The latest possible faux-blog gaining attention is
nyhotties.com, the online diary of a twenty-something New Yorker named Alexa who quit her job as an editor's assistant at a fashion magazine a few years ago and became an escort (her blog is somewhat safe for work, R-rated language, but relatively tame images). This immediately invites comparison to
Belle de Jour the supposed London call girl who kept a blog. Belle managed to secure a book deal from her true-confessions blog (her book arrives in stores in just two weeks). Like Belle, Alexa doesn't offer any proof to back up her claim that she's a call girl. You just have to take her word for it. Also like Belle, Alexa is quite well educated,
"Majoring in English and Philosophy in a good New England liberal arts college," and seems to have literary ambitions.
In
one of her recent posts Alexa addresses the issue of people doubting whether she really is an escort, noting that
"One reader went so far as to suggest that I'm actually a 300lb man in some office in Nebraska." Alexa claims to be
"genuinely perplexed" about people's doubts, not seeming to realize that if she makes an extraordinary (or even somewhat unusual) claim, then the burden of proof should be on her to prove her claim. It shouldn't be on all of us to prove that she isn't real. If she's not willing to offer such proof, then we shouldn't be willing to believe her. After all, there's an obvious motive for her to lie: to get attention and possibly land a book deal. Sure, read her blog if you find it amusing. But why take the extra step of actively believing her? Unfortunately most people don't maintain this skeptical distance because the human impulse to believe is very, very strong, which is exactly why con artists stay in business.
Alexa pleads that we have to take her word for it, because there's no way for her to prove that she does what she says she does. It doesn't occur to her to invite a trusted third-party person, such as a reporter, to verify her story. But then, that option never seems to occur to the
Rances and Belle de Jours of this world.
Comments
Either way I doin't care. If its good reading I read it.
"Alexa claims to be "genuinely perplexed" about people's doubts, not seeming to realize that if she makes an extraordinary (or even somewhat unusual) claim, then the burden of proof should be on her to prove her claim. It shouldn't be on all of us to prove that she isn't real. If she's not willing to offer such proof, then we shouldn't be willing to believe her. After all, there's an obvious motive for her to lie: to get attention and possibly land a book deal. Sure, read her blog if you find it amusing. But why take the extra step of actively believing her? Unfortunately most people don't maintain this skeptical distance because the human impulse to believe is very, very strong, which is exactly why con artists stay in business."
Excellent! The notion about reading the site without taking the additional step of believing it is right on the money. Why DO people automatically believe extraordinary claims with no proof behind them? I guess we just prefer the fantastic over the ordinary. Occam's Razor, people!
But I definitely enjoy being the center of debate. Real or not real? It's up to you I suppose. 😊
xoxo,
Alexa
First of all, Alexa's message allowed me to check her ip address and find out that she really does live in New York. Or at least, she's using a computer that's accessing an earthlink account in New York. So we can rule out that she's a 300lb man in Nebraska. That's a point in her favor.
Then it occurred to me to do a google search for her email address. Alexanyc at gmail.com doesn't pull up anything. But 'alexanyc' does. Check out this review of the restaurant Opal in New York that someone using the screenname alexanyc posted two years ago:
http://newyork.citysearch.com/review/11562287/584936
Alexanyc talks about working in midtown and socializing around town with a bunch of her friends. That definitely doesn't contradict anything said by Alexa the escort. Maybe this was posted before she became an escort? Another point in her favor.
But finally, an Alexanyc left numerous posts on a Sex and the City message board, including one from a year ago (preserved in the Google cache) that includes this comment: Maybe for some the lives lived in SATC have become a way of life, but still, remember, it is just fantasy. No one really lives like these girls -- just remember all the inconsistencies we've discussed over the years.
Curious thing to say ('no one really lives like these girls') for someone who was supposedly working as an escort at that time. It makes me think that Alexa really is a twenty-something woman working in New York, but perhaps not as an escort. Just someone who became enamored of what she saw on Sex and the City and is now acting out a sexy fantasy lifestyle online. (and there's nothing wrong with that, I should add)
-We can rule out that she's not in Nebraska...SHE could still be a 300lb man.
Also, what's with the religious quote at the top of the page? It's clearly there for no reason other than to try and get some sort of unwarranted sympathetic response..."Aww, she's a hooker, but she regrets it" (and of course, that's why she gloats about it on a public venue). O_o
You guys clear off the couch - I'll make the popcorn. :wow:
Those women aren't in it for the sake of art.
anyways, i'm sorry to say that i'm not the same alexanyc that you've found in either citysearch or in the sex and the city forum. the simple explanation for my email address is that i tried to get alexa at gmail dot com, but it wasn't available. so i just added nyc to my name. hope that this doens't disappoint you too much.
regarding gary's comments, i don't advertise my services on my blog precisely because it's a forum where i can get away from my work and just be me. if you want to know more, you can just read my post on this topic(http://www.nyhotties.com/archives/2004/10/my_secret_garde.html).
finally, i don't regret my choice of profession. in fact, i enjoy my work. or rather, i should say that i enjoy what my work enables me to afford in nyc. nor am i particularly religious anymore, although i did grow up in a very conservative home.
ultimately, whether you believe me or not is up to you. i don't ask or urge you to believe. in the meantime, i enjoy the discussion because i'm a total whore... for attention.
As for the Sex and the City thing, I'm not convinced that's not you also. From reading through your site, it's obvious that you're a tv junkie. References to the Apprentice, Jeopardy, watching tv on new year's eve, etc. So it seems like a bit of a coincidence to find another alexanyc who's also a tv junkie and, again, writes like you do.
For this thing to be just sheer fantasy, I doubt there would be as many mundane things on there as you now find. Comments on the election -- we certainly need that, not enough already on the 'net -- running in Central Park (on a day in which it was warm, I can attest), etc. And the sex stories aren't all that juicy or explicit (though the one about the masseuse just about had me bent over in untapped sexual tension). My guess also if a liberal Democrat was going to write about her experiences with a Republican delegate client, and it was all made up, she would describe him as one of the most reprehensible people of all time. This, of course, proved not be the case. I vote for her being real.
She better be, because I walk the streets of Manhattan looking at every hot chick in her 20's wondering "Is she the one, is she the one?" And since she's kept her blog life separate from her professional life, I can't even figure out how to become a client!
The argument isn't whether she's real or not, it's whether her "profession" is. Sure, she can be writing a real blog, and all her experiences be real too, but adding that special touch of claiming she's an escort is just incentive for people to become curious and read it. Otherwise, visitors to the site would probably just be like, "Meh, another boring blog", and move on.
First of all, I am an escort, albeit an "ordinary" escort as opposed to a more "glamorous " type that Alexa portrays herself to be, and I can not begin to fathom what is so hard to believe about an escort writing a blog? Honestly, and again , no offense, but I think your report would have had more credibility had you produced reasons as to WHY it appears to be a hoax, and to explain why this particular escort blog was more suspect that the other ones.
I started a blog for no other fact than to be able to vent and get things off my chest, but without revealing who I was, as I dont want to drive away business with my honesty and I also want some modicum of anonymity. I put no effort into the content,nor into articulating my thoughts in a "blog worthy" manner. I simply did it for ME. I suppose that is one difference betwen myself and some of the other blog whores is that my purpose is not to gain readers, but to maintain an outlet for myself. If others read it in the process and are amused, or enlightened or whatever, so be it, but I highly doubt it, as usually when I write, it is when I am inspired to and I can not get the words out fast enough, let alone put any effort into sounding coherent!
As for her IP address. I am disappointed that you automatically assume that simply because the server is in New York, that that must mean she is in New York. Dont you know what a proxy server is? I am using one, you wont find out anything about my true location, and yet I have no problem telling you this and telling you that I am in Texas! My point is that ANYONE can use a proxy and type the IP address in their web browsers proxy setitngs, and voila have a completely new IP address. I dont think that is the case here , but I was a bit disappointed, Alex..😊
So, in closing, I am still trying to figure out what is so hard to fathom about an escort writing a blog and what it was about HER in PARTICULAR that made you think she was FAUX...And why is it upon HER shoulders to prove she is real? YOU came to HER! She is not asking you to beleive anything(i dont think).
Perhaps being an escort myself is why I am so quick to beleive her story, but I guess my point is WHY NOT believe it? Do you think that escorts are some urban legend? Of course not. We all know prostitution exists, and the only thing I can think that might make somebody skeptical is that a blog about an escort in not in concert with the myth that all whores are crack addicted street walkers. WE are not! I enjoy what I do. If I didnt I would be miserable, and I refuse to be so, so I purposely find something to like about all my appts and will not do anything I am uncomfortable doing. Not all prostitutes will do whatever they are asked simply because they are getting paid. And the ones that do, are usually the ones that hate themselves and hate their clients....