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Chester Brown

Paying for It Hardcover – May 10, 2011

by Chester Brown (Author)

140 ratings

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A CONTEMPORARY DEFENSE OF THE WORLD'S OLDEST PROFESSION

Chester Brown has never shied away from tackling controversial subjects in his work. In his 1992 book, The Playboy, he explored his personal history with pornography. His bestselling 2003 graphic novel, Louis Riel, was a biographical examination of an extreme political figure. The book won wide acclaim and cemented Brown's reputation as a true innovator.

Paying for It is a natural progression for Brown as it combines the personal and sexual aspects of his autobiographical work with the polemical drive of Louis Riel. Brown calmly lays out the facts of how he became not only a willing participant in but a vocal proponent of one of the world's most hot-button topics―prostitution. While this may appear overly sensational and just plain implausible to some, Brown's story stands for itself. Paying for It offers an entirely contemporary exploration of sex work―from the timid john who rides his bike to his escorts, wonders how to tip so as not to offend, and reads Dan Savage for advice, to the modern-day transactions complete with online reviews, seemingly willing participants, and clean apartments devoid of clichéd street corners, drugs, or pimps.

Complete with a surprise ending, Paying for It provides endless debate and conversation about sex work and will be the most talkedabout graphic novel of 2011.

Print length

292 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Drawn and Quarterly
Publication date

May 10, 2011
Dimensions

5.95 x 1.27 x 7.78 inches
ISBN-10

1770460489
ISBN-13

978-1770460485
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A compelling look into one man's history of employing prostitutes as a replacement for romantic love, this graphic novel is sure to create controversy. Brown has produced acclaimed but brutally honest autobiographical works before, but here he adds a new didactic element. In June 1996 Brown's then girlfriend broke up with him. After three years of celibacy and his growing conviction that romantic love is destructively possessive, Brown works up the courage to see a legal prostitute and finds the "burden" of anxiety over whether to pursue a relationship with any particular woman forever removed. The next 200 pages are an explicit—but far from erotic—dossier of the various women he did business with, until he meets one that he ends up with in a monogamous—but still financial—relationship. Although Brown intends the work to be a compassionate look at a profession that helps people, he unfortunately goes out of his way to anonymize the sex workers—never showing their faces and telling the story in tiny, cramped panels, giving the whole thing a voyeuristic feel. A lengthy appendix arguing that a system where paying for sex is preferable to romance-based methods is unlikely to persuade many readers. (May)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Review

“It has the thoroughness of a history book yet reads with the personalized vision of a novel.” ―Time on Louis Riel

“If you love to read a gripping story, if you are awed by the talent of an artist, then look no further:Chester Brown's Louis Riel is comix history in the making, and with it, history never looked so good.” ―The Globe and Mail Book Review on Louis Riel

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Drawn and Quarterly; First Edition (May 10, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 292 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1770460489
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1770460485
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.46 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.95 x 1.27 x 7.78 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,692,672 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #306 in Drawn & Quarterly Comic & Graphic Novels
- #3,048 in Literary Graphic Novels (Books)

Customer Reviews:
140 ratings

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F. Orion Pozo

As good an argument for unregulated prostitution as you will find in the popular literature

Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2016

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Paying for It by Chester Brown is an autobiographical graphic novel that relates Mr. Brown's sex life from 1996 to 2010, which consists of his using professional female escorts for his heterosexual encounters. He mentions using masturbation to cool his ardor prior to these encounters, but provides no further details. To protect the women he changes their names and doesn't provide locations or identifying features. For those of us not familiar with sex workers or their customers, this is a chance to get a glimpse into the workings of this trade.
Brown is dispassionate but clearly happy with his decision to outsource his sexual needs, feeling that sex and girlfriends do not go together well for him. The text alternates visits to various escorts with discussions with his male friends and ex-girlfriends about the advantages of his chosen sexual lifestyle. He is well-read on the politics of sex workers and takes a Libertarian position condemning the present laws restricting or outlawing sex work.
The body of the book is preceded by an Introduction by Robert Crumb who calls it Mr. Brown's best work. At the end of the book there are 50 pages of Appendices and Notes that go into much deeper detail than the narrative of the book permitted. I would say that he makes as good an argument for unregulated prostitution as you will find in the popular literature.

6 people found this helpful

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M. Murray

Incites deep thought

Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2021

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I'm often struggling to find mature adult graphic novels and I'm certainly not referring to porn, so was happy for this discovery. Some of it comes across as a spirited debate and I found myself wishing I was in it at times. Five stars for all of the content and my only complaint is a technical one for the digital version. There are great notes to expand on the panels and digitally we should be able to quickly link to some or all of these as we go through the diary. That may be a more expensive feature but I'd pay an extra buck to have it.

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Matt

Autobiography in comic book form

Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2015

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Meet Chester Brown, a cartoonist whose girlfriend just broke up with him for another man that may or may not even be interested in her. It's at this point in his life that Brown no longer looks for "romantic love" but instead turns to prostitutes. It must be noted that when this book was written, prostitution was semi-legal in Canada. That is, as long as you didn't solicit in public or operate out of a brothel, prostitution was tolerated. A popular concept was the "outcall" where you can call an agency and have an escort show up to your room. However, we soon discover that Chester couldn't afford the girl AND the room, so he usually went for incalls, which means he went to the prostitute. (Canada has recently changed their policy on prostitution. It is legal to sell sex, but illegal to buy it.)

The illustrations are unique in that Brown attempts to draw the women as they were in actuality (breast size, body type, etc.) and I found it amusing that he changed the prostitutes names even though they were fake names to begin with. Although I see why he did it - to protect their identities from anyone who may be reading the book. A lot of common scams with prostitution are depicted in the cartoons, such as the "bait and switch", which is when a girl uses a fake/outdated picture or inaccurately describes herself over the phone and then shows up at your door.

Overall, it was a quick read. I found myself agreeing with most of his philosophies during the actual illustrated portion of the book, but in the appendix of the book he uses a lot of far-fetched examples (homosexual relationships, the possibility of a "gay gene", futuristic sex in 2080, etc) to get his point across. If you're interested in the sex for money business I'd give this book a look.

2 people found this helpful

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Federico (Fred) Moramarco

Candid, unusual, in fact unprecedented book

Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2011

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It's very hard to decide how many stars to rate this book, and I'm not surprised to see the customer comments all over the map. First of all, it's unusual in that it's a graphic memoir (or a "comic strip memoir" as the author prefers to call it) a relatively rare genre. Second, and more importantly, it's a book about a man who satisfies his sex drive with prostitutes, does it unapologetically--in fact you might say proudly, and chronicles his experiences with one hooker after another for several years. Third, he draws pictures of these encounters--not at all erotic by the way--and goes on in some detail as to why he prefers cash on the line encounters to romantic love. The graphic part of the book is compelling--a very fast and engaging read since we very rarely if ever hear from men about their experiences paying for sex (except, as I now know from reading this book, on sexually explicit websites reviewing hookers in various regions.) The last fifty pages of the book is a long afterword, somewhat repetitive and tedious rant why prostitution should be legalized (not merely decriminalized, but in fact treated as virtually any other employment for pay.)

The author has very little emotional affect--one of his closest friends, who is a character in the comic strip, writes in the afterword "The truth is, Chester seems to have a very limited emotional range compared to most people. There does seem to be something wrong with him. He's definitely an oddball. That said, he is also the kindest, gentlest and most deeply thoughtful oddball I know." He writes about these women as if they were merely useful only in terms of satisfying his sexual drive, while at the same time he remains loyal to his prostitutes, for the most part. And he actually falls for one of them toward the end, although "falls for" may be a bit too strong. He speaks about most of these women almost exclusively in terms of their relative attractiveness and he seems to prefer women half his age or less, breast size optional, weight below average. Nonetheless, you get a surprisingly human sense of the women after you get into the book, and you certainly have to admire Brown's honesty and straightforwardness. I'd recommend this for its sheer originality, as well as for Brown's healthy disdain for political correctness.

3 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Sam Quixote

Pay for it, it's worth it!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 4, 2011

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I've been a fan of Chester Brown's for many years now and have always enjoyed what he's put out, whether it's childhood memoir (I Never Liked You, The Playboy) or historical narrative (Louis Riel), he always produces work that's both highly readable and unlike any other graphic novel out there. He is a true original.

So when I looked him up thinking that it's been a few years since Louis Riel, I was pleasantly surprised that he had another book completed, Paying For It, but even more surprised that he'd gone back to memoir and that it turns out it's about his personal history with prostitutes.

And that's part of why this book is so interesting - it makes you learn something about yourself even if, like me, you're a grown up and think you have a fixed world view. A comics artist I respect not only going with hookers but also proud of it? And then I thought why is that a bad thing? It's probably because part of our culture often shames those people who are famous and having affairs but oftentimes those people are married already - Chester Brown isn't.

As I read the book I realised there is another side to prostitution. It's not all street walkers and junkies, there's a civilised way of hiring a prostitute. Chester Brown shows this as well as the humanity of all the prostitutes he's been with, challenging the reader's (certainly mine) view that all prostitutes have sad lives and that people who hire them are sad themselves. Brown certainly isn't a damaged person with issues and self-hatred and neither are the prostitutes in the book. And why is it anybody's business besides theirs? If a man wants to pay a woman to have sex with him, who is anyone to say that it's wrong?

The book makes the case for legalised prostitution as well as another side to this complex and intriguing person that is Chester Brown. The artwork is wonderful as always and the book, despite having an agenda, is always entertaining and never overburdens the reader with the impression that the author is standing on a soapbox, droning on. But if you want to read more on the subject Brown has included a number of appendices at the back of the book that develops a number of arguments presented in the graphic novel.

Once again I've picked up a Chester Brown book and once again I set it down, completed, a better person having read it. If this is your first time experiencing this artist then my only question is - what took you so long? My next words would be - good choice. "Paying for It" is a fantastic and vital book which hopefully influences peoples' opinions in a positive way all the while never forgetting why people pick up books to start with - for a good read.

5 people found this helpful

Sam Woodward

Much to ponder

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 29, 2011

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Prior to reading this, I wasn't familiar with Chet Brown's work. I read one of his comics about 16 years ago, which I probably wasn't mature enough to appreciate. The author was going through a phase of only having 2 small panels per page because he felt normal comic strips seemed 'too cluttered'. As such, I felt he was a little 'too arty' for me. But that is certainly no the case here - Paying For It is a pretension-free & exceptionally honest account of the authors' real-life experience of hiring prostitutes.

His journey begins when his Jerry Springer-esque relationship with his girlfriend leads him to question the socially-accepted ideal of romantic love. I was about to say he became 'jaded' or 'cynical' but I'm not sure the intrinsic value-judgments these words imply are applicable here, since he thinks his decision through in rather a clinical fashion. He decides he doesn't agree with romantic relationships & concludes that the best solution for reconciling his needs with his opinions is to simply pay for sex.

This graphic novel recounts these dalliances, as well as conversations in which he justifies himself to his friends. The 50-page afterword primarily consists of arguments in favour of legalisation of the oldest profession. In this sense, Paying For It is rather one-sided - his friends & the girls are given a voice but aside from Seth's response to his portrayal in the afterword, their words are ultimately filtered through Chet.

What fascinates me about this work is not only its ability to make the reader challenge their preconceptions but also that so much is ambiguous & down to opinion that everyone will take something different from it. While Chet tries to teach us about the reality behind our assumptions & the perceived sleaze, I felt we ultimately - probably unintentionally - learn more about Chet than we do about anything else.

Yet it's ironically because of Chet's honesty that this strip is not entirely open. For instance, we learn very little about a girl who becomes particularly significant to him because when he tells her he's working on this book, she responds by saying that she doesn't want to be a major part of it. Chet himself admits it's a pity because he is unable to demonstrate just how intimate his relationships with the girls became but it's admirable that he is respectful of their wishes to the extent that he allows it to slightly impede his work.

And what a compelling work it is - shockingly honest & in places, frustratingly enigmatic; thus a lot like a lover itself. It's also of sociological importance since while many books like the infamous Secret Diary of a Call Girl have been written by the girls themselves, I'm not aware of any others which have been written by the 'johns'.

It's the sort of book you want to lend to friends so you can discuss it with them, as I imagine everyone will take away something very different. After all, I was left with the opposite impression from the one which the author intended - that of a (surprisingly) superficially affectionate but intrinsically hollow, 'quick-fix' industry which, in Seth's words, "just seems sad to me."

4 people found this helpful

sion tomos owen

Glad I did

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 26, 2015

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I loved this book. I read parts once a long time ago and decided to buy it based on recent reviews. The style is simplistic and standard comic strip, which makes the content all the more powerful. His depictions of the girls are very clever as you never see their faces but you still get a sense of who they are. Chester Browns's honest and unflinching depiction of prostitution form the client/user/John's point of view is both fascinating and intriguing, raising questions that he later returns to in an epilogue essay at the end of the book. I'd recommend it to comic fans and anyone wondering what the cleaner world of prostitution is like but doesn't want to get their hands, or anything else, dirty.

Dante Hicks

Fantastic read.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 16, 2014

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I really enjoyed reading this comic book (it's basically reading author's memoires). After few pages I already felt somehow connected with the author.Chester Brown has managed to do something that a lot of people struggle with all their lives - he found his unique way of living, that makes him happy.
The book has also made me wondering about the meaning of romantic love in our society.
What else can I say? I think that the title says it all. Can't recommend enough!

One person found this helpful

it's just shopping...

Subtle and informative.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 4, 2019

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A really interesting book, great to enjoy another man's revelations... honest and insightful, I will certainly look at more of the artist's work as it is striking and rich.

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