'Money for something' by Mia Walsch
I listened to a radio interview with Mia Walsch on Radio NZ and was sufficiently intrigued to buy and read the book. Love its pink cover with net stocking and bold white writing.
The book opens with a warning ‘contains sex, drugs,…’ and she jumps right in; the reason why she ended up doing sex work – getting dismissed from her admin job. The observations of the office environment are an apt description of the dire reality of too many corporate office spaces.
The book contains a lot of sex. Drugs. Descriptions of why she loves both. We follow her through the various parlours, and I’ve learned about parlours and women who work in there. The type of dress. The camaraderie between the women – in some places. The absence of support in times of danger.
Relentless self-hatred. Relentless search for connection and care – the community of women in the parlours are sufficiently weird that she, with her weirdness, fits right in and becomes part of that community. The relentless search for care; she describes the gift of a nipple piercing and how she loved the care she received after nearly fainting from the pain.
The book starts when she’s 19, living on her own. As if she’s fallen from the sky, no background, no family, no friends. A mental illness mentioned as reason for her weirdness. Yet, that’s it – mental illness. “How many more jobs can I lose because of my mental illness? Why can’t I just be a normal person, with emotions that fall into a manageable range without swinging to such extremes?”
The book romps through years of drugs and sex and boyfriends. Along the way she discovers what she wants, what she needs, what works and what doesn’t in the realm of work. She develops a growing sense of self, until, at some stage, the button is switched, and she decides that irrespective of how much she loves the drugs, she hates the hang overs more. University offers the opportunity for a different career. She quits drugs – mostly – and sex – other than occasional returns for fun and money, and discovers that “I can live an extraordinary life without hurting myself.” That’s a fabulous conclusion and strong final sentence.