The truth about Pretty Woman, according to a real life sex worker

Pretty Woman turned 25 yesterday, and it turns out that this Cinderella-inspired fairytale about a “hooker with a heart of gold” may be more off-base than we thought.

According to The Mirror‘s Margaret Corvid, the real life Vivian would have been taking a potentially grave risk by getting into Edward’s car and agreeing to be bought for a week. “No sex worker would agree to be a ‘beck and call girl’ for a week, with no strings attached. We all have limits and needs,” she writes.

Another thing Margaret, who is a sex-worker herself, takes umbrage with is the idea that Vivian needs to be rescued. “We’re not looking for a white knight to save us – we’re working, we’re saving ourselves,” she says.

“This sort of story is a very old one,” she says of the from the Book Of Esther to My Fair Lady to Fifty Shades Of Grey, and it’s a dangerous one. It is time to put it to bed.”
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