The Little Black Book of Grisélidis Réal: Days and Nights of an Anarchist Whore

admin — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 01:00:00 +0000

By Jean-Luc Hennig, translated by Ariana Reines

Writing a review for a book like The Little Black Book of Grisélidis Réal is not a simple task by any means. On the one hand, I want to be as straightforward as possible and simply give my impressions of this one particular piece of writing without going into the issue of prostitution and whether or not it degrades women. On the other hand, it seems impossible not to when taking into account the fact that Réal was a world-famous and revolutionary “whore” and writer who argued that prostitution was not only a choice, but a free-will decision. In my opinion, all sweeping generalizations ever do is discount legions of women whose experiences don’t fall in line with a particular argument; it’s as if they’re being told they don’t exist. So I stay out of it the best I can, though I am supportive of sex workers—no matter the circumstances or choices that led them to their line of work.

For such a fascinating title, The Little Black Book doesn’t pack much of a punch. The book is basically a series of interviews between Réal and journalist Jean-Luc Hennig, as translated by Ariana Reines. Réal’s “whoring” is discussed in great detail, though none of her anarchist activities are. She mentions writing papers and being politically active quite casually several times, though it’s usually only in reference to one of her clients asking about papers she has posted on her bedroom walls. The last portion of the book is quite literally Réal’s little black book, in which she’s written down the names of all her customers, what they’re into sexually, what they look like, and how much they pay her.

Nothing that Réal says in the interviews is politically charged in any way; there are no arguments about prostitution, no defending of her life’s work. For the most part, it’s just account after account of client after client. Did you know that many men secretly like getting a finger up their ass when receiving oral sex? Did you know that men need to be pampered and mothered and showed affection when seeing a prostitute? Yes, no? Don’t care? Me either. I was hoping to get a feel for this woman, the famous Grisélidis Réal who was a survivor and took to prostitution in order to support her children; who earned her living on her back until she was in her sixties.

But you never really get a sense of her; just hints of her personality. I would have liked to learn more about her opinions on her work and her life and less about her depressing decades long relationship with a severely abusive man and the boring sex she endured for years with men who Réal believed simply needed to fulfill their sexual desires—because apparently sex with a woman is a God-given right, and men will be damned if they go without.

In several interviews, Réal contends that the men that come to see her have something wrong with them; that normal men do not go to see prostitutes. She says that prostitution is lonely, heartbreaking work. She says that “fundamentally what [men] want isn’t to hurt you or kill you or bore you; what they want is for you to be nice” so in turn the women “must be totally amorphous, emptied of their substance, emptied of all their strength…” I don’t know why a women would defend and even champion a line of work and lifestyle that requires that of women, but then, prostitution is a complicated issue. After reading The Little Black Book of Grisélidis Réal, I can say—mysterious anarchism aside—that Réal was a complicated woman.

Written by: Tina Vasquez, March 4th 2010