PROFILE: BELLE DE JOUR:DR BROOKE MAGNANTI admits to being "something of a master in the art of compartmentalisation". That's a bit of an understatement. Because for the last six years, the 34-year-old Bristol-based research scientist (her specialism is developmental neurotoxicology and cancer epidemiology) has successfully concealed the fact that she worked as a London "call girl" and wrote a wildly explicit blog, under the pseudonym Belle de Jour, chronicling her experiences, writes FIONOLA MEREDITH
The blog, subtitled "The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl", was an instant hit, and awards, book deals, newspaper columns and a television series (starring Billie Piper) based on Belle's adventures soon followed. For years, there has been intense speculation about her identity, and titillated literary detectives came up with writer Toby Young, chick-lit novelist Isabel Wolff and former editor of the Erotic Review Rowan Pelling as possible candidates. (The final consensus seemed to be that it was probably a balding middle-aged man amusing himself.) But while other secret sex bloggers, like Zoe Margolis, the writer of Girl with a One Track Mind, were outed and their true identities exposed, Belle has remained determinedly incognito – until now.
Last Sunday, Magnanti – aware that members of the press were already on her trail, two reporters having been recently escorted from her work premises by police – came clean about her double-life. An interview with journalist India Knight was hastily arranged, along with an accompanying photo shoot of Magnanti looking blonde and glamorous in a silky negligee. She admitted having sex for money with “somewhere between dozens and hundreds” of men, charging £300 an hour for her services. Magnanti turned to prostitution in the final months of writing her PhD thesis, because she had run out of money – as simple as that.
“And that was when I started to think: what can I do that I can start doing straightaway, that doesn’t require a great deal of training or investment to get started, that’s cash in hand and that leaves me spare time to do my work in?” While others might consider a loan or a bout of part-time waitressing, Magnanti had a much more dramatic solution in mind. She decided to sign up with an escort agency, seemingly without batting an eyelash: “I didn’t object to the concept.”
Even more surprisingly, she claimed to enjoy her life as a prostitute, a revelation that has quickly earned her the dubious sobriquet “the happy hooker”. “Some sex workers have terrible experiences. I didn’t,” said Magnanti. “I was unbelievably fortunate in every respect.” Even while incognito, Belle’s insouciant, devil-may-care persona riled many of her (primarily female) critics. In an earlier review of one of Belle’s books, Knight herself dismissed the writing as a “by-numbers male construct or a deliberate female take on the same” with a “relentless me-me-me tone throughout that reminds me of how every woman who gives birth imagines herself to be the first person to experience motherhood, and thus imagines herself to be rather more fascinating than she actually is”.
Now Magnanti's "whistle as you work" approach to her prostitution has precipitated a new chorus of disapproval among the columnists. Daily Mailcolumnist Bel Mooney says the worst aspect of the "whole sorry story" is that such an intelligent woman, with all the privileges of a good background and education, should make "such a low-down choice", while Guardianjournalist Tanya Gold says that Magnanti's remarks sanitised prostitution, glossing over the reality of abuse, illness and violence. Magnanti hit back with a bitchy post on Twitter: "unsurprised Tanya Gold doubts I enjoyed life as Belle, as she seems to so little enjoy her own life. Perhaps cruel to suggest she gets laid?"
Even the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, has expressed his concerns that Belle’s kind of writing promotes the myth that “sex workers are independent women, empowered by the hold they have over men, who sell their bodies for money but who treat it like any other day job”. Those concerns may be justified: one anonymous London escort agency boss has spoken publicly about what he calls the “Belle de Jour phenomenon”. He says that the younger women on his books, aged 18 to 21, have “started to think that what they did was cool. They used to want to hide it but recently I hear they have come clean to friends – boyfriends, even. Not only has it become acceptable to them but some even aspire to it.”
CONCERNS ABOUTglamourising prostitution aside, it's easy to see why Belle gets up more than a few noses, women in particular. She styles herself as the perfect-thinking man's fantasy. Rude, smart and sexy, she effortlessly weaves in nods to Maupassant alongside references to choke-chain collars and nipple clamps – and the effect is more than a little smug. See me, she seems to be saying, I'm not your average hooker. Even her name is a suave reference to the 1967 film Belle de Jour, in which a masochistic housewife called Severine (played by Catherine Deneuve) becomes a part-time prostitute. As Liz Jones puts it, she's "a bluestocking with an emphasis on the blue, as well as the stockings". In essence, Belle's constant unspoken subtext seems to be the Pussycat Dolls' line "don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me?".
Despite having to deal with those clients “covered in hairy moles” or who have “a grand total of three teeth”, she’s also distinctly snooty about those poor benighted fools who take the boring, humdrum route of regular paid employment. “Working in an office is an attenuated form of servitude,” according to Belle. “You need a car to get to the office at an hour prescribed by your superiors. You need a house because you’re told you do, because there is inherent insecurity in your world and turning your sweat into capital over 30 years or more seems like the right thing to do, even if you’re not sure why.”
And she has a sharp riposte for anyone questioning her own actions. “In contrast, my body is available for rent but when the job is done I still take it home, it’s mine . . . Who I am and what I am doing is a rational response to the current economic and cultural climate. Deal with it.” But while her anonymity gave her enormous freedom to say what she liked through the spiky persona of Belle, Magnanti may find it harder to cope without that protective shell. She’s putting a brave face on it – “a perfect storm of feelings and circumstances drew me out of hiding. And do you know what? It feels so much better on this side” – but already the strain is showing. “Please do not come to my workplace as this compromises the security of patients and staff. Thank you for understanding,” she writes rather tersely on her blog. In her latest posts, Magnanti says she will be reporting an ex-boyfriend to the police over apparent threats. And she’s had to contend with her estranged father giving an interview in which he admits to using prostitutes extensively himself, some of whom he introduced to his daughter.
Life will never be the same again for Dr Brooke Magnanti. But if her own observations are correct, there are other Belles de Jour out there. Magnanti claims to be far from alone in being a professional, middle-class woman with a secret: “I’m not the only person walking around who’s an ex-call-girl, believe me.”
CV Belle de Jour
Who is she?A respected research scientist with a racy past
In the news because:She has outed herself as the anonymous sex blogger, Belle de Jour
Hear her saying:Maybe there's something in the sedate 9 to 5 office life after all.
Essential trivia:She contributes recipes (such as Quorn moussaka and Mexican turnip salad) to the International Calorie Restriction Society
