Zoe Margolis – Heroine or Slag?
Imagine writing a blog about your adventurous sex life. Then imagine being outed. Meet Zoe Margolis.
About 6 months ago, I wrote about female Chinese sex bloggers, as they were all the rage at that time. Well, move over Lost Sparrow, because Abby Lee has exploded into popularity with a blog entitled, girlwithaonetrackmind.blogspot.com and a spin-off book of the same title.
Billed as both a sex fiend diarist and as the seductress next door, genteely pseudonymed Abby Lee might have continued simply to rake in cash and men while staying smugly on the right side of social niceties... if she hadn't been outed as Zoe Margolis.
A Zoe Margolis who now has to explain it all to her parents, while trying to avoid the constant cameras of prying paparazzi. Ouch.
And as she explains to Zoe Williams during an interview for The Guardian, her new-found notoriety is playing havoc with her sex life.
""I'm single. Single and shagless, and this isn't going to do much for my chances. 'Oh, so you're the slapper...'. A lot of guys are intimidated by it, if they know that you've had a lot of lovers, it doesn't sit well with them. I suppose I can use the book as some sort of test – 'Just read that. If you don't have a problem with it, then you must be OK.'
Continuing candour, we see.
Opinions are, as ever, mixed. Some are hailing Margolis as the break-through voice of a quietly sex-mad generation, a kind of anti-Bridget Jones, while others are... well, baying for her vibrators on a plate.
Me? I have read bits of her blog, and I enjoyed it a lot. It feels honest, fun, has useful explanatory links for more unusual sexual terminology and some fun film reviews. Hey, she writes amusingly about interesting topics and that's more than enough for me.
But then I have also read Florence King.
Please people... can we please stop acting all shocked every few years? Let's just accept that each generation has interesting, witty and sexually aggressive female writers and delight in their prose whenever we find them.
Sam Wilson is the Editor-in-Chief of Women24.com. Suddenly she feels she doesn't use her vibrators as much as she should. Send your thoughts on the social acceptability of sexually candid women to editor@women24.com.
- Women24