Pretty Baby

A Memoir

By: Chris Belcher

Narrated by: Chris Belcher

“Absolutely not to be missed.” —Vogue
“A muscular, canny memoir about labor and power and gender…I couldn’t put it down. What a fucking gorgeous book.” —Carmen Maria Machado, author of In the Dream House

A queer teen rebel escapes small-town Appalachia and becomes Los Angeles’s Renowned Lesbian Dominatrix in this searing and darkly funny memoir that upends our ideas about desire, class, and power.

The dominatrix is the id of American femininity. She says the words that we all wish we could say when we find ourselves frozen in the presence of men. No is principal among them.

So writes Chris Belcher, who appeared destined for a life of conventional femininity after she took first place in an infant beauty contest—a minor glory that followed her around a working-class town of 1,600 people in rural West Virginia. But when she came out as queer, the conservative community that had once celebrated its prettiest baby turned on her.

A decade later, living in Los Angeles and trying to stay afloat in the early years of a PhD program, Belcher plunges into the work of a pro domme. Branding herself as Los Angeles’s Renowned Lesbian Dominatrix, she specializes in male clients who want a domme to make them feel worthless, shameful, and weak—all the abuse regularly heaped upon women for free. A queer woman whom men can trust with the unorthodox sides of their sexualities, Belcher is paid to be the keeper of the fantasies that they can’t enact in their everyday relationships. But moonlighting as a sex worker also carries risks, like the not-so-submissive who tries to turn the tables and the jealous client out for revenge.

As Belcher moves between the embodied world of the pro domme and the abstract realm of academia, she discovers how lessons from the classroom apply to the dungeon, and vice versa. Still, fear that her doctoral program won’t approve burdens her with a double life. Pretty Baby is her second coming out.

In this sharp and discerning memoir, we see through Belcher’s eyes how power and desire can be renegotiated—or reinforced.

©2022 Christina Belcher. All rights reserved. (P)2022 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

A gritty, exciting and thought provoking memoir!

A fun and fast paced memoir about first coming of age as a queer woman in rural Appalachia and then working as an out lesbian pro domme in Los Angeles while going to grad school in the humanities. I thoroughly enjoyed both parts.

I found this book because of a short column that the author wrote for The New York Times about the complexities of telling people her real name as a pro domme. That article brought up a lot of interesting thoughts about the power dynamic there, and her experiences with how it could go wrong in different ways. When I saw that she had also written a memoir I bought it on the spot. As I had hoped, this book expanded on her thoughts about power imbalances and the dynamics of sex work and service work, as well as telling more stories about her life in her unique voice.

Lastly, the author narration of the audiobook was excellent.

Beautifully poignant and restrained

Belcher has expertly woven her memoir to perfection. The tone and voice and recall she uses to authentically share what those moments felt like and what they meant was beautiful. Having recently tried to read another memoir that felt like a hacky strict retelling with predictable prose, Belcher’s story was refreshing and a delight to listen to.
It was equal parts tragic, beautiful, and poignant. Simple, but never dumb. Practically single handily restored my faith in good writers.

Highly recomend

Engaging, well-written, and honest. I've been searching for a book that fully engrosses me for some time now, and this was it. Thank you, Chris.

A must have!

Just incredible- it will not disappoint. An easy listen with a smooth narration by the author.

The perfect book.

Bonus you get to listen to Chris’s soothing voice. Do yourself a favor and buy this book.

Extremely well-written exploration of a fascinating world

Chris Belcher’s memoir is both a bracingly honest examination of her own interesting-though often challenging-life and a window into a world I’d often wondered about though never wanted to personally explore. Her extensive education informs her many insights into human needs, interactions and sexual dynamics.
She is an honest and gifted writer who has a lot to offer on a range of topics that are not easily discussed. Excellent work.