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Sex, Lies & Statistics
"An enlightening must-read for anyone exposed to the press" THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY "Should be read by anyone claiming an interest in sex and, especially, sex equality" EVENING STANDARD "An important book... exactly the kind of level-headed analysis that could help to dispel some of the hysteria surrounding the sex industry" THE TIMES "As entertaining as it is erudite" THE OBSERVER As Belle de Jour she enthralled and outraged the nation in equal measure. Now her real identity is out in the open, Brooke's background as a scientist and a researcher can come to bear in her fascinating investigation into the truth behind the headlines, scandals and moral outrage that fill the media (and our minds) when it comes to sex. Using her entertaining and informed voice, Brooke strips away the hype and looks at the science behind sex and the panic behind public policy. Unlike so many media column inches, Brooke uses verifiable academic research. This is fact, not fiction; science not supposition. So sit back, open your mind and prepare to be shocked... (review excerpts refer to the 2012 UK edition)
157 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 24, 2017
About the author
Brooke Magnanti
11 books76 followersBrooke Magnanti is a forensic scientist and writer, who, until her identity was revealed in November 2009, was known by the pen name Belle de Jour.
While completing her doctoral thesis, in 2003 and 2004, Magnanti worked as a call girl. Her diary, published as the anonymous blog Belle de Jour: Diary of a London Call Girl became popular, as speculation surrounded the identity of Belle de Jour. Magnanti went on to The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl in 2005 and The Further Adventures of a London Call Girl in 2006. These were followed by Playing the Game, Belle de Jour's Guide to Men, and Belle's Best Bits.
In 2007, the books were adapted for TV as Secret Diary of a Call Girl, starring Billie Piper. In November 2009, fearing her real identity was about to come out, Magnanti revealed her real name and occupation as a scientist. Her first book published under her real name was the non-fiction The Sex Myth in 2012.
Magnanti's first crime novel, The Turning Tide, will be published by Orion in 2016.
While completing her doctoral thesis, in 2003 and 2004, Magnanti worked as a call girl. Her diary, published as the anonymous blog Belle de Jour: Diary of a London Call Girl became popular, as speculation surrounded the identity of Belle de Jour. Magnanti went on to The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl in 2005 and The Further Adventures of a London Call Girl in 2006. These were followed by Playing the Game, Belle de Jour's Guide to Men, and Belle's Best Bits.
In 2007, the books were adapted for TV as Secret Diary of a Call Girl, starring Billie Piper. In November 2009, fearing her real identity was about to come out, Magnanti revealed her real name and occupation as a scientist. Her first book published under her real name was the non-fiction The Sex Myth in 2012.
Magnanti's first crime novel, The Turning Tide, will be published by Orion in 2016.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 23, 2018
Brooke Magnanti has had to get used to being inconvenient since her name first became public. It was she who, as ‘Belle de Jour’, wrote a very good blog about her experience as an escort in London, the tenor of which was so smart and enthusiastic that a lot of critics concluded she must be an erotic fabrication, probably by an overexcited man. That she turned out to be a well-spoken research scientist with classic good looks and a PhD did not fit with a lot of people's narratives.
Her new book bristles with a marshalled fury over how the media discusses sex in general, and sex work in particular. As a former sex worker by trade and an epidemiologist by profession, Magnanti considers herself in a good position to first spot the hypocrisies, and then to quantify them by means of a thorough interrogation of the published research. I found her extremely convincing.
Her basic point is that most of the narratives around sex are not based on research, but on ideology. This is irritating when it comes to subjects like pornography or the ‘sexualisation’ of society (topics on which Magnanti has lots to say), but it is positively dangerous when it comes to direct sex work like prostitution.
Of course, her own experience of sex work was a privileged one, and she readily admits this (she worked as a call girl for around fourteen months, and is thought to have made more than £100,000 in that time). But she argues that she's hardly less representative than the traditional image of the desperate, drug-addled streetwalker, which also describes only a small minority of sex workers. Most exist on a vast continuum in the middle; many at the lower end may, like other low-end workers, not particularly like their job, but they do not consider themselves forced into it, devoid of choice, or in thrall to a system of sex-slavery. Unlike other low-status workers, they also have to contend with the fact that their work is criminalised and socially derided.
Of the possible legal approaches to prostitution, the much-vaunted ‘Swedish model’ – under which sex workers are not criminalised but their clients are – is thoroughly demolished here. Magnanti shows that sex workers do not want it; it is pushed mainly by campaigners at one or two removes, many of whom are ultimately funded by (or who themselves belong to) conservative pressure groups. Criminalising the punters just turns prostitutes into witnesses for the prosecution, and brings them into closer unwanted contact with the police, from whom in many areas they suffer more violence and abuse than from customers or ‘pimps’.
Besides, think of your own job: if all your clients and customers were committing a crime by working with you, how would that make you feel? One sees the point. Ultimately, criminalising those who pay for sex is predicated on the idea that the ones selling it don't really want to be doing that work at all. But Magnanti shows that this is not supported by the evidence. It is simply a moral stance.
Instead, full decriminalisation (not ‘legalisation’, which restricts the work to licensed brothels) is preferred. You wouldn't know from the way the issue is usually discussed, but full decriminalisation is the position that has now been adopted not only by the major sex workers' groups themselves, but also by Amnesty International, UNAIDS, UN Women, the World Health Organization, and the ACLU. Campaigners think they know better than the people they are campaigning for – Magnanti calls it ‘gaslighting pure and simple’.
You can see that Magnanti can be quite cynical about the state of public debate on this matter. Always having called herself a feminist, she is bitterly disappointed by the fact that she and other sex workers are attacked most prominently by women, especially by a faction of the feminist movement. The position of such commentators is basically that sex work perpetrates sexual inequality and violence against women. (Male sex workers have to be ignored under this narrative, which is why their problems have been abandoned to the HIV researchers.) It's an assumption you can sympathise with, but in practice, many proponents can be pretty nasty about it. (Julie Burchill, for instance: ‘When the sex war is won prostitutes should be shot as collaborators for their terrible betrayal of all women.’)
In any case, the best thing about this book is its deep-dive into the numbers; whatever your feelings about the argument, you will come away from it with a much smarter idea of how to interpret or examine the statistics you see repeated in newspapers. The book feels, at heart, like an attack on pseudoscience, which just happens to be about sex.
The writing is OK, but not up to the standards set by her best blog entries: a few awkward sentences and sloppy phrases like ‘off of’ sometimes make her argument feel weaker than it deserves to. Though it's not easy to tell, Sex, Lies and Statistics appears to be an updated version of her 2012 book, The Sex Myth; a lot of the studies cited are still pre-2012, although there are more and more modern citations as the book goes on and the last couple of chapters are clearly recent. She reproduces, for instance, the entire Hansard record of her 2016 evidence to the Home Affairs Committee investigating the UK's prostitution laws – the committee subsequently took up many of her suggestions, though Theresa May seems intent on ignoring them.
No surprises there: political leaders have been ignoring the research for years because there is good political capital – and good money – to be made by coming down hard on sex work. But as Magnanti summarises, in a one-line takeaway: ‘Moral disapproval is a bad basis for policy making.’
Her new book bristles with a marshalled fury over how the media discusses sex in general, and sex work in particular. As a former sex worker by trade and an epidemiologist by profession, Magnanti considers herself in a good position to first spot the hypocrisies, and then to quantify them by means of a thorough interrogation of the published research. I found her extremely convincing.
Her basic point is that most of the narratives around sex are not based on research, but on ideology. This is irritating when it comes to subjects like pornography or the ‘sexualisation’ of society (topics on which Magnanti has lots to say), but it is positively dangerous when it comes to direct sex work like prostitution.
Of course, her own experience of sex work was a privileged one, and she readily admits this (she worked as a call girl for around fourteen months, and is thought to have made more than £100,000 in that time). But she argues that she's hardly less representative than the traditional image of the desperate, drug-addled streetwalker, which also describes only a small minority of sex workers. Most exist on a vast continuum in the middle; many at the lower end may, like other low-end workers, not particularly like their job, but they do not consider themselves forced into it, devoid of choice, or in thrall to a system of sex-slavery. Unlike other low-status workers, they also have to contend with the fact that their work is criminalised and socially derided.
Of the possible legal approaches to prostitution, the much-vaunted ‘Swedish model’ – under which sex workers are not criminalised but their clients are – is thoroughly demolished here. Magnanti shows that sex workers do not want it; it is pushed mainly by campaigners at one or two removes, many of whom are ultimately funded by (or who themselves belong to) conservative pressure groups. Criminalising the punters just turns prostitutes into witnesses for the prosecution, and brings them into closer unwanted contact with the police, from whom in many areas they suffer more violence and abuse than from customers or ‘pimps’.
Besides, think of your own job: if all your clients and customers were committing a crime by working with you, how would that make you feel? One sees the point. Ultimately, criminalising those who pay for sex is predicated on the idea that the ones selling it don't really want to be doing that work at all. But Magnanti shows that this is not supported by the evidence. It is simply a moral stance.
Instead, full decriminalisation (not ‘legalisation’, which restricts the work to licensed brothels) is preferred. You wouldn't know from the way the issue is usually discussed, but full decriminalisation is the position that has now been adopted not only by the major sex workers' groups themselves, but also by Amnesty International, UNAIDS, UN Women, the World Health Organization, and the ACLU. Campaigners think they know better than the people they are campaigning for – Magnanti calls it ‘gaslighting pure and simple’.
The campaigners are not staffing the drop-in vans or homeless shelters where [sex workers] are found. They are at international conferences in 5-star resorts, talking about feminist theory and being ‘a voice for the voiceless.’
You can see that Magnanti can be quite cynical about the state of public debate on this matter. Always having called herself a feminist, she is bitterly disappointed by the fact that she and other sex workers are attacked most prominently by women, especially by a faction of the feminist movement. The position of such commentators is basically that sex work perpetrates sexual inequality and violence against women. (Male sex workers have to be ignored under this narrative, which is why their problems have been abandoned to the HIV researchers.) It's an assumption you can sympathise with, but in practice, many proponents can be pretty nasty about it. (Julie Burchill, for instance: ‘When the sex war is won prostitutes should be shot as collaborators for their terrible betrayal of all women.’)
In any case, the best thing about this book is its deep-dive into the numbers; whatever your feelings about the argument, you will come away from it with a much smarter idea of how to interpret or examine the statistics you see repeated in newspapers. The book feels, at heart, like an attack on pseudoscience, which just happens to be about sex.
The writing is OK, but not up to the standards set by her best blog entries: a few awkward sentences and sloppy phrases like ‘off of’ sometimes make her argument feel weaker than it deserves to. Though it's not easy to tell, Sex, Lies and Statistics appears to be an updated version of her 2012 book, The Sex Myth; a lot of the studies cited are still pre-2012, although there are more and more modern citations as the book goes on and the last couple of chapters are clearly recent. She reproduces, for instance, the entire Hansard record of her 2016 evidence to the Home Affairs Committee investigating the UK's prostitution laws – the committee subsequently took up many of her suggestions, though Theresa May seems intent on ignoring them.
No surprises there: political leaders have been ignoring the research for years because there is good political capital – and good money – to be made by coming down hard on sex work. But as Magnanti summarises, in a one-line takeaway: ‘Moral disapproval is a bad basis for policy making.’
June 4, 2018
Good to read, but could be better
Most of what’s in here is well worth the read: descriptions of how to read statistics and how they’re misrepresented in the press, opinions on sex work from actual sex workers, and so on. But there were too many instances of the author breaking her own rules, whether failing to include citations for data sources (although there are indeed many citations) or committing “poisoning the well” or similar fallacies. Still, I’d recommend it.
Most of what’s in here is well worth the read: descriptions of how to read statistics and how they’re misrepresented in the press, opinions on sex work from actual sex workers, and so on. But there were too many instances of the author breaking her own rules, whether failing to include citations for data sources (although there are indeed many citations) or committing “poisoning the well” or similar fallacies. Still, I’d recommend it.
March 9, 2018
I don't *love* the book, but really think it's worth reading.
I have to accept this is well researched and as far as I can tell, the book is factually accurate. It paints a picture of "moral panic" and "Christian" hypocrisy over sex and prostitution. Brooke chose to become a prostitute while working on her PhD and has been an active campaigner for sex workers on social media since she "came out". She explains that the "something must be done" headlines in newspapers are driven by the moral view that sex is "wrong" and "immoral" and enormous efforts go into pretending that all prostitution is forced/coerced or involved trafficking or children.
This book aims to set out the actual truth that there a plenty of women who choose (of their own free will) to use prostitution as a good way to earn money and to highlight the tactics that anti-sex campaigners use to try to fight the "sex industry". See the latest US SESTA laws as a perfect eaxmple: "we should be able to censor anything relating to sex, because sometimes sex involves trafficked children."
This is another book which makes me very angry and I have to keep leaving it and doing something else to calm down. [Books with a similar effect on me: Bad Pharma by Ben Goldacre and The Angry Chef: Bad Science and the Truth About Healthy Eating by Anthony Warner]
I have to accept this is well researched and as far as I can tell, the book is factually accurate. It paints a picture of "moral panic" and "Christian" hypocrisy over sex and prostitution. Brooke chose to become a prostitute while working on her PhD and has been an active campaigner for sex workers on social media since she "came out". She explains that the "something must be done" headlines in newspapers are driven by the moral view that sex is "wrong" and "immoral" and enormous efforts go into pretending that all prostitution is forced/coerced or involved trafficking or children.
This book aims to set out the actual truth that there a plenty of women who choose (of their own free will) to use prostitution as a good way to earn money and to highlight the tactics that anti-sex campaigners use to try to fight the "sex industry". See the latest US SESTA laws as a perfect eaxmple: "we should be able to censor anything relating to sex, because sometimes sex involves trafficked children."
This is another book which makes me very angry and I have to keep leaving it and doing something else to calm down. [Books with a similar effect on me: Bad Pharma by Ben Goldacre and The Angry Chef: Bad Science and the Truth About Healthy Eating by Anthony Warner]
May 8, 2021
The world needs more women like this author.
I highly admire the author for putting herself out there. This book addresses issues that affect all people, particularly in areas of the blatant lies, sloppy false facts and laughable journalism we are being fed as truth. She is always a delight to read, and her facts are solid and referenced.
I personally have always been amused and dismayed by people's reactions to sex work, and the idea of getting rid of it is laughable and frankly, prudish and stupid. Let's just deal with our shame and baggage around sex and move on. Oh, and the idea that being paid for sex is degrading? Try telling your hairdresser or plumber that you respect them too much to pay them for their services... See how that goes down!
I highly admire the author for putting herself out there. This book addresses issues that affect all people, particularly in areas of the blatant lies, sloppy false facts and laughable journalism we are being fed as truth. She is always a delight to read, and her facts are solid and referenced.
I personally have always been amused and dismayed by people's reactions to sex work, and the idea of getting rid of it is laughable and frankly, prudish and stupid. Let's just deal with our shame and baggage around sex and move on. Oh, and the idea that being paid for sex is degrading? Try telling your hairdresser or plumber that you respect them too much to pay them for their services... See how that goes down!
January 16, 2018
I've followed Dr. Magnanti & her writings on sex work for a while, and was interested in reading her longer form on the topic.
I don't usually enjoy thesis based non fiction books, because I often find they get a little repetitive on the points that they are trying to convey. I did think that this fell into that trap a bit, but it was very well researched, and provided a important counterpoint to much of the other prevailing narrative around sex work.
I don't usually enjoy thesis based non fiction books, because I often find they get a little repetitive on the points that they are trying to convey. I did think that this fell into that trap a bit, but it was very well researched, and provided a important counterpoint to much of the other prevailing narrative around sex work.
November 29, 2018
An excellent book
Certainly a must read for feminists, who need to see the other side of the argument regarding sex work. An engaging yet challenging read, with well researched citations. I didn't expect to chew through this book in 2 days, but it was both informative and enjoyable and I'm very glad I read it.
Certainly a must read for feminists, who need to see the other side of the argument regarding sex work. An engaging yet challenging read, with well researched citations. I didn't expect to chew through this book in 2 days, but it was both informative and enjoyable and I'm very glad I read it.
April 14, 2018
A very important book that could have done with a tighter edit.
December 5, 2021
I did ____ and I was fine. Therefore ____ is good and anyone who disagrees is wrong. Science. :)
November 18, 2021
I really liked this. I've done research on the relationship of sexual violence and porn before, and everything Magnanti says here is pretty much true: all the academic articles you can read are either biased, don't prove anything at all, or are very inconclusive.
I don't agree with all of Magnanti's opinions here, but I think she does a great job of proving how a lot of the literature used to support certain anti-prostitution laws is garbage. It does become a bit boring at times, because she's refuting everything properly with data and such. As she should. I'm just saying, it's not a riveting read by any means.
I especially liked the final chapter, where she includes the deposition in full. I think that conversation clarifies a lot of questions readers might have about prostitution, especially regarding decrim vs legalization and such. I know I finally understood what the problems are in regards to the German and Swedish models, which is something I hadn't fully grasped before.
I would really recommend this book. Her main approach to all this is that you can't legislate prostitution without ever having talked to a sex worker before, and I think she's 100% right.
I don't agree with all of Magnanti's opinions here, but I think she does a great job of proving how a lot of the literature used to support certain anti-prostitution laws is garbage. It does become a bit boring at times, because she's refuting everything properly with data and such. As she should. I'm just saying, it's not a riveting read by any means.
I especially liked the final chapter, where she includes the deposition in full. I think that conversation clarifies a lot of questions readers might have about prostitution, especially regarding decrim vs legalization and such. I know I finally understood what the problems are in regards to the German and Swedish models, which is something I hadn't fully grasped before.
I would really recommend this book. Her main approach to all this is that you can't legislate prostitution without ever having talked to a sex worker before, and I think she's 100% right.
January 15, 2022
Fascinating stuff. Well written, quick read, lots of facts and peer reviewed studies with explanations of why that matters. Easy to read.
Definitely required reading for anyone who wants to actually understand sex work from a scientific standpoint, and how certain people are manipulating the conversation.
Definitely required reading for anyone who wants to actually understand sex work from a scientific standpoint, and how certain people are manipulating the conversation.
September 22, 2023
Wonderfully written with much that surprised me
Until reading this I had not realised just how I'd been taken in by the falsehoods spread about sex work, nor the links of the anti sex work crowd the white supremacists, homophobes and other distasteful persuasions of people. Well worth a read.
Until reading this I had not realised just how I'd been taken in by the falsehoods spread about sex work, nor the links of the anti sex work crowd the white supremacists, homophobes and other distasteful persuasions of people. Well worth a read.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews