The Trouble with Beauty
In The Trouble With Beauty the cut throat lap-dancing world had surely toughened the naturally sensitive Eden; it was a learning curve alright, although she inwardly recognized that she was being shaped into something different – something not so sweet anymore. Night after night spent dancing naked for different men meant that the tall sexy blonde had stopped seeing the opposite sex through rose tinted glasses – somehow knowing that even her boyfriend was just the same.
Things changed drastically when on one night in the club she met Martin, a travel industry entrepreneur who obsessively fell for her and offered her something new, something different. As his highly paid companion it was her job description to accompany him everywhere he required. The ridiculous amounts of money she received were justified from the strain on her emotional health and general sanity, like those dark times when Martin would pour all over her in public, touching her young body with his creepy merciless hands, catching the eye of an appalled stranger. He didn’t care that he was taking chunks out of her mental health what with his forty phone calls a day and constant letching. For every unwanted grope to her breast and every time his hand slipped up her skirt she gained more strength in the mission to escape.
The lavish lifestyle she became accustomed to, what with the glamorous house, supercars, special cut diamonds, extravagant trips and designer wardrobe were all part of the plan – his plan, to well and truly place the young silly blonde lap-dancer, in the frame. She had no alternative but to turn the tables before it was too late, and that’s exactly where super rich Johnny would become useful. She had only just met the multi-millionaire property developer through business dealings with Martin, but she knew she had caught his eye enough to make him the key to her first class one way ticket so far out of there and onto something new. He chose the wrong girl to mess with…………
You quote philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche in the front of the new book, so please can you tell us why you chose this?
I chose the quote because it describes my nature; I view gender as a performance and something separate from biological sex. Femininity commands cultural capital in the socio-environment in which we live, particularly within the concentrated misogynistic spaces like the sex industry. As a woman I possess both feminine and what’s perceived as masculine traits; I can be aggressive, physically strong and fit and am both dominant and opinionated at times. I refuse to let the attributes socially allocated to womanhood affect my existence. I guess men may think someone like that, who is obviously a woman that could be considered attractive to them, is dangerous as she won’t play ball.
This is your second book, so what can you tell us about your first Disturbia?
Disturbia is very different to The Trouble with Beauty. It comes from a place of being a recipient of abuse depicting strong strains of sexual misogyny and the use and abuse of women in the sex industry. It also encapsulates themes of domestic violence and feminine vulnerability. It’s a very modern erotic piece that explores how girls embroiled within the industry react to a certain treatment as well as utilizing agency and self-hood within the wider erotic contexts to survive. Disturbia also challenges taboos, and provoke thought.
Your work is different to others because you say it encapsulates genuine human feeling and perspective, so how have you gained this knowledge?
I have been able to transport my experiences of being an emotionally vulnerable human being without maternal guidance throughout the majority of my life. As I have children I was able to obtain insight into the necessity of being a supportive mother and so never quite grasped why mine wasn’t. However, in my thirties I tend not to dwell anymore but look back at many of my decisions like my time within the sex industry as being a manifestation of a fragile mind-set coupled which I guess was part of feeling alone and unworthy. It must be said that sculpting my mind has strengthened me no end.
Why did you want to explore a variety of fetishes in your first book?
The choice to explore fetishes comes from a knowingness that many tastes exist, some far darker than others. The sex industry represents a huge arcadia and acts as an umbrella term for masculine components such as Page 3 right through to machine-line prostitution. I will write a Disturbia 2 to enlighten readers of more areas as there are many more.
What is the appeal or you to write about the darker side of the sex industry?
I like to expose injustice and the current format of women as spectacle is a grotesque example of what current producers of sex industry artifacts create. Andrea Dworkin, a radical feminist thinker states that “Pornography by definition- is the graphic depiction of whores – which is a trade in class of persons who have been systematically denied the rights protected the First Amendment and the rest of the bill of rights” (1981). The statement carries much leverage when we observe the maltreatment of females within the heterosexual sphere of pornography. The male is always in control, even when the scene depicts two women together; they play to the camera for the male gaze with their enhanced breasts and Barbie doll style as the camera pans effectively across the scene forcing its way into every available crevice of the on-going action to facilitate an undermining pre-requisite.
To what extent do you think that people in the sex industry have had unstable childhoods the way Eden has?
From my time in the industry and from the girls I know and once knew I can safely exert reliable opinion on this. A girl with a drug habit who had a spate of amassing appearances in hard core porn films died last year – she was taking the drug every day; yes she chose to live like this but why did the producers keep shooting her. It makes me so mad that she was nothing more than a piece of meat to these people. This is just one example of damaged people, whether they are ill before entering the industry or whether they soon become that way from there contact with it. If bodies of council were set up for these people as well as more female friendly shot movies we might be getting somewhere.
Which authors have your gained inspiration from?
I am embarrassed to say that my passion is for academic books not novels :D – I’m currently reading Woman, Art and Society by Whitney Chadwick – a phenomenal read!
What is next for you?
I’m very excited to be contracted and near to completion of a biography of an infamous erotic artist, who has been shot since the tender age of fourteen. The manuscript lifts the lid on the historical and current landscape of the sex industry through prose and illustration. It will be my masterpiece!