Bradford diaries: red hot and true
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Your support makes all the difference.Once you've got over the shock of the end of society as we know it - an event whose weekly occurrence over the last three decades has somewhat dulled its impact - there are things you can learn from C4's "Red Light Zone" season.
In Manningham Diaries (11.05pm C4), for instance, a set of vox pops from a group of tarts in one of the areas where the Yorkshire Ripper was most active, you find that the most common kink in Bradford is wearing a nappy and being fed a bottle. At least, that's the service they mention most.
If you've ever been tempted to think that prostitution is Catherine Deneuve in Belle de Jour, this will also teach you a couple of things. Once you get down to the "15 quid with me knickers off in't car", you wonder why the blokes just don't stay at home with a copy of What Car? What is the attraction of having sex with somone who's half dead? True, the result would be much the same if you bought someone a bottle of gin, and this comes cheaper than bar prices, but the self-respect must be absolute zero. Maybe, of course, there's real knowledge to be gleaned from the Red LIght Zone: that there are men out there who will pay just about anything for self-abasement. And that's a lesson every little girl should be taught.
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