I think I will start out by saying that Chester Brown and I could not be more different. Literally the only thing we might have in common is that we have both spent some time living in Toronto. That said, I think that has actually made me more forgiving of him then I would have otherwise.

Chester Brown's Paying For It falls into a category of nonfiction that I like to call "They Know Best". Brown has a particular opinion about sex and he is 100% confident. He makes lots of statements and is out to provoke as many people as possible. If you don't like those sorts of people, I would highly recommend you not read this book.

That said, Brown does still have a lot to offer. For one, he is willing to get brutally honest about a fairly unpopular subject. He knows that a lot of people are going to judge him for how he goes about his life, and he doesn't do much to defend himself - well beyond being completely convinced he is right anyway. He doesn't try and pretty things up or tone down his rather abrasive personality.

For another, while I don't agree with him 100% I do think his perspective and ideas are important to consider. While I do think sex work often ends up hurting a lot of people, I do not think it is always wrong. I do think it should probably be legal to some extent, regulated better and taxed. Much like Brown, I also often find myself frustrated by the overwhelmingly negative way people of all stripes seem to see prostitution. They are being just as ludicrous as Brown is when he closes the book by saying he hopes that some day we will all be paying for sex.

Finally, what I did find myself agreeing with most were Brown's critiques of our cultural idea of marriage. I mean, I'm still glad I got married, but we (as a culture) have a lot of toxic ideas when it comes to marriage. We are too jealous, too possessive and far to demanding overall and as adults we should really be able to handle ourselves more maturely. Unlike Brown though, I find it much more difficult to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

As far as art went, I felt like it really captured the kind of person that Brown is. Plain, straightforward, logical, black and white. Not a lot of extra lines or quirky exaggerations. The sex is not the least bit titillating or pornographic.