, as far as these things can be told, female. And I'm not sure I can see the gain in continuing her pretence. Surely it would have been more lucrative to sell her story after the first two books?
Personally, I'd like to see her write some non-Belle related fiction.
Whether or not Belle is real, and however titillating and objectionable people might find her, her story is one of a woman who didn't fit the "typical female" mould by some margin; who did what she wanted, flew in the face of convention, and profited from it.
That's quite feminist enough for me.
As Belle says on her Facebook profile, "I'm just a normal girl with a sweet ass and a dirty mind". to that I'd add "big brain, bigger heart".
Long may she continue.
