Why Eliot Spitzer did what he did

Since Eliot Spitzer has announced he's running for New York City comptroller, it seems like a good time to revisit my Letters from Johns project.

The project ran from January 2008 to January 2009. I requested letters from readers of my blog who had paid for sex, letters in which they shared their experiences and why they did it.

A few months after the project began, Spitzer was busted for patronizing a call girl.

At that time, I wrote about the project for Newsweek: "Dear John."  

"I Am Ashamed of Nothing I Have Done":

One can try to hang a sign on us, the collective john, as perpetuating the global conspiracy of sex/slave traffic, and I'll grant that my Thailand trip may have/probably did contribute to some sort of thuggery. But in the end, I am ashamed of nothing I have done.

"I'm a State Investigator":

I keep a coded diary, in case it's discovered. 1 dot is oral, 2 dots is vaginal sex, and 2 connected dots is anal sex. In the event that someone questions the dots, they are associated with good/bad days: no dots are normal days, 1 dot is a good day, 2 dots is a great day, and 2 connected dots is the best day for that week.

"I Have a Physical Disability":

I am now a regular customer, although not as regular as I’d like to be. This is mostly because my brother has moved overseas, and it is hard to find people who will willingly accompany me. However, each time I go, I no longer feel like a cripple. I feel whole. 

Gigolo

Gigolo, Las Vegas, Nevada

I get email

Hello my name is [redacted]. I live in [redacted] Florida. I have done under the table work for an escort service that one of my buddies work for. I have been there a few months but would love to start a new adventurous career in the porn industry. I love to meet new people. Im pretty well put and out spoken. Im experienced in my field whether call it a field of work which it is. If u know of anybody that can help me become the person i wanna be i promise that i will not let u down. Im a great man to my word and i have a loving family to look after. My email is [redacted] Thank you for your time and have a wonderful day.

Corrections

I've got a new interview up on Interviews with Johns: "The Correctional Officer."

What’s the relationship between your work and visiting escorts?

I’m not sure there is a relationship. Obviously, after swearing an oath to uphold the law and avoid behaving in any way that would bring the [redacted] into disrepute, I shouldn’t be doing what I’m doing. But let’s be clear, I started doing this long before I started working in law enforcement. My job is something I do a few days a week. Outside of that, I could care less about law enforcement.

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Dear Johns

While Letters from Johns is no longer active, I've recently launched Interviews with Johns.

So far, I've heard from a site reliability engineer:

There was a lot of overlap with business travel. Earlier when I was at a startup, I was’t dating at all and was working 80-100 hours weeks, it just seemed easier. 

And a teacher:

I answered an ad on an escort site. This was before Craigslist or Backpage. She was an olde lady in a trailer park who walked me through the process. It was fun, but not hot. I forgot to pay her I was so on edge. I drove back to give her the money and she was really nice about that too.

If you're interested in being interviewed by email -- it's anonymous -- you can email me at susannahbreslin at gmail.

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Why men pay for it

Yesterday, I posted that I was reading Chester Brown's Paying for It. Basically, it's an autobiographical graphic novel about how Brown paid prostitutes for sex.

I think I got it yesterday in the mail and finished it last night. Generally speaking, I didn't really like it.

Mostly, it's depressing. Which isn't to say it's not accurate. I got the sense it was very accurate. Brown kept a diary of when he did who, and that's the structure that guides the narrative.

But Brown is a nerd/robot, and because of that, you don't get -- well, I was going to say, much in the way of feeling, but really you don't get any feeling at all.

Brown feels kind of dead.

Dead to me. To him, I think he feels like himself. He's very mechanical. Logical. Thorough.

But it's sort of like watching someone fuck a hole in the wall.

You get glimpses of the women, who are mostly disguised -- by speech bubbles over their faces or the absence of specific details -- but not a lot.

Mostly, I felt like the book read like a polemic that was pretending to be a diary. Brown is a fan of the legalization of prostitution. Which is fine. I don't have a problem with that.

There's a lot about his troubles with love, but in the end, it's like his real issue is a lack of ... passion.

Which left me feeling like I ate a sandwich with nothing in it. 

Aesthetically, I loved it. It's all tiny boxes, and little opaque people, and the sex scenes are like a sperm trying to penetrate an egg. I liked the way it looked the best.

What I'm reading

Paying for It, Chester Brown

Interviews with johns

Based upon the enduring popularity of Letters from Johns, I've created a new project, Interviews with Johns.

Interested in being interviewed anonymously about why you paid for sex?

Email me.

Looking for a john

I'm looking for a john to interview for a book I'm working on. I'm looking for someone successful, in their thirties, forties, or fifties, who sees escorts regularly. Anonymous. Email me.

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