TILLY LAWLESS
“Pretty Woman was revolutionary because it depicted a sex worker as desirable and dateable –not just a drug addict”
I remember watching Pretty Woman for the first time as a kid, and wondering if sex workers really did refuse to kiss clients. It seemed silly to me, as a child who hadn’t been sexual with anyone, that you would allow someone to go inside you but not kiss you.
Now watching the film on its 30th anniversary, having been a ‘working girl’ for over six years, it’s the scene that most amuses me. The concepts that a) sex workers have boundaries and b) some things can be more invasive than penetrative sex, are ones that many people struggle to wrap their head around. I do mainly brothel work, and I am constantly coming up against men who complain that I have ‘too many rules’ when I won’t kiss or let them perform oral sex on me. I always explain that to me those things are more intimate than blow jobs or sex. Some are astounded that I have things I won’t do, as if they have paid for me in entirety and should have free rein with my body, but most get it. Those things are the most intimate to them too, and that’s why they want them, because they are chasing the ‘real’ experience.
Watching Vivian as she vivaciously totters across screen, I am simultaneously warmed and saddened by the film. Warmed, because it is wonderful to see a sex worker depicted as desirable and dateable, not just a drug addict or a nameless murder victim, a spectacle to the respectable – as the body of the girl killed on Vivian’s street is to the tourists that photograph it in one of the opening scenes. Saddened, because little has changed for sex workers around the world, particularly over in the US.
Bu hikaye Marie Claire Australia dergisinin April 2020 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Marie Claire Australia dergisinin April 2020 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
SHANNEN DOHERTY
The rebellious actor died in July after a nine-year battle with cancer. Zara Wong looks back at the legacy of a woman who always lived on her own terms
IN THE WILDS OF ALASKA
Nature served up a spectacular array of delights, while cruising the majestic waters of the far north.
Back to EARTH
In its earliest days, the farm bred draught horses for export. Now Tasmania's 1840 cottage Leighton House has been restored as a glorious getaway
ODE to LIGHT
Created by master perfumer Francis Kurkdjian in 2011, Elie Saab's Le Parfum has since gained a cult following and become an industry icon. Here, Sally Hunwick uncovers the origins of the stunning chypre floral scent
JEN ATKIN
The Ouai beauty guru is regularly called on by the Kardashians and a host of other A-listers. Here, she talks about hair, her beauty cupboard and how she keeps up her energy levels
A NEW DIRECTION
When she was 16, Jordan Lambropoulos told her surgeon she'd rather die than wake up with a colostomy bag. Today - 10 years, countless operations and 14,000 Instagram followers later - she's proof that a colostomy bag is not the end. In fact, it can be the beginning of a whole new life
LADY LUCK
Rosalía takes her accessories as seriously as she takes her art. The Spanish musician spent three years working on her much-lauded album Motomami, finessing the details and perfecting the finishing touches. And when it comes to her outfits, she's no less specific
Wait... superhero movies are cool now?
Who had Emma Corrin and Juno Temple as supervillians on their 2024 bingo card?
CURTAIN CALLING
Brisbane-born star Vidya Makan steps into the shoes of America's founding mother in the long-awaited return of Hamilton
LEIGH-ANNE
The English singer on colourism, freedom and reuniting Little Mix