Working
Subtitle: my life as a prostitute
By: Dolores French with Linda Lee.
Contributors: Lee, Linda, 1947-
Publisher: Gollancz; Orion Publishing Group, Limited
Published: 1990
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 384
Subjects: Prostitution.
First sentence: Did it all start with "I love Lucy"?
Description: Written by Bernie Weisz  Feb. 16, 2010 Pembroke Pines, Florida e mail:BernWei1@aol.com

Sex, money, and more sex. And there's plenty of it in Dolores French's 1988 book entitled "Working:My Life As A Prostitute". French made no apologies within the 384 pages of this book whereupon she parlayed her high libido into big bucks in the U.S.,the Caribbean and Europe. French wrote that in 1955 when as a little girl she was watching the TV show "I Love Lucy" with her mother in Louisville, Kentucky, the notion of sex for money first gelled. Watching "Ricky and Fred" fall over a beautiful woman while "Lucy and Ethel" angrily scorned her, French asked her mother why the two woman were being so mean to the men for watching this woman's every move. After her mother explained to young Doloris that the woman was a "call girl", Dolores wrote in her book: "That's what I want to be when I grow up!" French preserved the authenticity of this book beautifully, ensuring the anonymity of her clients, madams and fellow prostitutes by using pseudonyms with the exception of Sydney Biddle Barrows, the "Mayflower Madam" whom  French briefly worked for in a brief stint in New York. 

Before French reached her twenty  seventh birthday, she had worked in telephone sales, as an art director and census taker. Working in an unsatisfying job as an administrator and fund raiser for a small Atlanta based radio station, she met the station's general production manager, named Stephanie. French wrote: "I didn't know at first how someone wearing emerald earrings and a diamond engagement ring fit in at our small station". Striking up a friendship, French found out that Stephanie had a second job: she was a prostitute. French was intrigued, and one day, Stephanie had a "date" that she couldn't keep, and asked French to fill in for her. The night before her first experience as a prostitute, French wrote: ""That night, I lay in bed, thinking about what it would be like to walk into a strange room the next day and have sex with a strange man for money. I had already slept with a number of men I hadn't cared for, for the company or the pleasure or as a favor or just because we were both there. What was so difference about this, I wondered. The money, of course, the "great equalizer" as someone called it". 

Dolores French graphically describes this experience, and many others, embarking on a career choice where men were viewed "as prey" for financial gain. French wrote on this experience: "It was over with quickly, and I got dressed. He was delighted to give me money, nearly half my weekly salary. That man treated me with more respect than I had got in most other occupations, and he paid me a lot closer to what my time and my mind were worth. He paid me with a smile on his face...and I was proud to have been able to help him". Due to propriety, it is impossible to describe French's multitude of experiences as a prostitute, which is extremely graphic in "Working". However, Dolores French makes it very clear throughout the book that if a woman enjoys sex, being a prostitute affords her the opportunity to have a lot of it. And if she doesn't enjoy sex, at least she's being paid, and handsomely at that. 

Her career takes her from "hooking" at shopping malls in Atlanta to the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, taking on all the sailors of the U.S. Warship "Nimitz" in Saint Thomas, and on to Amsterdam, and New York. French also wrote of her appearance on the Phil Donahue show, and explaining to her family the truth of what she did for a living. French also described the tricks of her trade, cataloging her clients as follows: "There seemed to be basically only four kinds of clients-maniacs, druggies, nice guys, and cops". However, there were other clients French also served. French wrote in that regard: "A lot of celebrities call escort agencies. What their looking for is anonymity. A rock star or tennis star or a famous author or politician or athlete wants sexual services but is worried that the person they meet might talk afterward and want more from them, either personally or financially". 

Mentioning the famed "Polly Adler" as a trailblazer in the legitimacy of society's need for prostitution, French became "the most public prostitute in America". Although tiring at being asked questions such as how many times she contracted VD or if she felt dirty and degraded, French talked to police officials about prostitutes rights, announcing to the world that a prostitute who was a rape victim should press charges against anyone who committed a crime against her, including her customers. Furthermore, French wrote: "Prostitutes do have some unique problems. like being arrested, and dealing with fear, and dealing with stigmatization, and worrying that their children might be taken away from them". Although never doing "hard time" like other women in her field did, she does have a minor scrape with the law, which she escapes due to fancy legal footwork of her attorney's, one of whom she marries at the end of this book. Whether you are turned off by the vulgarity in "Working", are for or against the legitimacy of prostitution or what side of the fence you sit on in terms of society's "need" for sexual release via prostitution, "Working" makes a very interesting read in a field very few talk about.
Notes: Originally published: New York Dutton, 1988.