E. J. Bellocq, portrait photographer of New Orleans's Storyville prostitutes

October 19, 2012December 8, 2016

Accolades, Fan Mail, and Praise

I’ve been thinking of doing this for a while. I occasionally receive gifts and/or flattering emails from readers of my blog. Some are potential or former clients; some are simply folks who either stumbled upon my site accidentally while perusing other sites or found it while searching for tell-all blogs full of racy stories written by professional companions (if you read this blog regularly, you know that’s not what they found here, haha).

Sometimes I feel like when I’m writing this blog I’m sending posts out into a void: a vast and empty space on the internet where no one actually reads anything, they simply click around in search of free photos and spammable email addresses. And because I rarely receive comments (hint, hint–I love comments, people. I even have it set so that you can leave them anonymously, jeez.), it’s easy to convince myself more and more often that that is the case. So, it’s always nice when someone drops me a line to let me know I’m wrong ;)

Anyway, these generous gifts and thoughtful emails always brighten my day (or week, as it were). And, ya know, I don’t want to brag…well, yes I do. So, I thought I’d share a few with you.

Fan Mail

November 2012

I would be ashamed to admit how many courtesan/escort websites I have
perused (and admittedly judged). You have done a magnificent job of
arranging yours. It is one of the few that I’ve seen that is FUN to
explore. From the alluring photos that make you a very desirable woman
to trying to guess where the photos taken, it rates as one of the
best. Your personality flows from page to page.

When I sent the link to my girlfriend, her reply was “She’s Funny!”.
High praise from someone who is difficult to impress.

_______

October 2012

Folks…If you are looking for a young lady who is sexy and well educated, then Annie is a must see in New Orleans. — from TER

October 2012

Hi Annie! :)

My name’s ____…and no, this isn’t what you think. I am a hobbyist and have more than a few references that can vouch for what kind of gentleman I am…

in (city that’s really far away from New Orleans)!

I just started reading your blog and really enjoy it. (Insert semi-identifying info about this gentleman’s connection to New Orleans).

Hopefully I’m not wasting your time with this email. Obviously, it would be difficult for us to schedule time together because of our distance issue. I am hoping, however, that I may call you a “blog friend” and fellow New Orleanian and continue to enjoy your writings. Maybe someday in the near future, a meeting could take place.

Until then, thank you for the enjoyable blogging, and stay safe.

___

September 2012

Hi Annie,

I hope this message finds you well and in good spirits.

Up front, with 2 kids in out of state private colleges to the tune of
100K a year, I’m not a potential customer…I feel like it would be
taking something away from them if I was. I just wanted to share a few
thoughts.

Anyway, I divide the world up into two groups of people. Interesting
and not very interesting. Money, power, or social status have nothing
with my decisions, you are either interesting or not.

Well, Annie, YOU are interesting. Continue reading “Accolades, Fan Mail, and Praise”

August 15, 2012December 8, 2016

Reviews! Fan Mail! Gifts! My clients and readers are awesome!

Well, this past week has been pretty surprising. Let’s review, shall we?

First off, I got an email from a woman whose partner had sent her the link to my blog. The subject line reads: “Add me to the fan club!” (I ain’t too proud to admit that flattery will get you everywhere.) Turns out she’s something of a kindred spirit–not only does she have the same fond memories of being absolutely perplexed by the advice in Cosmopolitan Magazine when she was a teen, but she also shares my passion for Bellocq’s photographs of the Storyville prostitutes.

And who doesn’t love positive feedback?

Speaking of which, I got another type of positive feedback this week, this time in the form of a very flattering review on TER (The Erotic Review) from a client who was an absolute pleasure to meet with.

And then, I realized that I hadn’t even noticed a positive review I received on ECCIE a few weeks back.

And! A client bought me a gift off of my Amazon Wishlist! He got me a year’s subscription to The New Yorker!! It was perfect timing, too, because my subscription was just about to run out. It’s my favorite magazine, and I don’t know how I’d ever convince myself to work out if I didn’t have it to read at the gym. Anyway, he scheduled an appointment and I met with him, and it turns out he’s just as awesome as his taste in gifts :)

Full Disclosure: My Thoughts on Reviews

I don’t have many reviews at all, but I like it that way. While I do allow reviews (I address this briefly on my FAQ page), I don’t want a ton of explicit descriptions of my time with clients floating around the internet. For one thing, I feel like it’s disrespectful to me, and it cheapens our time together (it’s called “intimacy” for a reason, lol). Why should a bunch of men I’ve never met get to be titillated by the time I spent with you, that you paid for? Also–and this is purely from the standpoint of a writer–I believe that, ultimately, these review sites are more predatory than helpful. What it really amounts to is that clients are basically writing porn for the sites, for free, and then the sites turn around and charge other clients to read it. So you’re supplying the content for a site that is selling it, and you don’t even get a share of the profit. Yeah yeah yeah, I understand that everyone profits by getting access to the reviews, but still. If they were really there only for review purposes, they wouldn’t demand in-depth, detailed, explicit play-by-play descriptions of dates. They’d simply require a yes/no recommendation and a short explanation, and leave it up to the reviewer to decide how much to include. That being said, I stand by what I say on my FAQ page: if you’d like to write a brief, tasteful review of our time together, please feel free ;)

July 31, 2012March 17, 2017

Blue Books and Brothels: Storyville and the Legislation of Morality

A while back I met with a gentleman, and one of the topics that came up in conversation was New Orleans’s “sordid” history–namely, the period from 1897-1917 when the city set up Storyville, a red light district where prostitution was legal.

We discussed my fascination with E. J. Bellocq, a photographer working at that time who, despite earning a living photographing (among other relatively mundane things) Catholic school students’ school pictures, was drawn to the…less wholesome side of New Orleans in his art. He is now best known for his Storyville Portraits, a collection of photographs of Storyville prostitutes taken around 1912, just five years before Storyville was shut down. These pictures weren’t found until after his death, but they’re wildly popular now–so much so that they have completely overshadowed his other work, such as his photos of the opium dens in what was then New Orleans’s Chinatown (now the CBD).

Anyway, a couple days later, after he’d left town, I got an email from him with a link to this site. It’s a fun little site with lots of info, but I think the most interesting thing about it is the collection of photographs of Blue Books. Blue Books were basically guides to Storyvile–like the Eros-nola.com of paper.

It’s striking how similar the Blue Books are to the advertising methods used in the industry today. Look at Clara Miller’s ad–her main selling points are her lovely disposition, her worldly (she’s traveled to Europe) yet relateable (she’s a local girl born near Baton Rouge) personal history, and her eagerness to please (she “can sit up all night if necessary”). And of course, she’s a beautiful octaroon. Sounds a lot like an elite professional companion, seeking extended dates, no?

I love the intro, in which the publishers swear that the listings contained in the book are truthful representations of the ladies and services they advertise. “This book contains nothing but Facts,” they write. Oh, I wonder how many men were duped by the ol’ bait-and-switch back then. The predominant business structure in Storyville was the brothel arrangement, where several women worked in a house under a single owner/employer. It was basically the equivalent to today’s agencies. And the brothel owners (Madams) could really submit whatever information, real or false, they believed would attract customers (is this sounding familiar yet?). I hope they made sure the girls had a chance to read the ads first!

And on that topic, what of the bait-and-switch? Back then, since the business was legal, I guess situations like that one were much less problematic–it was just a matter of the gentleman saying, “No, thank you, that’s not what I was expecting,” and moving on to the next available lady that struck his fancy.

And what of brothels? There weren’t really any “independent escorts” in those days; women worked for business owners, who charged them a fee for the room, the advertising, security, etc. (again, like an agency). This is one of the reasons I’m against “legalizing” sex work–once there are strict regulations, we basically lose all control over how and where we work, and what we do with our own bodies. Look at the situation in Nevada. Sure, the brothels are legal, but the women working in them are dehumanized to the point that they are simply equipment, and the laws are such that the person who benefits most from their work is the employer (brothel owner). The women are not permitted to leave the property (?!????!!!!!??), they are subjected to–and charged for–weekly medical exams*, they must pay rent, a flat grocery fee (regardless of what they eat), and several other miscellaneous fees for services and items they are forced to buy, and they are forced to directly compete with the women they must work and live with for the duration of their stay. And before they receive their paychecks, the employer takes (from what I understand) about half of their earnings.
Continue reading “Blue Books and Brothels: Storyville and the Legislation of Morality”

May 12, 2012August 7, 2012

E. J. Bellocq’s Storyville Portraits – Prostitutes in 1912 New Orleans

Look what came in the mail today!!! It’s my new Bellocq book!

E. J. Bellocq : Storyville Portraits - Book of Photographs by Bellocq printed in 1972 — E. J. Bellocq : Storyville Portraits

I’ve wanted to get my hands on this book (and that girl’s stockings!) for so long. I remember the first time I saw these images. I was taking a Sophomore level Louisiana History course in college–a course for which I had to memorize the names and locations of all 64 parishes in the state (oh, how I cursed that professor the night before THAT test…). Imagine my surprise when I walked into class one Monday morning, and instead of being met with another lecture on Huey P. Long or Earl K. Long or one of the other many Longs involved in Louisiana politics, I was treated to century-old photos featuring scantily clad ladies. Was I dreaming? Had I overslept through my alarm again? Nope. My lovely professor (I wasn’t cursing his name that day!) had prepared a lesson on Storyville, New Orleans’s own red light district, and the first in the United States. See–I knew my hometown had more to be proud of than our music, parties, and food!

I remember being so impressed with those photos back then. I didn’t even realize that there was a book of Bellocq’s portraits until later. I’d see the images here and there, on local-access TV shows or in advertisements for bars in the French Quarter. And I more or less forgot about them.

Enter the internet.

One day a couple years ago, I randomly thought about those pictures when I saw a pair of stockings with thick stripes. I bought the stockings immediately, even though they weren’t nearly as cool as the ones this girl is wearing in the photo. When I got home, I fired up the laptop and used the research skills I learned in graduate school to find that photo online (I am quite the Google ninja.). And when I found it, and I finally had Bellocq’s name, I hopped on over to Amazon to look for the book and…realized that it was out of print, and the only copies listed were going for well over $200. Wow. Not an expense I could justify, seeing as I was a graduate student studying the arts, and student life (especially grad student life) isn’t exactly conducive to a life of luxury.

Alas! A couple weeks ago, I randomly thought of checking up on the price of Bellocq’s book again. I found it for a pretty good starting price on Ebay, and set the alarm on my phone to alert me when the auction was closing. Those last few minutes were brutal–I was fighting it out with someone who, like me, really, really, REALLY wanted those pictures depicting legalized prostitution in New Orleans circa 1912, hahah. But in the end, I got the book for an amazing price. I still can’t get over it!

In the days of anticipation between the auction’s end and the book’s arrival, I read a lot of what others had to say about it. More often than not, I found their assessments patronizing. There’s one in particular that I’d like to share from a reviewer on Amazon, who “continue(s) to be intrigued by the sad faces, and what those expressions said about the tragic life that the ‘soiled doves’ lived in those days.” Continue reading “E. J. Bellocq’s Storyville Portraits – Prostitutes in 1912 New Orleans”