A colleague at work recently returned from the States and brought back a bunch of American candy with her. Among the treasures was a mini-size Mr. Goodbar. That reminded me of the movie, and I mentioned it to another Scotsperson, who looked at me like I was crazy. I've never actually seen the movie, just heard that it's pretty bleak and a good peek inside the swinging world of 1970s sex in New York City.
But what I didn't know what that the novel that the movie was based on was, in turn, based on the true story of Roseann Quinn. Ms. Quinn was a schoolteacher by day and a swinger by night, haunting the bars of New York City in an attempt to find gentlemen to engage in kinky sex with her.
Which is all fair enough. We're all adults here after all. If you do any more reading on Ms. Quinn, you'll find lots of psychoanalyzing about how she was rebelling against her strict Catholic upbringing and other failed relationships.
But that's not the most shocking part of her story.
No, the incredible part to me was that she was a schoolteacher in New York WHO COULD AFFORD TO LIVE IN MANHATTAN.
Now THAT'S shocking.
What was going on back in the 1970s that made New York City so affordable? Was it because of all the high crime rates that made people not want to live there and drove rents down?
Apparently apartments in that building rent for about $2000 a month now. Today, average New York teacher salaries start at about $45K. (Damn...really? And that's with like three months off of work, too). So, I guess if you were a teacher and wanted to spend a lot of your paycheck on rent, it's doable.
I guess Ms. Quinn probably didn't have a whole lot of outside expenses, other than looking for the aforementioned Mr. Goodbar, so, upon further research, this doesn't seem quite as shocking to me anymore.
So what have we learned? Well, for one, I've learned that teachers in New York make way more money than I thought. Dizzam, if you have a doctorate, starting is almost $60K.
And secondly I've learned not to invite strange men back to my apartment.
I'll be watching the movie this weekend for further tips.