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Paying for It Hardcover – May 10, 2011

by Chester Brown (Author)

58 customer reviews

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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.

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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

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Product details

Hardcover: 292 pages
Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly; First Edition edition (May 10, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1770460489
ISBN-13: 978-1770460485
Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.3 x 7.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 58 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #587,522 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #113 in Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > Publishers > Drawn and Quarterly
- #1052 in Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > Graphic Novels > Literary

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F. Orion Pozo

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

November 18, 2016

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

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.

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Matt

Autobiography in comic book form

January 16, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

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.

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Federico (Fred) Moramarco

Candid, unusual, in fact unprecedented book

July 20, 2011

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

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.

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Celeste Thayer

Brown's illustrations are awesome

June 21, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I love the simple style of Brown's illustrations and the point of view that he uses to approach the world. I get the feeling Brown is either a huge nerd, or somewhere on the Asberger's scale, because a lot of his interactions with people are quite awkward. In order to avoid girlfriend-awkwardness, he starts seeing escorts.

His philosophical arguments supporting prostitution are well-considered and very persuasive. However, the majority of the book is NOT boring philosophy but rather little vignettes of his visits to whores. I like the intimacy and strangeness of each of these meetings.

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