I think you have something in there about agency, like when you are truest to yourself, when you are in your power, when you are saying, This is my desire and I’m going to follow it. That’s the thing that to me later, I’m like, oh, my God, what have I done. In an absolute act of submission this playful, hilarious, candid book dares to lay things bare for our entertainment. Highly recommended.”— Susanna Kleeman, author of Twice Lotte: Yeah. And it’s actually weird if other journalists have written about the political subject of what I’ve written, because there’s been a couple of articles to hear their interpretation of it, because in some ways, the book is summarizing what my voice is on this particular thing. And I’m like, ‘no, no, no, no, not like that.’ But then it’s in the world to be interpreted whatever the way they want. I guess that’s part of letting go, isn’t it? Lara: I love that. It’s really easy to make everyone either good or evil and to always be the hero of your story, but it’s not honest. And it’s too simple.

Lotte: Yeah, and maybe subconsciously, or not subconsciously, maybe there was an element of self-protection. I find, personally, that people like to tell me that I’m damaged or that I am acting out, or that that my behavior is a symptom of some kind of childhood abuse or something. Latham ξεκαθαρίζει ότι δεν περιφρονεί τις γυναίκες που θέλουν να γίνουν sugar babies. «Απλώς με ενοχλεί το γεγονός ότι η κοινωνία εξυμνεί τις γυναίκες που αποκτούν πλούσιο φίλο, αλλά μιλάει υποτιμητικά για τις πόρνες επειδή είναι αλλόκοτες» λέει. Dear Mr Andrews» καταγράφει αυτό το ταξίδι σε πειραματική μορφή. Τα σχέδια της Latham, που θυμίζουν την καλλιτέχνιδα Tracey Emin, είναι διάσπαρτα παντού, αλλά η ίδια η Latham «είναι ένας λευκός καμβάς, που μας ρίχνει με αλεξίπτωτο σε τόπους άγνωστους» όπως γράφει η Jenny Valentish στην The Guardian. You know it’s not just the individuals that do these things. It’s the systems that we live under that make it seem okay. And like, there’s so many nuanced feelings that to me always turn into some kind of perverse masochism, that that drive in me is super strong. Sugar-dating was my entry into escorting, which is not a unique journey. I’d always considered sex work but initially sugaring seemed less daunting as it provided a veil of plausible deniability. Say someone outs you as “hooker” – that stuff tears families apart. But if you get caught with some guy paying your rent, it can be passed off as savvy or even “high-value dating”. The notion that a woman’s self-worth is bound to her involvement with a rich man is not new. In fact, it has defined heterosexual mating rites since feudalism.

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Lotte: This year I started to work with an activist group called Hookers against Hardship, who actually have a meeting today, which is exciting. Part of that was so that I could kind of get a litmus test for what the party line is, or what are we saying right now? Because it feels like you’re in a bubble, and the work is very isolating. Lotte: Yeah, definitely. I only sent the manuscript to a couple of places and they were definitely places that resonated with me and I really liked their books. I wasn’t spamming different publishers because I was a bit protectionist over the content. And so by getting involved with a bit of activism around sex work, I’ve met other sex workers and been put in my place a few times about what is not okay to say, and that, to me has been really educational. It’s a community that, although I’m part of, I’m particularly conscious of not representing in a light they don’t want.

Lara: He wrote a book called, So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed. And he talks about the best way to overcome a sex scandal is to be male. Lara: I want to start with that idea of selection, what we reveal and what we choose to keep in the shadows. So the book is called Dear Mr. Andrews, and yet Mr. Andrews is more in the shadows than a lot of other characters. I still worry it’s going to ruin my life if everyone finds out but I’m glad to be part of opening up this discussion.” Lotte Latham is a smart, charming writer located in the United Kingdom, and I could have spoken with her all afternoon. Our conversation meandered down many paths, so it is condensed here for both length and clarity.

Lotte: I know that this interview isn’t meant to go this way, but how do you write about sexuality? Is it fiction or fact? And I don’t want to say anything that would then confirm some kind of theory that people already have. I delve into family stuff a bit, but it was more circumstantial. Lotte: I also think that about sex work—hopefully there’s going to be more stories. And the fact that the press are now much more comfortable talking about sex work than they used to be—it’s having a bit of a moment, at least here in the UK. Times are changing, and hopefully there’s going to be more stories circulating, maybe there’ll be more honest portrayals of different structures of work. Allowances blur the line between a contract and relationship in a way that made me uncomfortable when I was sugaring. My involvement was mostly ppm (pay per meet) which is as close to prostitution as the format gets. I’d negotiate the figure separately with each sugar-daddy and get paid at the end of the evening. We’d leave with a clean slate. And one of the chapters is called “A Rake’s Progress” which is an opera by Stravinsky that’s based on a series of eight paintings by William Hogarth in the 1700s. I’ve got this poster of a “A Rake’s Progress” up on my bedroom wall. I love it! … Sounds weird but I was really obsessed with the one-dimensionality of it as a story. Why anyone would bother making something so literal into an opera is beyond me. Absolutely no plot twists. It’s almost biblical in a fetishistic way; like “Story of O” is, or de Sade’s “Justine and Juliette”. As a woman you’re made aware that this “slippery slope,” this “fall from grace,” that starts from losing your virginity and the decline of your “virtue” henceforth—I wanted to take that to its nth degree—My sex/death drive is similarly monotonous. “Race you to the bottom!”

Lotte: I kind of feel that doodling is like that, for me. I’ve never considered myself an illustrator. Latham βρίσκει τη γλώσσα του sugar dating – «περιποίηση», «σπόνσορας», «αμοιβαία επωφελείς σχέσεις» – βαθιά ανειλικρινή. Because I haven’t exited the industry I can’t wrap the book up in any way that’s tidy. Like, I have stopped sugar babying. And originally we were going to stop the book there, but I was like, “there’s something else to say here.” I find that the more things I find uncomfortable, the more of a pervert I get. And I wanted to say that I wanted these things, and enjoyed them. Lara: I am bisexual, and my mom is a lesbian, and I work with a lot of queer writers. And that’s a conversation that we often have—if you talk about this thing in your past, people are going say, that’s why you’re lesbian, and then you don’t want to feed into people’s stereotypes. Lara: I think that that would make the publishing experience feel a little safer—to feel like you’re not out there all alone.Lara: But it’s all sort of the same thing about being a poster child for a movement and recognizing privilege and, you know, just recognizing that it’s a very different experience, just like with any marginalized or underrepresented group—people tend to see one person as a representation for everyone, when every experience is different, and multifaceted. Latham είναι μια καλλιτέχνις με έδρα το Λονδίνο, της οποίας τα καλλιτεχνικά βίντεο παρουσιάζονται σε διάφορα ευρωπαϊκά φεστιβάλ. Στην προσωπική της ζωή, ερωτεύεται πάντα «άφραγκους μαρξιστές» όπως η ίδια λέει.