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July 25, 2008 12:47:19 PM CDT

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DC Madam as Feminist Entrepreneur

Posted May 6, 08 9:49 AM CDT in Crime & Courts,  Politics 

(Newser) – Most know her as the feisty DC Madam who riled up the media by releasing her clients' phone records, but a half-finished memoir obtained by Newsweek reveals Deborah Jeane Palfrey's personal side. A small-town girl turned "fuddy-duddy white lady," she overcame a stifling childhood to turn feminist entrepreneur.    

Her "little literary undertaking," as she called it, portrays a law school dropout, unlucky in love and stuck in waitressing. Turned off by the “druggies and fools” who ran San Diego escort services, Palfrey opened her own to add a “touch of class” to her "little cottage industry"—and laid the groundwork for a business that eventually led to her downfall.

Source Newsweek

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Deborah Jeane Palfrey, left, accompanied by her lawyer Montgomery Blair Sibley, right, arrives at the U.S. District Court House in Washington, Friday, September 7, 2007.   (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Police officers and sheriff's deputies investigate the scene where Deborah Palfrey, also known as the DC Madam, allegedly committed suicide Thursday afternoon May 1, 2008 at her parents mobile home.   (AP Photo)
Deborah Jeane Palfrey, center, is walked to a car by her civil attorney Montgomery Blair Sibley, left, after Palfrey gave a statement to the media in Washington on Monday, April 30, 2007.   (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Deborah Jeane Palfrey, is walked to a news conference by her civil attorney Montgomery Blair Sibley, left, in Washington on Monday, April 30, 2007.   (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
In this March 9, 2007 file photo Deborah Jeane Palfrey reads a statement outside federal court in Washington.   (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
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prostitution  • Washington DC  • prostitution ring  • DC Madam  • Deborah Jeane Palfrey


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