The Honest Courtesan

The existence of a movie featuring lurid tall tales about sex work does no more to prove them than the existence of The Wizard of Oz proves the existence of flying monkeys and talking scarecrows.  – That Was the Week That Was (#329)

This month marks the beginning of this very feature, which needless to say has appeared every month since.  The other regular features of the month were the fictional interlude “For I Have Sinned“; the holiday columns “Dependence Day“, “Third Anniversary” and “The Magdalene“; the Cliterati reprints “Public Property“, “Ad Absurdum“, “Long Spoon” and “Give Them an Inch…“; the Q&A columns “Catching Up“, “Keep Doing What You’re Doing“, “Cutting Remarks” and “Never Let ‘Em See You Sweat“; and a two-part Guest Column by Onioja, a Nigerian sex worker in Amsterdam.  In addition, there were two early diary columns, “Rubbing Elbows” and “Celebrity“, from before that was a weekly feature.  After that, there were six others: “Still a Child“, an examination of attempts to raise the age at which people are considered adults; “Micromanagement“, a warning about DNA databases; “Passive Voice“, an analysis at the language used to defer responsibility; “More Harm Than Good“, a complaint about the awful language used by would-be allies; “Cleaning Toilets“, an analogy about work some people dislike; and “Being Heard“, a look at how sex workers are finally beginning to be listened to.