Tag Archives: personal

interview with “the honest courtesan”

What I do is perfectly legal when it’s free.

— Maggie McNeill

Today I am excited to finally share an interview with the lovely Maggie McNeill aka The Honest Courtesan. McNeill lives in the Seattle area, where she is a whore for hire and outspoken advocate of sex worker rights. She writes a popular blog, which you can find here, where you can also buy a copy of her book, Ladies of the Night.

 

Screen Shot 2017-07-25 at 4.44.26 PMIn July 2015, McNeill took time out of her trip to visit a gentleman in Sandpoint to chat with me about the topic of sex work, morality, and politics. This topic has received a lot of attention in the time since we talked. McNeill and her Seattle colleague Mistress Matisse were featured in a widely-read and controversial New York Times Magazine article, “Should Prostitution Be A Crime?” for example.

Unfortunately, my talk with McNeill didn’t make it into my book, since my initial readers thought it didn’t really “fit” with the rest of the story about Wallace, although she does weigh in on the Silver Valley’s brothel-based model toward the end of the interview… McNeill calls herself “an overeducated whore who talks too much,” but I enjoyed our discussion very much and hope you will, too. I’ve excerpted the highlights below.

 

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in case you missed it… kxly’s news story and a book review

Melissa Luck’s four minute story about the book and the town broadcast on the channel four evening news last Friday.

Before the interview, I was a little worried that the show would inevitably go the direction of either romanticizing or sensationalizing sex work in Wallace. But talking with the journalist/producer turned out to be easier than I anticipated. She somehow made me feel comfortable, like we were just having a conversation, despite the big camera lens and lights in my face.

Talking with Luck

Talking with Melissa Luck at the Oasis Bordello Museum (photo taken from her blog)

I thought the resulting show was professional, multi-faceted, and intimate in tone. But you can judge for yourself by watching it here.

Also, Melissa posted a review of my book on her Blogger site, where she is documenting her resolution to read a book per week this year. Check it out! P.S., her other book reviews are worth your time to read as well — her perspective is funny and feminist, too (imagine that).

More books finally arrive later today! Just in time for my reading and signing event at the Wallace District Mining Museum Thursday, June 8 at 6 pm, if you want to join us.