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What We Talk About When We Talk About Hookers

April 28, 2006 at 9:37 AM | 0 Comments

[We have removed the image that was posted here. We sincerely apologize for the mistake.]

Looks like Brazil has its first blogging celebrity, and she's a prostitute. Rachel Pacheco, who went by the name Bruna on a blog documenting her days as a hooker in São Paulo, sold more than 100,000 copies of her autobiographical book after it came out last year. The book has caused a minor to-do in Brazil, but not because of the content of the book, which manages to be both explicit and tame: the author only refers to the first letter of body parts when things get graphic. The translators must have had a fun time with that one.

While we applaud the fact that the woman got a book deal out of being, um, a whore, isn't it odd that in many countries the first blogs to be turned into books are those written by hookers? Belle du Jour, even if she wasn't, you know, actually a hooker, did get a book deal, too. Maybe the Economist can update their Big Mac index to track how long it takes a hooker/blogger to get a book deal in each country to rate the relative levels of prosperity in each. Just a thought.

Related Stories:
·   She Who Controls Her Body [NY Times]
·   Named: the Belle du Jour [Times of London]
·   Bruna's Blog