My brothel's keeper.

• Author: Howley, Kerry
• Position: Tracy Quan - Interview

As a kid in small-town Canada, Tracy Quan wanted to be three things when she grew up: a librarian, a writer, and a hooker. The librarian gig never panned out, but Quan has managed to combine a talent for high-class hooking with a gift for turning out irreverent, witty novels on the sex trade. Quan's characters are not victims but entrepreneurs and like herself challenge Western cultural stereotypes of sex work.

After 15 years as a prostitute in London and Manhattan, Quan put the trade aside to focus exclusively on writing. Her first book, Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl, is being adapted for the screen by Sex and the City creator Darren Star; a sequel, Diary of a Married Call Girl, was published in October. Quan-probably the only chick lit writer to discuss indentured labor, sex worker rights, and the proper purse in which to carry a dildo--has written on sex and gender issues for Lingua Franca, Salon, and Congressional Quarterly.

Assistant Editor Kerry Howley spoke to Quan in November. A longer version of this interview is online at reason.com/links/ links11070s.shtml.

Q: Do you support complete legalization of the sex trade?

A: If legalization means that you're going to be regulated in a way that is unfamiliar to the currently working prostitutes, there is going to be a lot of resistance from prostitutes themselves.

Q: What regulations in particular concern you?

A: Zoning. Zoning can be helpful, but it can also be abusive. We've seen how corporations have colluded with government in New York City. Have...