A Talk with Author and Freelance Writer Suzi Parker

by Jennifer Minar

After receiving her master's degree in journalism from the University of Arkansas, and stints with the statewide daily newspaper and a Little Rock publishing house, Suzi Parker decided to strike out on her own and pursue a full-time career as a freelance journalist.

She's now considered one of the South's leading young freelance journalists, regularly contributing to publications such as The Economist, US News & World Report, The New York Times Magazine, and The Washington Post.

Parker knows her journalism—and as documented in her first book, Sex in the South: Unbuckling the Bible Belt, quite a bit about the covert world of Southern sex parties, swingers, and other erotic practices that--upon just reading about--would make most of us blush.

Since its November 2003 release, the book has met with more than a little controversy… and glowing praise. In this interview, we talk to Parker about the book, being a full-time freelance writer, and what exactly controversy means to her.

Your work has sparked quite a bit of controversy in Arkansas. How do you feel about controversy? How has it helped? Hurt?

To me, controversy means two good things: people are paying attention, and I'm making people think. We're a nation of people who are increasingly spoon-fed every opinion-–by our news outlets, our politicians and our pastors. I like to shake things up a little and get people forming their own opinions. Controversy sells more books, sure, but it also makes us a better people.

How did you become interested in writing about sex in the South?

I became interested back in 1995 when I wrote a story for the local newspaper on cybersex which people saw as risque when it really wasn't. Growing up in the South, I knew sex was taboo. That in itself makes people intrigued about sex and very secretive. I knew that whatever book I wrote would have included sex. I just thought it might be a racy novel a la Jackie Collins or Tobacco Road by Erskine Caldwell.

In 1997, I went to a sex toy party-–a Tupperware type party-–where a sex toy maven was showing sex toys and other erotic items. I wasn't so shocked by what was being sold but by the women who attended the party. They were straight-laced, suburban women. They were acting all naughty with non-stop giggles and snickers. One of them said to me, "You know our husbands don't know where we are tonight." I asked, "Where do they think you are?" She looked at me and said, "Bible study." I knew then that truth was stranger than fiction and I had to find out what else was hiding in the region I call home. In my spare time, I'd research the South and sex.

Then in 2001 I discovered a story here in Little Rock about the love potion Niagara. I wrote a story about my experience with the fizzy blue drink. Suddenly, I was engaged in a crazy controversy. I was banned from being a political commentator on the local PBS station because it was "understood" I had written about sex. The local liberal news weekly, who took up for Bill Clinton during Impeachment, wrote about me, informing me that some things were best left in the bedroom. Friends shied away from me because, gasp, I had written frankly about sex. I realized then that I wanted to expose the South for what it was-–a secret hypocritical region with a strong cocktail of sin and kink.

Was it difficult to find an agent? Describe how you found him/her.

I was lucky in that I had gotten a lot of national press about a story I wrote that was optioned by Julia Roberts. I used that to launch my discovery for an agent.

Do you freelance full-time? If so, was it difficult to get started?

Since 1997, I have freelanced full-time. I write for a variety of magazines and newspapers (US News and World Report, The Economist, Dallas Morning News, Atlanta Journal Constitution, and many others) covering news and politics, mostly, and Southern culture. It was difficult to get started but the key was to finding a niche. Mine was Bill Clinton, who was president at the time, and based in Arkansas. Once I started getting assignments in The Economist and The Christian Science Monitor, a lot of doors opened. But you can never slack off. It's not easy being a free-lancer. You must always look for the next story, the next trend, the next breaking news item.

Page 1 of 2