Historical, Inspirational, and Influential: Xaviera Hollander
Written by: Michelle Lamore
Everest University
ENC 1001 Composition
Week 9 Individual Work

Xaviera Hollander had a great impact on the sexual revolution and feminist movement of the 1970’s even though Xaviera’s sexually explicit book, “The Happy Hooker”, detailed her time as a hooker, call girl and madam in New York, its outspoken and blatant sexuality shocked conservative North America and led to her deportation both from Canada and the United States.
Xaviera Hollander, born Xaviera DeVries, comes from a good background, grew up in a loving family atmosphere, and was given a fine European education. Her mother, of German and French extraction, was serious minded but warm and devoted to her family. Her father, of Dutch and Jewish extraction, was intellectual, a lover of the arts, and a truly generous-spirited man. Between her parents and herself they speak a total of twelve languages. “I personally speak seven languages fluently.” (Xaviera Hollander, 2002) At the height of her father’s highly successful medical career, he owned a large hospital in the Dutch East Indies, two palatial homes, one in Surabaya and the other in the hill resort area of Bandung, both run by many servants. They lost everything when the Japanese invaded the islands.
The first three years of Xaviera’s life was spent in a Japanese concentration camp. The Japanese in Southeast Asia were as anti-Semitic as the Germans in Europe. Even though her mother was not Jewish, she was looked upon as committing the crime of being married to a Jew. She and her mother were separated from her father and released after three years. Her father’s crime was not only that he was Dutch, but that he was Jewish as well. Her father was held for another two and a half years where he was camp doctor in one of the Japanese concentration camp compounds. “My father was sometimes hung by his wrists from a tree with his feet an inch off the ground in the scorching tropical sun. Probably the only reason they didn’t let him die was because they needed his medical skills.” (Xaviera Hollander, 2002)
Xaviera’s book “The Happy Hooker”, tells the story of her life, told by her. Her book discusses openly of topics such as bondage, lesbianism, voyeurism, and run-ins with the FBI as well as lawyers; telling the story of her life as a former prostitute, call girl, and New York's most famous madam. This book made her an international phenomenon and became best seller, selling more than 15 million copies worldwide. This book also inspired her to write over thirty more books, majority are explicit in nature. Her book was a landmark of sex revolution, helped to push the discussion of sex out of the bedroom and into the mainstream.
Xaviera Hollander had a great impact on the sexual revolution and the gay rights movement. Xaviera was in the midst of the era of sexual chaos. At the start of the “coming out” era, Xaviera pursued her life openly as a bisexual female, later becoming very active within the lesbian community; living her life as a lesbian. She lives her life and tells of her life as a liberal and open minded girl, she self-claims that she falls under all sexual categories; bisexual, lesbian, and heterosexual. “I always had women as a second dish, for when I was a bit fed up with men.” (Advocate, 2002) During the women’s movement Xaviera made recognition of women’s sexual satisfaction and sexual desire. She helped to give a whole new meaning to women’s sexuality and their rights over their own sexuality.
Xaviera had a great impact on the feminist movement of the 1970’s, which promoted women’s power and control over their own lives. She took a non-traditional path to power. She was happy to do something she always liked which is sex, got paid for something she did for free for years, and the respect she gained from her clients in a business manner. Xaviera has the power to control her own life and has shown that she has the power to control her life as she sees fit, regardless of others views or reactions. She has empowered herself as well as women in society to have the ability to control their own destinies. She has also brought light on the power of a woman. She discovered at a young age her desires for sex, had no boundaries to seek out her desires for sex, or to reform to what society seen as proper for females. She discovered the power a woman holds within her sexuality, and learned that she was able to use that for her advantage; not only to fulfill her own sexual desires but for financial profit.
She is known for her frankness on the topic of sex due to her writings, classes, interviews, and seminars. “I was happy to do something that I've always liked, which is sex. I enjoyed sex without being a nymphomaniac. Getting paid for something I've doing for years for free. Getting from most of my clients, more respect in a business manner, because it is a business, than I got as the easy girl, you know, the easy lay hoping to find Mr. Right.” ('Happy Hooker' Gives her take on Feminism, Sexuality, 2007) She is considered a landmark of positive writings about sex because of her blatant honesty and frankness about sex. Xaviera’s outspoken sexuality shocked conservative North America and led to her deportation both from Canada and the United States. Xaviera Hollander continues to be influential and inspirational; she will forever be historical.

References
Advocate, C. C. (2002, August 20). The Happy Hooker Gets the Girl. Retrieved July 31, 2013, from http://lirnproxy.museglobal.com/MuseSessionID=27c227197a983197d2a0e32289aa95/MuseHost=search.proquest.com/MusePath/pqrl/docview/215739093/abstract?source=fedsrch&accountid=40833
'Happy Hooker' Gives her take on Feminism, Sexuality. (2007, October 12). Retrieved July 29, 2013, from NPR Books: www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15220084
Hollander, X. (2011). Child No More: Memoir. New York, New York: HarperCollins.
Steinberg, D. (n.d.). At the intersection of museum and sex.
THE HAPPY HOOKER: Portrait of a Sexual Revolutionary. (2010, December 01). Retrieved July 31, 2013, from iChannel: http://www.ichannel.ca/tag/book/
Xaviera Hollander, R. M. (2002). The Happy Hooker. New York, New York: HarperCollins.