Remembering Bettie Page

Bettie Page, the 1950s pin-up queen and pop culture icon who died on Thursday, will be remembered for her indomitable influence on style, fashion, and sexual expression. But as Bettie's biographer -- and the only one with whom she ever cooperated -- I can tell you that the underground bondage queen also had the unlikely effect of thematically shaping a series of biographical and highly feminist novels about powerful women in history.

In 1991, intrigued by the resurgence of Bettie's image in venues as diverse as rockabilly clubs, nostalgia rags, and S&M fashion gone mainstream, I wrote a cover story for the L.A. Weekly, "In Search of Bettie Page." For nine months, I had tracked down anyone who had ever known her or photographed her. But Bettie herself, the object of much speculation, remained elusive. Most people thought she was dead.

Then, as fate would have it, someone gave Bettie, who was living in anonymity and seclusion, a copy of the article. Imagine the shock -- a seventy-something senior citizen who ran away from it all forty years prior, suddenly finds that she is famous again.

But she liked it. Though she did not want to re-enter the public arena, Bettie sent me a letter praising the piece, calling us "kindred spirits." Soon, with co-author James Swanson, I embarked on the adventure of writing her biography, sitting down with her for hundreds of hours while she told us her story.

At the time, I was also trying to work out how to tell the stories of women in history who had been either dropped from the record or misinterpreted through the sexist lens of their biographers. I was to start with Kleopatra (the original Greek spelling), a victim of Roman propaganda remembered for the men with whom she slept rather than for her diplomacy, leadership, and the fact that she had mastered nine languages. How to present the stories of women who had been victimized without writing a victim story, I kept asking myself? How to give women in history who had been reduced to their sexuality the full breadth of their experience without diminishing or demeaning their sexuality?

So here was Bettie Page, a woman known only for her sexuality, who had been sexually abused by her father, sexually violated by a gang of strangers, and emotionally battered by a husband. In the years since she had gone underground, Bettie had become a born-again Christian working for the Billy Graham Crusade. Surely she would repudiate the work she'd done as a pin-up and bondage model. Surely she saw herself as a victim of the patriarchy that hijacked her beauty and sensuality and exploited it for its own gratification. Surely I was about to meet a woman who considered herself a victim.

I was wrong. Despite her more unfortunate experiences, Bettie never presented herself as a casualty of sexual abuse, and she never used that, or her religious beliefs, which were strong, to renounce the work she'd done as a model. Moreover, she never denounced sexual expression.

"God created us naked," she said by way of explaining her total lack of inhibition in the buff. She purported that bondage modeling "was such fun," even at times "hilarious," except for when the elaborate gear became uncomfortable. And sex itself, she assured me on many occasions, was for her, always pleasurable and joyful. Though she had at times suffered at their hands, she never expressed bitterness toward men. I know women who are resoundingly more hostile than Bettie Page just for having suffered a few bad dates. No, Bettie was not going to allow anyone or anything to diminish the joy she experienced when she put that corset on (or took it off) and felt her full-blown sexual power.

Since the publication of Bettie Page: Life of a Pin-Up Legend, I have published four historical novels with strong female characters. Each, in her own way, was a victim, either of the era in which she lived and its laws, or of individual abusers, or of the general abuses and oppressive nature of the culture at large. Despite the enormous consciousness-raising of the last few decades, we still see attempts to diminish today's female powerbrokers women like Hillary Clinton or Sarah Palin by sexualizing them. Yes, in our porn-saturated society, people are still trying to shame women for -- what? Having sexual attributes?

At least we can point to one woman, Bettie Page, who wouldn't have it.

Bettie's obits paint a bleak picture of her later years. But I found that, despite her trials, she had retained a zest for life and always took pleasure in memories of the work that she'd done. I hope that Bettie is remembered for her sexual joy, and for the gleeful spirit she brought to sexual imagery, whether she was frolicking on the beach or being ball-gagged and spanked, rather than for being a victim.

A female friend of mine said this morning, "Bettie Page did more for sexual expression than Alfred Kinsey." Amen, sister. For all the countless (and valuable) mountains of scholarly and feminist writing that have influenced my thinking and my portrayal of women, I still look to a lady who said it all by looking into the camera and defying anyone to tell her she was bad or wrong.

Amen to you, too, Bettie. Rest in peace.

Follow Karen Essex on Twitter: www.twitter.com/KarenEssex

Comments

[beauwulff]

The one and only. RIP, gorgeous.

[mommadona]

I've been an ardent collector of "Ms Page" for many years.

She was definitely one of a kind. ; )

She has a star in heaven.

[starboymikey]

I was just shy of ten years old when, rummaging through my uncle's closet when he wasn't there, I came across an old shoe box which, when opened, revealed a big stack of Bettie Page pinups,some of them pretty raunchy.

Though I was stil a couple of years away from puberty, a kind of shiver went through me that I was still too young to understand. In retrospect, that was the day my sexuality began to awaken. It was both frightening and delightful (everything something so momentous should be). I'll never forget the moment I first gazed at those photographs and what I felt as I did.

Thanks, Bettie. I couldn't have been so thrilled by a greater, classier seductress. You are unforgettable.

[AmericanSon]

"I was to start with Kleopatra (the original Greek spelling)"

Gee, I thought the Greeks had a completely different alphabet, starting with alpha, beta, etc. I didn't know that they used the Roman alphabet.

Actually, wasn't the Ancient Greek language, at the time of C(K)leopatra, Phoenician? Modern Greek has lost a few of their old characters.

[KarenEssex]

It should be obvious that only the use of the letter "K" refers to the original Greek spelling. In my novels, I wanted to highlight Kleopatra's Macedonian lineage and her desire, with Antony, to re-establish the empire of Alexander the Great. I knew the use of the Kappa would automatically, if unconsciously, do that. My classical studies professors, as well as many other scholars of the ancient world, prefer to use the "K" in the English translations of names such as Sokrates or Perikles, rather than the Latinized "C." It's simply a choice, and considered a choice in the direction of authenticity. The translation and spelling, not to mention pronunciation, of ancient languages is always a subject of controversy and discussion. One might go either way, so to speak, and be correct.

As far as the similarities between the ancient Greek and Phoenician languages, you'd have to consult a classical philologist.

[RTIII]

As almost a non-sequitur:

"I know women who are resoundingly more hostile than Bettie Page just for having suffered a few bad dates."

Me too! -frown- Unfortunately, the bad-date baggage tends to create more bad dates...

...Anyway, what I am still curious about; why did Betty drop out of sight? I guess I'll have to read up the materials cited...
.

[KarenEssex]

Interesting and funny story—Bettie claimed that the reason she dropped out of sight had nothing to do with religion, shame, or any of the other explanations posited over the years. She ultimately left modeling because she was thirty-seven years old, and she was tired of telling people she was 22! You have to remember the 1950s mentality. A woman was considered a washed up old maid if she wasn't married by 25. Always a health and fitness freak, and gifted by nature, Bettie did look about 15 years younger than her real age, but she thought that at 37, it was time to hang up her bikinis (though she claimed to look great in them into her 40s.) Though the Kefauver investigations did have a negative effect on her, if she'd been younger at that time, she would have kept going as a model.

[OnTheCusp]

Whether she was displayed in bondage or not, Bettie's obvious joy and innocence rendered all her work as "clean" in a way that most (so called) smut can never be, what with treating women as non or otherwise unwilling participants. A grave disservice is done to all of society when people seek to control, curb or limit womens sexuality. Bettie showed us all how bogus that is.
Bettie, I hope your best lover of all time is waiting for you in a magical, beautiful heaven.

[Pantelleria01]

It is great to see more and more information about the spirit and soul of Bettie Page. In her elder years she has confirmed that the sensual and the sacred can and should be in harmony. The light inside her luminous spirit is the dominant element in every photo I have ever seen of her. It seems when the sacred and the sensual are in balance, life is really not only great, but free of bitterness and blame.

[goldcoastsailor]

Betti Paige, what innocent kinkiness, She is truly the woman I would most like to clone.

[curiousasheck]

I hope she's remembered for surviving the worst this planet has to offer and finally found Truth.

[kewps]

Bettie was gorgeous -even at 80. Her inner light just came shining through! Rest in peace dear lady!

[PaxMundis]

What's incredibly, sadly ironic is that Dave Stevens, the cartoonist (he created The Rocketeer) who more than anyone revived Bettie Page's photos, also died earlier this year.

Are there any plans to update and re-release your book? I would love to read it.

[WilliePilgrim]

Thanks for your work in bringing the real Bettie Page to us again. I suppose that the qualities that made her so special (and in truth still do) are as it is with so many of the universally admired features of our culture, first among them, the inability to adequately describe what it is that is so captivating. Her undeniable beauty, charisma and the powerful message of her personal life combine in an amalgamation of the intagible. She will be missed and yet she's always with us thankfully.
By the way, I wish you'd commented on the recent bio-pic of her life and the performance by Gretchen Moll. I liked it very much.

[JVince]

What an enlightening piece on such an unlikely, as you so cleverly put it, cultural icon and hero. While I half expected to read a sad story about a woman who either never got over her glory days or never loved the glory of the same, I am delighted to see neither. She sounded like a neat lady ~ and I now am going to learn more about her. Thanks.

[FilmFanTV]

As a fellow journalist, Karen -
I Thank you for such a wonderful recollection of Bettie. I thoroughly wish I had met with YOU - rather than your co-author... while facilitating my TV interview with Bettie in 1996.

Your article on this site only confirmed what I strongly suspected back then... that you were, indeed the one of the duo that truly had Bettie's best interests at heart... and understood her best.

I hope you found my TV interview with Bettie then... and now on YouTube - to be worthy of painting a wonderful portrait of this remarkable woman we both were blessed to interview and meet.

Tim Estiloz

[monkeyhawk]

I can't imagine Bettie Page as an 85-year-old.

But, to borrow from "JoeBozo's" analogy, the Louise Brooks comparison makes me wonder.

I bet she was a feisty little old lady.

Even when America was Eisenhower and McCarthy and Doris Day and when Rock Hudson was "Hollywood's most eligible bachelor," Bettie blurred the lines between reality and fantasy better than 'em all!