Tracy Quan | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1977-08-15)August 15, 1977 (age 48) Northeastern U.S. |
| Occupation | Novelist, columnist, essayist |
| Period | 1999–present |
| Subject | Sex work, prostitution,libertarian feminism, pop culture, politics, relationships |
| Literary movement | Novel:Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl,Diary of a Jetsetting Call Girl,Diary of a Married Call Girl |
| Website | |
| www | |
Tracy Quan (born August 15, 1977) is an American writer and formersex worker. She is best known for her Nancy Channovels. In addition, Quan has written a regular column forThe Guardian website on pop culture, sex and politics and is involved in thesex workers' rights movement.
Quan was born in theNortheastern US, but grew up inCanada.[1] Her parents emigrated to the US fromTrinidad; she has spoken ofChinese,Indian,African, andDutch ancestors.[2][3][4] When she was a child her parents divorced and her mother left home. She says her close relationship with her father is partly due to this experience.[5]
Quan readXaviera Hollander's bookThe Happy Hooker when she was ten years old and decided to become a prostitute.[1] Her prior aspiration, to be a librarian, was due to her image of librarians as independent, working women who got to collect money in the form of library fines. By the age of 19 she was supporting herself as a sex worker, working at anescort agency and abrothel, before becoming an independentcall girl with her own client list. As she toldCANOE magazine in 2005, "I was never on thestreet. I've had a relatively easy time." Quan notes she spent 15 years as a working girl inLondon andManhattan, although she juggled both writing and sex work for a few years.[1]
As a writer, Quan first became noticed due to herNancy Chan: Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl column inSalon.com. Combining sex with a twice-weeklyserial, the semi-autobiographical column centered on Nancy as she juggled her 'straight' boyfriend and family with her clients and girlfriends' problems. The story was continued in her novels. Quan expresses the emotional aspects of her life experiences in her novels, her fiction writing, and keeps her journalism for professional commentary on topics of interest: the plight of sex trade workers, changing sexual mores, topical media frenzies on public personalities such as theEliot Spitzer scandal.[6] Quan is currently a full-timewriter, has been a columnist forThe Guardian website and is a contributor toThe Daily Beast. In 2010, Quan was a semifinalist for the3 Quarks Daily Politics Prize, judged byLewis Lapham. She has become a frequent guest on Morning Brew, a Radio 3RTHK weekday breakfast show hosted by Phil Whelan, commenting on current events and social media.
Quan served as a spokeswoman for Prostitutes of New York, or PONY, a sex workers advocacy organization.[7] Quan has been described as a "libertarian entrepreneur", who advocatesdecriminalization of prostitution in the US.[3][8][9] At the same time, she does not encourage others to go into the business.[5]