When is being a prostitute news?
Posted at 9:00 AM Apr 24, 2008
Despite the frenetic pace of the Internet and the down and dirty appeal of attention grabbing but wholly inaccurate Gawker headlines like Diane Sawyer Rats Out Hooker to Her Parents, I don't think all stories are worth their salt in page views.
Granted, Debauchette blogged the story herself - and that's the way the best stories about prostitutes are told: by themselves, in their own words - words not mediated and edited by media corporations. Uh, I mean, "reporters." But Debauchette's story spread like wildfire - the NY Post quoted her email refusal to give them a quote, and then went on to essentially quote her blog and other media at length.
Prostitutes are news, and will continue being news, even when by all measures there isn't a real story happening. The flurry around Debauchette over the past several days has been all about exposure. Yet, the fact remains that Debauchette has plenty of agency in this little game - it bears repeating that she broke her own story of discovery and wrote about her choice to be interviewed by Diane Sawyer. She wasn't a hapless victim in all this, no matter how heavily the tropes about prostitutes in the media lean on the built-in assumption that she's suffering.
--Audacia Ray
more: Media Critic
I think that's a really important point. I also think anyone who goes on national TV (or who has an anonymous blog) has to have at least considered what they would do if their true identity was found out, especially these days. I just don't find it that surprising that people who know someone might recognize them on TV, distortions and all, and that is a risk anyone takes, presumably, when going on television.
Posted by: Rachel Kramer Bussel at April 24, 2008 1:22 PM
