Bio
My name is Zoe Margolis – also known as Abby Lee, or the Girl with a One Track Mind.
Six years ago, I began writing my blog, Girl With A One-Track Mind, which, with complete honesty, detailed the ins-and-outs of my sex life, and my thoughts and feelings about the subject matter. Needless to say it’s graphic, but then, that’s shagging for you: it’s a rather sticky thing, no matter how you approach it. I decided to write about sex in my blog because I felt that the feminist and female-centred perspective is missing from mainstream media. A sexist double-standard about male vs female sexuality still exists, and which chastises women if they express sexual wants and needs; I hoped my blog would provide a counter-balance to this old-fashioned attitude.
The blog became hugely popular: it has had more than 7 million readers over the last six years and now averages over 100,000 unique visitors a month. It also won the Bloggie Award for Best British/Irish Weblog in both 2006 and 2007 and the Observer newspaper recently ranked it at number 24 in their Top 50 Most Powerful Blogs in the World list.
During late 2005, I was approached by a publisher to write my first book, based on the blog, which was written under my pseudonymn, Abby Lee. On August 3rd 2006, the book was published. A few days after my book appeared in the shops, a newspaper decided to ‘out’ me and rid me of my anonymity.
What followed after that was somewhat of a fiasco, with photographers sat outside my house trying to get a picture of me and my hiding out, trying to avoid them. Thrust into the limelight, with my real identity known, my life suddenly became ‘news’. With my privacy being invaded along with my friends and family, I had no option but to face the media, and opted to do an interview with the Guardian newspaper, as well as writing an article for the Independent on Sunday, to try to ensure that ‘my story’ was represented accurately (not like this).
Since then, my life has adjusted somewhat. Going from complete obscurity to semi-notoriety overnight was very odd; I spent many months dealing with the consequences of being thrust into the public eye.
Nowadays I spend my time mostly writing and speaking about blogging, tech, feminism and sex. You’ll find much of my journalism here and my regular appearances as a pundit on Sky News here.
I was the subject of a critically applauded Channel 4 documentary, but I don’t let that get to my head, honest. I just try to use the media presence I have now in a productive and postitive way; as an ambassador for the young people’s sexual health charity Brook, I hope to create debate about the double-standards around sex and raise awareness of the need for good sexual health.
The book itself has been a huge success, selling over 165,000 copies of the UK edition alone, and has been translated into fifteen languages. Plans are afoot to develop it into a screenplay and adapt it for the stage. My follow-up book Girl with a One Track Mind: Exposed is published by Pan Macmillan 5th March 2010.