a tribute

Earlier this week I saw an article saying that Bettie Page had suffered a heart attack at the age of 85, and was in hospital near San Francisco. She never regained consciousness, and died this morning.

Bettie's story is a poignant one. She was a secretary before she turned to modelling, and her free spirit and joyous, unashamed sensuality took the world by storm. She made a name for herself as a a glamour pin-up, as a fashion and lingerie model, as a switch in bondage and spanking shoots. She was one of the first nude Playboy centrefolds, and one of the most photographed women of her time.

From what I've read, she wasn't particularly kinky. Rather she was fascinated by human sexuality, endlessly curious and a versatile actress. She delighted in trying new things and enjoyed the silliness of fetish modelling. When fans, on meeting her, expected her to behave like a Domme or sub they were usually disappointed.

When she was subpoenaed to appear in court as a witness in an obscenity case, in which certain of her pictures were condemned as pornographic and damaging, she never recovered. She withdrew from public life for fifty years, becoming a born-again Christian and refusing to let anyone take her photograph. She struggled with mental health issues.

These days Bettie Page is praised for her self-determination and sexual liberation. Her work is iconic among vanillas and kinksters alike. She's credited with influencing the sexual revolution of the sixties. But her retirement was a troubled one, and she may have lived with anxiety or regret about her modelling career for the rest of her life.

We know there's nothing unhealthy or damaging about kinky pictures. We know that Bettie's exuberant celebration of sexuality found the same joyful expression in her BDSM work as in her radiant outdoor nudes. We know that she didn't have anything to be ashamed, or embarrassed, or troubled about.

I hope she came to realise that as well, in the privacy of her old age. and I hope she came to accept and celebrate her sensuality, her exhibitionism, her wilder side. Rest in peace, Bettie Page. You changed the world, and you deserve to feel good about that.