Book Summary: Paying For It By Chester Brown

Paying For It by Chester Brown is a graphic novel about Brown becoming a “john.” The story begins in 1996, Browns’ girlfriend breaks up with him and he spends the next three years celibate. Over that period of time his ex brings other men to live with them since Brown never moved out, after watching their arguments he decides to never be in another relationship but that decision conflicts with his desire to have sex, versus the desire to not have a girlfriend. He finally decides to hire a prostitute and after the deed is done he feels a “burden” has been lifted. The rest of the story Brown talks about his experiences with 23 other prostitutes and in between those encounters Brown and his friends Joe and Seth discuss the pros and cons of paying for sex. When I went through the list of options I looked up each book to see if any of them would grab my attention and when I saw that one of the books was a graphic novel I got really excited because I love graphic novels. At first I kind of hesitated to pick …show more content…
With abortion for example, “it’s her body, it’s her right,” why should that only apply to that one subject, if the women is old enough, mentally sound, and most important of all consenting shouldn’t she have the right to use her body any way she wishes just like she should have the right to decide whether or not she wants to have a baby. Finally advocates for pro-prostitution would definitely be an intended audience because this book talks about what they stand for. That paying for sex is an alternative option for relationships for those who don’t follow the social norms for relationships. Some see relationships and what Brown calls “possessive monogamy” as something that doesn’t work for them, they even argue that monogamous relationships could be viewed as a form of prostitution because something is always being exchanged for