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Prostitution did not finance Belle de Jour's PhD
19 November 2009
The Bristol-based scientist revealed as the writer "Belle de Jour", who chronicled her life as a "high-class hooker", has dismissed claims that she became a prostitute to finance her doctorate.
Brooke Magnanti unmasked herself this week as the author of the famous blog Diary of a London Call Girl, which was turned into a best-selling novel and hit television series starring Billie Piper.
Dr Magnanti is a 34-year-old research scientist working in the Bristol Initiative for Research of Child Health at the University of Bristol. She graduated with a PhD in informatics, epidemiology and forensic science from the University of Sheffield in 2004.
The scientist worked as a prostitute in London for more than a year between late 2003 and late 2004.
"I couldn't find a professional job in my chosen field because I did not have my PhD yet," she told The Sunday Times.
"I didn't have a lot of spare time on my hands because I was still making corrections and preparing for the viva."
She added: "I started to think: what can I do that I can start doing straight away, that doesn't require a great deal of training or investment to get started, that's cash in hand and that leaves me spare time to do my work in?"
The case has raised concerns about students turning to prostitution to pay their way.
But in an email responding to Times Higher Education's inquiries, Dr Magnanti claims she did not use her earnings to finance her doctorate.
"I absolutely did not use sex work to fund my PhD, end of story," she says in a memo passed on by Sheffield.
It is understood that Dr Magnanti received partial industry sponsorship for her doctorate, for which she submitted her thesis in September 2003.
Bristol said her past as a sex worker was "not relevant" to her current role.
But Petra Boynton, lecturer in health services research at University College London and a sex and relationship psychologist, said Dr Magnanti's history could affect her career.
"I would like to say it should not make a difference, that academics should be accepting of it and what people do in their spare time - and I expect she will find loads of fans (of Belle de Jour) in her department - but there will be those who are negative," she said.
She added that the scientific community on the whole seemed "very positive" and "actually quite thrilled" to discover that Belle de Jour was one of them.
But she suggested the reaction would have been "very different" if Dr Magnanti was still working as a prostitute.
zoe.corbyn@tsleducation.com.
Readers' comments
I don`t know, Sometimes life can be so cruel... But I am grateful because I don`t have to endure this kind of things to get my doctorate. I think I am lucky! To Dr. Magnanti don`t listen to what people said. Stay focus for what you love to do and be the best......
I'm a bit confused, is the point at issue here just the timing? Is Belle saying she submitted her thesis in September 2003, then became a prostitute, then got an academic job? If so, are we supposed to see a major distinction between this and someone who takes up prostitution during their studies? I'm a bit lost as to what the significance of this distinction is.
I'm just envious. I wouldn't mind earning £300 an hour...
Oh really who cares - so she chose 'employment' most of us wouldn't that had some safety and health risks - I don't see any complaints about men doing work that could kill or maim them for life, or work that puts incredible strain on the body, or requires being outdoors in all weathers or doing work with a much higher risk of physical assault than prostitution. I have seen many students work as bouncers including a nice middle-class english friend of mine who 'doored' in Paisley.. students working as event security, community police, on oil rigs, in the army territorial or otherwise - and in all the cases I mention above the people I knew were men, and much more likely to be assaulted or killed than any other line of work. Their pay? Circa £10 - £60 an hour. Stop being so prudish, women are much more sexuially confident these days - in fact I would happily say much more sexually confident than most men. I'm lucky in that I'm pretty accepting of even aggressive female sexuality, but many of my male friends are downright frightened.... and amusing it may be but to them they can't deal with modern women wanting things they don't want to do. Female prostitution is only a few shades from the 'free meal' brigade, and less fraught with deception as a result.
Ah! - if only I'd thought to take up such an innocent pastime instead, when I was studying....
I'm sorry - I'm wondering what the story is in this piece? To summarise: Some people will approve, some people won't approve. And if circumstances were different - which they're not - some people might feel differently about it. I take it this is this a particularly slow news week?
As usual, Laurie Taylor said it all on your back page: "Is Piercemüller Beau de Jour?". "If “Big Bad Don” is unmasked as Dr Piercemuller, can we expect the university to impose sanctions?" "One senior member of our ever-expanding Human Resources team thought it unlikely. Speaking “off the record”, she said: “Now that an increasing number of academics are being asked to prostitute themselves in order to meet the new research excellence framework impact criteria, it would be invidious to discipline legitimate members of the profession.” Real prostitution is a choice. Prostitution imposed by government and Research Councils is not.
Like Silent Minority, I'm thoroughly confused by the chronology. As I read the story, Belle was partially funded through her PhD studies, up to the point at which she submitted her thesis in Sept. 2003. However, the thesis wasn't examined until about a year later (which seems an extraordinarily long gap). During that period, she was apparently busy preparing for her viva, and 'making corrections' (eh? had it been submitted or not? was she spotting flaws in it, and trying to pre-empt the examiners? had it perhaps actually been referred?). In any case, she was so fully occupied in these tasks that she felt she couldn't take 'normal' paid employment, and so, to secure an income, became a prostitute. There are a lot of question marks here, but it certainly sounds as if she turned to prostitution to support herself through her studies, whether or not she had actually submitted her thesis at that point. Not that I have a major problem with this: I engaged in some pretty unsavoury activities to fund myself though my PhD, though sadly not as well paid.
Having met this young lady a couple of times, I suspect that her story is more fiction than faction. Indeed, I suspect that she has led the meedja on a merry, but entirely fictional chase.
A comment on the blog but not on the piece. ----------I just learned about this Belle person the day the thing was on the news --talk about lack of knowledge of popular culture. Everyone else seemed to know about it! I have since read some entries on the blog and though I couldn't care less about what anybody does with their lives, I wonder how did she find the time and energy to work on her PhD at that crucial stage given the demands of the profession? she talks about 2am 'shifts'... She sure must've worked really hard for it!
Urchin: Having read your comment, I now wonder if Belle's statement to THE that prostitution did not fund her studies, merely meant she did not pay her fees using money earned through prostitution, thus clarifying that her university (Shefield I believe) did not receive money earned through prostitution.
The chronology (and point of the story) seems pretty obvious to me: she had already submitted her thesis when she started working as a prostitute, so it was a post-PhD job - not one she took to fund her doctorate.
Anna Nova: and yet Belle is quoted as saying: "I couldn't find a professional job in my chosen field because I did not have my PhD yet". So how is working as a prostitute after submitting while preparing for her viva, not funding her doctorate. She is further quoted as saying: "I started to think: what can I do that I can start doing straight away, that doesn't require a great deal of training or investment to get started, that's cash in hand and that leaves me spare time to do my work in?" So she was clearly working on her PhD during the time that she was a prostitute. So if this doesn't count as funding her doctorate is it because she is using the money to support herself rather than paying fees to Sheffield, or because she has already submitted. To my mind supporting myself was part of the funding I needed and preparing for my viva was a crucial part of my doctoral studies. So it seems clear to me that she did fund her doctorate in part through prostitution.
The media circus continues, and now THES have fallen for it too. To those who say they're jealous of women being able to earn £300 an hour, I notice that whilst prostitution is being compared to working in a confectionery shop, it is *NOT* being compared to the bonuses of city traders. Assuming for a moment that holding down a boring 9-5 job isn't an option, which do you honestly think you'd rather be, if you had the choice - a rent boy, or a derivative trader? If prostitutes really *do* earn that much, then where do you suppose the money the clients pay with is coming from in the first place? Okay so perhaps some of it is inherited, but I doubt that goes for *all* of it ... I can't say that I've spent £300 an hour on prostitutes (male or female) any time recently, so maybe there's another world out there that I'm not part of .... but then what do I know? Perhaps everyone is just imagining it.
Well lets do some calcs.. Average dates to sex = 3 average cost to the bloke £30 a meal = £90. Average two-only dates and no sex = one in three prospects.. ie cost per shag = 90+ 2(60) = £210. If you wait a month and then pay an escort, £300 will save you a whole lot of cash in a year - if you wait for a year or two before plucking up for paid for sex, then you could afford a good weekend on the money you save!
Anyway prostitution is largely there because women act to control and minimise access to sex unless there is some sort of caveat. If people were more open about the difference between sex for physical pleasure and sex for emotional pleasure all would be well - the fact is that women are creating the market that they then disapprove of.
A great piece of marketing. And Christmas coming up too! A book in the hand is worth one in the bush ...
A great piece of marketing. And Christmas coming up too! A book in the hand is worth one in the bush ...
I agree, here's to paid for and welcomed sex for Christmas!
Our university welcomes immoral earnings - far better than that the immoral people get to keep their ill-gotten gains, we should have them. For social good, or something. In fact, our careers department has recently set up an escort agency for graduands and undergrads. You can either go the full fees route, or we can tithe your earnings via one of our earn-as-you-learn schemes. Usual targets and performance indicators apply. Contact the Vice chancellor, obviously.
"...did not finance Belle de Jour's PhD"? Are you kidding? Did she put any special mark on the bills?
I think she only did one bill, five michaels and an Ian.
Women have been selling there bodies since the beginning of time. I hate prostitution. It make you think, have most women used sex to profit. Women tend to cover up or lie about their pass sexual practices. I know for sure women are using prostitution to pay for their college education. They lie about the money saying they paid for their education on their own. But if they had not prostituted, they could not have paid for their education cost. What worries me and I think it is unfair to men. Women are more and more are turning to prostitution. There by, more women are obtaining an education selling their bodies for money. Where as men do not have it this easy. So you will see more women getting their education, while men education will continue to be much more difficult. Who would marry a women if they knew they have prostituted themselves. They know they can always make easy money. Therefore, men are disposable. There are so many lies and ways women cheat men out of everything they own, even their hearts. If a child knew their mother was a prostitute, if would and does do damage to that child and breaks that childs heart forever... A study was done 5 years ago, and found out of 300,000 married couples, 100,000 of the men in these relationship were raising children that were not their own and they didn't even know the children they were raising were not theirs. How many other ways do women deceive men. I know there are a lot of bad men, also. But for those of us men with good morals. We are losing trust and unwilling to take the chance on women these days. You will see more and more people will not marry, gay and lesbian growth, morals are going down, people justify living immorally for the almighty buck (money).
Women have been selling there bodies since the beginning of time. I hate prostitution. It make you think, have most women used sex to profit. Women tend to cover up or lie about their pass sexual practices. I know for sure women are using prostitution to pay for their college education. They lie about the money saying they paid for their education on their own. But if they had not prostituted, they could not have paid for their education cost. What worries me and I think it is unfair to men. Women are more and more are turning to prostitution. There by, more women are obtaining an education selling their bodies for money. Where as men do not have it this easy. So you will see more women getting their education, while men education will continue to be much more difficult. Who would marry a women if they knew they have prostituted themselves. They know they can always make easy money. Therefore, men are disposable. There are so many lies and ways women cheat men out of everything they own, even their hearts. If a child knew their mother was a prostitute, if would and does do damage to that child and breaks that childs heart forever... A study was done 5 years ago, and found out of 300,000 married couples, 100,000 of the men in these relationship were raising children that were not their own and they didn't even know the children they were raising were not theirs. How many other ways do women deceive men. I know there are a lot of bad men, also. But for those of us men with good morals. We are losing trust and unwilling to take the chance on women these days. You will see more and more people will not marry, gay and lesbian growth, morals are going down, people justify living immorally for the almighty buck (money).