Brandy Britton (d. 2007, by Suicide)
I haven't really read a lot about her on academic blogs, but some of you may have known a bit about Brandy Britton. I know very little about her. She was an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Maryland--Baltimore County who filed a gender discrimination suit when she was let go. Then, she was arrested on charges for prostitution, police saying she'd been running a bordello out of her home.

Well, she committed suicide last week.

I don't know a lot of specifics about her or this case, but I do have a general attitude about these things that's my default until I learn things to change it. I get that prostitution is illegal. But I have not always understood why it's illegal. Students who were in my gender activism course last year have heard this from me before. I don't understand why it is illegal for me to pay someone to have sex in private, but it is legal for me pay that person to have sex while I videotape it and put it on a DVD for public sale as long as they sign a waiver. One--and mind you, the most private one--is illegal prostitution. The other--the more public act--is legal pornography.

I think, quite bluntly, that the reason for the discrepancy has to do with the hypocritical attitudes towards sex that we have in this country. No shock there. I'm not trying to argue for or against the legalization of prostitution here. After all, such binary debates are pointless and lack the nuance such a discussion deserves. As we talked about in class, definitions of "prostitution" and "pornography" are rarely certain or agreed upon.

As I read about Brandy Britton, I just feel bad for her. I can see how the hypocrisy of sexual attitudes in this country contributed to her death. I can see how the extreme extent to which people love to judge others in this country contributed to her death. Innocent until proven guilty? I can't remember the last time I saw someone presumed innocent until after a trial and verdict in this country. And once a verdict actually is guilty, people are written off and regarded as trash and treated with no respect. They become unpersons.

I'm sorry she's dead, and I'm sorry she did it to herself. I'm sorry people felt the need to criticize and lambaste her based only on a few facts reported in mainstream media sources. Some may say that my concern for her is based on just as little information, but that's why I say early in this entry that I might be wrong. I've done some searching this afternoon and found blog entries and news articles written in the past year. People seem very sure of themselves. They have Brandy all figured out and are ready to evaluate and label her assuringly.

I roll my eyes, too, at everyone pointing out that she had a PhD, as though this contradicts everything else in her life, as though there is a connection. Why? She should have "known better"? She should have been living a life of the mind and not of the body? Having a PhD doesn't mean you are perfect. And it doesn't mean your opinion is better or worse than anyone else's.

It doesn't take a PhD to know that.
- posted by Nels @ 4:22 PM | | | Link |