Secret Diary of a Call Girl
The increased autonomy shown in The Girlfriend Experience is mirrored in television with the 2007 to 2011 show Secret Diary of a Call Girl. Secret Diary of a Call Girl follows the life of a young woman named Hannah who supports herself through escorting. The show is scripted and focuses on the internal struggles between her professional life and her personal life [1]. Each episode depicts a different client relation, exposing the many facets of an escort's experience to audiences at home. Hannah embodies the escort type by creating two separate identities for herself, noting to the audience that she is Hannah at home and Belle on the job [2]. One common thread is that Hannah always refers back to the desire for money and how the money makes the job worth it. Hannah, like her lorette counterparts, lives in a luxury apartment gifted to her by a client. Her clients are wealthy men, and the backdrops include her apartment, fancy hotels, and private clubs [3]. While Belle works through an agency, the specific details are left out, only that she has an online page, and her agent calls her with clients.
Hannah occasionally turns to the camera to directly speak to the audience, giving her a voice and autonomy. Hannah's conversational asides to the audience demonstrates her ownership over the story. She is the narrator of the television show, whereas lorettes in fiction are described by male narrators. Although Hannah primarily is paid in cash, she does receive occasional gifts from her clients, like lorettes. Hannah is also perceived as a threat to society as she, like lorettes, is able to blend in with the elite through her fashion choices. Her camouflage is convincing that her family and friends are unaware of her occupation. While she chooses not to disclose about her work with her family, Hannah is not ashamed of her profession and perceives herself as a crafty business woman. Likewise, Belle appears wealthy because she wears expensive clothing and make-up as seen in the image on the left, much like lorettes.
The promotional poster for the series Secret Diary of a Call Girl depicts Belle, Hannah’s escort alterego, dressed in lingerie and posed suggestively in a martini glass. The background of the poster is entirely pink, suggesting a flirtatious and ‘fun’ attitude that may be reflective of Belle's own personality or the nature of her work. The almost random spattering of fist sized bubbles adds further to this ‘playful’ image while simultaneously referencing a youthful nature that is typically associated with bubblebath. She is dressed in black lace lingerie and a pair of black stiletto heels. Black lingerie is seductive and hints at the manipulative and sexual nature of Belle as an escort. Belle in positioned in the center of the image, sitting in a martini glass with her legs outstretched above her. Her position sitting in the glass is reminiscent of a sexual position, indicating her status as an escort. Belle's legs are the same length as the tall martini glass, showing her full length and sexualizing her body through the comparison of it to the sleek and sexy shape of the martini glass. The glass itself, a martini glass, is reflective of the high class clientele that Belle seeks out throughout the show. The decision to do a martini glass over a champagne glass or some other culturally significant glassware hints at the choice to also highlight the bar culture that a martini is associated with–young, wealthy people in an exclusive club or bar. Critically, Belle is shown staring out at the audience with a playful smirk playing across her lips. In presenting her facial expression as such Belle is actively confronting the viewer, staring them down and enjoying whatever feeling they are supposedly having. Overall, the image shows Belle as a sexual being who appears to be comfortable with her positioning in the image and willing to confront the onlooker.
The narrative and imagery associated with Secret Diary of a Call Girl draws attention to the new heights of autonomy escorts possess in media. Hannah, unlike the lorettes of fiction, is the protagonist of her own story. Her visual depictions, as noted previously, show Hannah often confronting the audience with her gaze, assertive and unabashed.
[1] Prebble, Lucy. 2007. “Secret Diary of a Call Girl.” Secret Diary of a Call Girl.