Zita Weber - Sex for Sale: Conversations with Call Girls

Sex for Sale

Conversationswith Call Girls

Copyright 2011by Zita Weber

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Acknowledgments

I owe a great debtto the twelve women who grace these pages. They wanted to get theirmessage across. Kirsten, one of the women whom you'll meet said,`It would be good if you could get across that we're ordinarywomen.' Ordinary women in what some might consider an extraordinaryprofession. With the women's help, I hope I have managed to dothat.

In the interestsof confidentiality, the women agreed to give their work names. Anyshort biographical sketches which are given have been keptdeliberately general to protect the women's identities.

Table ofContents

INTRODUCTION

The statistics arestartling. It has been estimated that in the U.S. today, as many as10 million women have sold sex for money. In 2002, researchersestimated that about 1,000,000 women were practicing prostitution.They were thought to be entertaining about 300,000 clients anight.

Selling sex isclearly big business. At the elite end of the sex industry is thebiggest business. This is what is often referred to as the CallGirl business.

Let's face it,prostitution is an interesting topic. Even if Call Girls are justordinary women, we are still a little curious about how theseordinary women handle the business of selling sex. Our individualand collective curiosity is natural, given the secrecy thatsurrounds prostitution.

In this book, thewomen speak frankly about their work, their clients, their personallives and their aspirations. I have attempted to be true to thewomen. This book is not so much politically correct as it ishumanly correct. I believe that's as correct as we can get.

Chapter 1

The Call Girl -Who is She?

'You can't evermake a morality about whores and stick to it. They are people, realpeople - not objects; and it's amazing, always was to me, how muchthey could wriggle around and get in and out of trouble, have goodtimes and bad times, show character and show fight. Everybody hasideas about whores, but no real picture ofthem.'...........Nell Simball, 1970

The modern CallGirl is the most misjudged of women. She's misjudged because she'smisunderstood. No-one really knows who she is. She is never thoughtof as an ordinary woman who travels on the subway or joins everyoneelse in the supermarket to do her shopping. Yet, the reality is,she is an ordinary woman in what is sometimes thought to be anextraordinary business.

No school leaverhas it suggested to her by a careers adviser that she mightconsider becoming a Call Girl rather than a personal assistant,lawyer, nurse or doctor. Neither are bookshelves stocked withmanuals on How to Become a Successful Call Girl. Becoming a CallGirl is not regarded as a real career option. Nice girls justdon't.

Most people, whenthinking about the Call Girl, see her as a glamorous figure, thecourtesan of the past, the pampered woman who sells her sexualservices, the high-class whore. She has been a fascinating figurefor painters, poets and writers, some of whom have been preoccupiedwith her in their works. She is one of the most fantasized women ofall time. But the fantasy cannot give the true picture.

Reality andfantasy have become confused. The Call Girl's life and her workhave been distorted by secrecy. People may despise her existence,but she is an integral part of most societies. Yet, so strong isthe taboo about her, that she is denied a place in society. She ismade invisible.

While societymight want the Call Girl to be invisible, it makes sure that herclients enjoy even more invisibility.

Every now andthen, there are sensational media stories around the police bust ofa Call Girl business said to serve the sexual needs of rich andfamous clients.

When such storiesare reported in the media, the names of women involved are oftencited and their photos shown, but any mention of a male's name inconnection with the business is hotly and swiftly denied. In recenttimes, Sydney Biddle Barrows, the so-called `Mayflower Madam',Madam Alex and Heidi Fleiss have all been at the center ofsensational media stories about the Call Girl business.

Sydney BiddleBarrows ran an escort service, Cachet, known for its high quality.To her handpicked girls she emphasized that We are in the businessof selling fantasy and success. Cachet kept detailed records ofall clients and the scent of a sex and scandal permeated trial heldthe publics attention. Ultimately, the case against the MayflowerMadam was dismissed, but it had been interesting to witness theconfusion generated when beautiful and well-dressed women areaccused of selling sex.

Very often,accounts of the business give the impression there is only thesupplier of sex, the woman, and no purchaser of sex, or man in thetransaction. But, to quote Polly Adler, America's most famousmadam, `If there were no customers, there would certainly be nowhorehouses.'

The customers orclients, the men who use Call Girl services are reluctant toidentify themselves publicly. So are most of the men in thebackground, the `managers' and the men behind the madams. These mendon't risk identifying themselves, but the Call Girl has no suchrights to anonymity if she is busted.

So who is theCall Girl?

She is ahigh-class prostitute. She may work for an agency or she may workher own telephone. She may even base herself in luxury hotellobbies, restaurants and bars where she gives a percentage of whatshe makes to the hosts, bartenders and others who allow her readyaccess to these places, and therefore clients, without askingquestions.

She has to becompletely self-possessed when she strolls through the lobbies ofthe worlds most renowned hotels. She has an elegant work name thatsuggests class and good taste. She has to be well-informed and makeit her business to read the better weeklies. She knows hergeography and is unlikely to confuse Monaco with Mauritius or theCaribbean with Cuba.

Twenty centuriesago, the Roman writer Ulpianus defined the prostitute as a womanwho openly abandons her body to a number of men, unselectively andfor money. Today, the definition is not very different.

Prostitution issex for sale. It is not given. There is a transaction and the saleof the sex is the primary purpose. There should be no confusionwith the arrangements made between men and women who become theirmistresses or social interactions where sexual favors are given inreturn for career opportunities. The marriage contract is alsoexempt. But it is interesting to note the words of the old marriagevows, where the groom said, `With all my worldly goods I theeendow', and the bride responded, `With my body I thee love.'

In the world ofthe Call Girl, secrecy and discretion are paramount. Her clientsnumber rich and powerful, and often famous men. Her silence is partof the bargain, she is paid well for her silence.

Society is stillsitting in the jury box and the Call Girl remains stigmatized. Buttruth has been obscured by hypocrisy. Throughout history, there hasbeen a desire to repress prostitution and a desire to retain accessto prostitution. This makes for an interesting tension.

What sort ofwomen are Call Girls?