Eyewitness
Secrets of a Hipster Hooker
The author's friends are stylish, well-educated, and professionally successful young women in New York City. They also turn tricks on the side for $2,000 an hour. One day she decided to follow in their footsteps
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This article is from the September issue of Radar Magazine. For a risk-free issue, click here.
(Photo: Jessica Craig-Martin, shot on location at the Beatrice Inn)
Is that a bad thing? I look at Heather, a 28-year-old who has a coveted job in fashion media, in her slinky black dress and silver Cartier bracelet. She looks happy, confident, prosperous. The madam does too. She is in her mid-thirties, tall and lanky. She's wearing black leggings and motorcycle boots and has a vintage Gucci purse looped over her arm. If we met at a party I would peg her as an affluent Ivy League–educated scenester with a media job—and I'd be right. When she isn't hooking up hot young professional women with lonely (or just horny) rich guys, she works as a consultant for a major news organization. And that MBA from a university whose very name makes peoples' hearts beat a little bit faster no doubt comes in handy when trying to determine the maximum hourly market value of a romp in the sack.
I'm too nervous to eat, so I sip coffee while the madam tucks into a platter of mock pork. After a few bites, she asks why I'm so interested in writing about prostitution. My mind races. I could answer with references to anything from feminist theory to Belle de Jour. Or I could talk about the fascinating process of getting to know Heather and hearing the intimate details of her lucrative sidelight: selling sex to wealthy, powerful men. But I don't have a coherent answer, and I let an awkward silence linger at the table. After a while the madam says cryptically, "You've got to be careful."
I stand self-consciously before the madam in my underwear. "You've got a great ass, but your tits are too small, frankly," she observes. Then she adds decisively, "I'm thinking $950 an hour"After dinner she invites me back to her apartment for a drink. Even though I don't have an appetite, a drink sounds like a damn good idea. The madam lives alone near the restaurant in a rundown railroad apartment furnished with contemporary design pieces. There is an open foldout bed in the living room (friends often crash at her place, she explains). As she hands me a glass of wine, I notice her studying me.
"You know," she says lightly, "I could totally send you out on calls. You've got such a unique look. I mean, you're obviously no model, but there's still something totally hot about you." Before I can respond she says, "Take off your clothes." Her tone is calm and authoritative. I must look painfully uncomfortable. "It's not a big deal," she coos, fixing me with a firm stare. I only now realize why Heather is afraid of her: She is one of those people you cannot say no to.
I pull off my sweater, step out of my jeans, and stand self-consciously before her in my underwear. "You've got a great ass, but your tits are too small, frankly," she observes. "I mean, I'm sure you have no trouble getting dates, but the girls will tell you, men love breasts." Then she adds decisively, "I'm thinking $950 an hour." I feel a bit queasy but don't protest. I am curious and honestly flattered that she is recruiting me. The force of her personality and the journalistic mystery of what will come next both act powerfully on my mind, pushing me forward.
I leave her apartment in a daze. I look at my reflection in the storefront windows and wonder, with a private smile, why she held back on that extra 50 bucks that would have pushed me into four figures.
(Photo: Jessica Craig-Martin, shot on location at the Beatrice Inn)
"Rubber" is the one-word response. I generally don't carry them, but in my wallet I happen to have one of the NYC condoms the Department of Health distributes all over the city. When I text the madam back, I know—with a tingle running down my spine—that I am crossing both personal and journalistic boundaries. "I do," I type. Before I know it I'm dashing home to put on some makeup for a two-hour appointment with one of her clients. For the rest of the evening my name will be Violetta.
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(Photo: Jessica Craig-Martin)
As luck would have it, I ran into her again the following night, at the Beatrice Inn, an ultra-exclusive A-list hangout in the West Village that until his death counted Heath Ledger as a regular. Heather and I started talking again, and after a few very expensive drinks she began confiding in me about her secret "freelance" work.
I was fascinated by everything she told me, and not just as an aspiring journalist. At 22 I had no immediate interest in getting married, and all my dates and hookups hadn't amounted to much, except to make my life more stressful. In some weird way, what she did made a lot of sense. Heather, who grew up in New York in a wealthy family, seemed to appreciate my nonjudgmental interest in her sideline, and after a while she introduced me to her two "business partners." She knew Olivia, another homegrown child of privilege, from their days as undergrads at a certain northeastern university. Olivia, who has brown hair and fine features that hint at her Tuscan ancestry, was a women's studies major.
Heather's other partner, a blonde with freckled ivory skin with whom she had some common friends, works under the name Kelly. After graduating from an Ivy League college in 2006, Kelly says she was thinking about going to grad school to become an English professor. She's decided to put that aspiration on hold, though, while she rakes in the equivalent of an investment banker's salary selling sex.
It was Olivia who planted the idea of high-end hooking in Heather's and Kelly's minds. After getting her bachelor's degree in 2004, she decided to take a year off and live in Paris. Shortly after arriving there, Olivia recalls, she met a smart-looking young woman at a wine bar. "Mirabel was stunning in a very casual way," she tells me. "No makeup. Blue eyes."
When Olivia mentioned that she was looking for work and a place to live, Mirabel confided that she had money—and a bedroom—to spare as a result of an arrangement with a wealthy older man. Mirabel even joked about being a "kept woman." Olivia moved in with her new friend a week later and soon realized that it was not just one man; Mirabel was also turning tricks with guys she met casually at bars, restaurants, and museums.
Olivia admits to being a bit taken by the "romance" she saw in her friend's life. "It's not like she was working for a brothel," Olivia says. "She was content, but like me she had flair and enjoyed being around artistic and intellectual men." Olivia soon began following her friend's lead. "In a way it just seemed chivalrous when men would give us money. At the time I never thought of it as prostitution, but I guess I was in denial."
(Photo: Jessica Craig-Martin)
According to Columbia University sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh, who has spent more than a decade studying the field, high-end prostitutes (and there is an important distinction to be made here between those who choose prostitution and those who are forced into it) are emerging as a professional class more analogous to private yoga instructors or personal chefs than old-school streetwalkers. High-end sex workers tend to build long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with clients very much in line with legitimate service industries—despite the fact that the work is illegal and still occasionally dangerous.
There is an element of irony in the fact that the prostitution scandal that forced Eliot Spitzer to resign as governor of New York has given impetus to the debate in this country about whether our current laws against sex work make sense.
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(Photo: Jessica Craig-Martin)
"These sleazy banker types came up to us and asked if they could join our table," Heather recalls. At first she told them to get lost, but she relented after the men ordered a cheese plate and some nice wine. One of the guys took a seat next to Heather and, after some small talk, disclosed that he had just left his wife. "I'm looking to spend my money," he said. He was fiddling with a cash clip stuffed with $100 bills. She accepted his business card and later Googled him. The man turned out to be a honcho at a major investment firm; the New York Times had profiled a charity he had started.
The next morning she called his office. "I got shaky when he answered," she recalls, "but when he figured out it was me, it was better." That night she went to his apartment in Trump Tower. "It was pretty straightforward. He offered me $3,000 to let him fuck me. I almost leaped on him."
Olivia ended up sleeping with another member of the group, and Kelly decided she was game too. Soon the three women were hitting what Heather calls "douchebag spots" in the Meatpacking District—bars and clubs frequented by the kind of guy who's happy to drop a few grand on bottle service. "A lot of rich men approached us, and we thought, Why the fuck not?" Heather says. The women expanded their client base with other, classier men they met at parties, and discreet referrals from existing customers. With new prospects—especially ones they met at bars—they were always careful to get a full name and an occupation and to do some research online. "If they are Googleable, that's always a good sign," Olivia explains. Beyond that, the women generally accept new clients only if the men "feel" right.
The trio's rates start at $800 an hour on slow days and can range as high as $2,000 on busy weekends. With most dates averaging two to five hours—plus sleepovers once or twice a month—Heather and Olivia both estimate they made around $300,000 last year, tax-free. Kelly reports earning $500,000 in six months, in no small part because one client—a young artist who is receiving a lot of favorable attention—gave her a painting that she sold to an art collector friend for a six-figure sum. Olivia, who initially planned to quit after banking $25,000, says she is still in awe of how lucrative sex work can be.
All three women admit that they've worried about getting audited, but Olivia asked a client who was an accountant for advice, and he began doing their taxes. He has tried to keep the IRS at bay, advising the women to keep at least half of their earnings—either in cash or converted into gold bars—stashed away in safes.
Over time their networks of referrals have become somewhat self-reinforcing. These days Heather tends to book with more bankers and Wall Street types, Olivia with a lot of retired hipsters and club owners, and Kelly with men from the art world. During a typical week they each entertain at least three different clients—and sometimes as many as nine. "I don't mind sleeping with two guys in a night," Kelly says. "Just as long as the second client isn't rough with me."
Following that fateful evening at Employees Only, they worked as a collective for three years, sharing their connections and client lists and covering for one another in case of scheduling conflicts. Then, late last year, the madam came into the picture. She was an acquaintance of Heather's from the media party circuit, and over the course of a few conversations the two had become friendly. The madam started asking questions about how Heather afforded her rather swank lifestyle on her modest salary. Heather was truthful with the woman, who in turn revealed her own sideline: She ran a boutique call-girl agency that bore some resemblance to the Emperor's Club VIP that was taken down in the Spitzer scandal. The madam persuaded Heather, Olivia, and Kelly to freelance for her with promises of super-rich clients and more predictable demand for their services. In turn she received a 50 percent commission for every job she booked.
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(Photo: Jessica Craig-Martin)
Olivia recounts the time she was hired by a prominent hedge fund millionaire. "He took out all these large bills and placed them on the bed and said, 'Don't touch.' I was instructed to take my clothes off, everything. No foreplay. So I got on the bed, and he just stood at the edge of the mattress and stared. He told me that all the money was going to be mine by the end of the night. They were all hundreds—maybe 50 of them. Once I got naked, he got on the bed and unzipped his pants and told me to start playing with myself. I kind of just laid there and faked an orgasm. He started jerking off, and he shot all over the money." She smiles and hesitates for a moment before continuing.
"So then he grabs all of it in a bundle and throws it at me! I think he called me a dirty whore. Then he separated every bill and stuck them to my body. After he puts the last one across my mouth he looks at me and goes, 'I told you it would be yours.'" As the client watched, Olivia peeled off the bills and put them in a plastic bag. When she got home she let the money soak in the kitchen sink overnight, blow-dried it, and used it to pay her landlady. "I couldn't keep a straight face," she recalls. But didn't she find the experience upsetting? "You know, it was degrading, for sure. But so was cold-calling," she says, referring to a job she briefly held as a fundraiser for a local political advocacy group.
When I ask Kelly a similar question, she fires back, "How many men have you slept with who have turned out to be assholes? Well, let's say you could get reimbursed for all the time you spent with them. Would you?" But despite Kelly's professed belief that dating is a lot of work that yields little emotional benefit, she has a long-term boyfriend—a musician who is usually home composing on the instrument she bought him last year with money she earned from two nights of work.
"Every artist needs a patron," she laughs. Her boyfriend thinks she's an event planner. "I feel guilty sometimes when I come home and he's asleep and I'm still wired from my night, but I always climb into bed next to him and try to fall asleep. When he wakes up he likes to touch me and make love, and that's when it hits me." She knows she could stop working—she doesn't really need the money anymore—but selling sex seems to have a grip on her. "Maybe it's a power thing. Beyond the money I'm making, it has kind of become an obsession. It's fast and fun. What we do may be illegal, but honestly I don't even worry about that."
Heather estimates that, all told, she has slept with about 20 men who weren't clients and more than 70 who were. The relationships can sometimes be closer with men in the latter group, especially with customers she has seen regularly for two or three years. "Some of my clients think that we are in love. That's fine, and I guess in my own way I love them, too," she says. "These guys are just lonely. And I know it's hard to believe some of the big names we've been with would ever get that way, but believe me, they are. You have to have some sympathy for a man who works so hard to be successful and has no true love in his life. He has to get it by the hour."
She remembers meeting one of her clients, a CFO at a major investment firm, at his Park Avenue apartment building once. "I'm getting fucked and looking at a photograph in a solid gold frame of his young blonde wife and his children. You get over these things, though. Maybe his wife doesn't sleep with him anymore. Maybe he just gets bored. But the bottom line is that it really doesn't matter. It's between us, and he knows that I can be trusted."
Olivia puts it this way: "A man with a ring on his finger will pay me to fuck him like his wife did when they fell in love. They fantasize, and that's healthy." She continues, "You've got to be careful, though. I mean, some girls develop schizophrenia from this work. Remove yourself, but don't fucking lose it. The reality is that there is a high price to pay, even in high-end hooking. I don't have a problem sleeping with men in my personal life, but in the back of my mind I know that I will always think about how much easier it is to get compensated."
For Heather the need to work is almost an addiction. One night last winter I met her for a drink. She hadn't seen a client in two weeks and was a bit of a wreck. Her freelance night job, she admitted, helped her maintain her mental balance. Without it she starts feeling the compulsion to do something stupid and self-destructive (as she phrases it, "get into some shit").
Kelly tells me more or less the same thing one day when we're getting pedicures at a downtown spa. "You know what's fucked up? When I don't work I get really depressed," she says. "And I know that is a sign that the work has an effect on me. I'll be out with my boyfriend, and out of nowhere I begin calculating in my head how much money I could have made if I were on an appointment. But it's not even the money that I miss; it's a closeness that I've developed with some of my clients. We're both hiding a secret about ourselves, and in a very bizarre way that's totally hot."
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(Photo: Jessica Craig-Martin)
Not long afterward I meet Heather for a late dinner at Veselka, an all-night Ukrainian diner in the East Village. Her prediction was correct: In the week after Spitzer's arrest the three women did just fine, collectively grossing $15,000. She spent five hours with a client at the London, Kelly was booked at the St. Regis for three, and Olivia had an hour-long session with a celebrity magician who is one of her regulars.
As we sip our drinks, Heather begins reflecting on the scandal that brought Spitzer down. The only thing she is sure of is that Ashley Dupré never said a word. "Working girls are the only professionals left that you can trust," she says with a touch of bitterness. She is mulling over the idea of quitting her media job and opening a jewelry store. A longtime client gave her his ex-wife's collection of gold Hermès pieces for her birthday last month, and that seems to have sparked a fascination. She also wants to travel around the world, to volunteer at Planned Parenthood, and to develop her own sex-positive program with other women in the industry. "I don't want to encourage young women to become prostitutes," she says. "But they should know that being objectified is not all that bad." (Heather, Kelly, and Olivia are all dues-paying members of the International Sex Worker Foundation for Art, Culture, and Education.)
Kelly, I find out a few days later, has ramped down her work schedule and is taking some classes. "I don't feel as though I am making a conscious decision about leaving the industry," she says. "I just feel like I have the freedom to utilize my time for more than I have been doing. I have no regrets. I'm not damaged. I was never forced into doing this. It's very easy, and that is why it is hard to fathom quitting entirely. It's no big deal either way," she says.
Just a few hours after meeting the madam at the vegan restaurant, I am walking through the lobby of Manhattan's swanky Palace Hotel. I avoid making eye contact with anyone as I head for the elevator. On the ride up I open my handbag for the hundredth time to make sure I've got everything: mace, condoms (I bought more), and lip gloss. The mace is not likely to be required, and the madam would freak if she knew I had it, but I don't care. I get out on the 11th floor, find the room, and knock, my heart beating furiously. A pudgy man with dark hair opens the door wearing a loose hotel bathrobe. "Violetta!" he says, extending his short, bushy arms and putting a hand on each side of my face. He looks at me for a moment, then gives me a kiss on both cheeks. "Come in, bella!"
I see that the covers are pulled back on the bed. A bottle of expensive champagne is nestled on the pillows. The man looks at me expectantly. I think about Kelly and try to imagine myself possessing her nerve and bravery. But it's not there.
"I have to go," I tell him. He looks confused—even a bit hurt. Hoping to change my mind, he hands me an envelope with his cash "gift" inside. It feels gloriously heavy. But I can't take it. I'm not even sure why, but I know I have to leave. I quickly turn and walk out while the john sputters a few words of protest. I switch off my phone, get a cab, go home, and run a bath.
An hour later, when I turn my phone back on, it is flooded with text messages from the madam. Most are blank or contain only a question mark. The portly, hirsute gentleman in the Palace Hotel called her to complain. After a brief, tense conversation, I agree to go to her apartment to discuss things. She is livid and yells at me for a long time.
"You really shot yourself in the foot," she says. "You realize that, don't you? All the girls that work for me are normal. I don't even know you and I can already tell something's not right. Maybe it's that you're just not professional."
Then she informs me that I owe her $2,000. I may have cost her more than that, really, because I probably blew her relationship with a great client, but she definitely wants the two grand. I don't even argue. I give her the $300 in cash that I have on me and walk to an ATM, where I withdraw the maximum of $600. After more browbeating she makes me promise to pay her the rest the next day.
In the morning I roll out of bed, feeling dreadful, and go the nearest Chase branch. I ask the teller for $1,100 in twenties, in accordance with the madam's instructions. Later I hand her the envelope, which she places in her freezer next to a box of Tofutti Cuties. Then she tells me to leave. I am not to contact her again. That will be for the best, I think.
This article is from the September issue of Radar Magazine. For a risk-free issue, click here.
Related: Eyewitness
Posted by: Andrew718 on August 18, 2008 11:58 PM
Very compelling reading. Kudos.
Posted by: Hez on August 19, 2008 3:59 AM
Your writing skills are way better than your interviewing skills. I just heard Channel 5 morning news in LA interviewing you about your article and YOU WERE HORRIBLE! I was uncomfortable watching the puzzled look on the anchors faces while they were trying to understand what you were trying to say. It sounded as if you were high or really distracted. AWFUL.
Posted by: markiela on August 19, 2008 12:29 PM
This was a great piece, somewhat depressing though. The whole scene seems like third wave feminism gone awry- though these women are taking advantage of the patriarchal shit in society, they are also reinforcing some fucked up ideas.
Posted by: kdilkington on August 19, 2008 2:07 PM
Of course she was distracted during the interview....poor thing must have been so embarassed. She had lazily plagiarized an old edition of the Happy Hooker from the 70s.
This silly story was completely implausible....perpetuating the myth of the wealthy, educated, hip yet stable prostitute. Or...the Happy Hooker.
Shame on you, Jessica. If you're going to phone in a story...try to give it at least the RING of truth.
And Radar....nice fact checking....
Violetta....hahahah.
Posted by: Tatiana on August 19, 2008 4:05 PM
I really enjoyed this piece. I would love to read an interview with her, as I'm dying to know more!!!!!!!!
Posted by: maggiepebbles on August 19, 2008 4:12 PM
I really loved this article! I couldn't read it fast enough.
Posted by: italyjo on August 19, 2008 4:41 PM
well-written article. it confirms what i and many others already know about high end prostitution - that it attracts fucked up narcissistic women who over-value money. i wasn't surprized when the author ran away after viewing the ugly john - she's obviously an intelligent , healthy person who just discovered the difference between fantasy and reality. in fantasy, the john is always attractive and the sex hot.
but, i'm not sure why the author was at such pains to pay the madam back? i mean, the latter came off as such a snake. i guess that answers my question.
Posted by: tamsax on August 19, 2008 8:02 PM
Reason 4,000,698, 786 why the upper classes need to be put to the guillotine.
Posted by: FrankBlack on August 19, 2008 10:57 PM
Anyway to get these girls thrown in prison? Now that would be kind of righteous.
Posted by: FrankBlack on August 19, 2008 11:00 PM
Thrown in prison? Yeah right. They're rich, white and female, so they basically "can't" be sent to prison. This is just another typical example of the privileged, spoiled luxury-class brats of the past 10 years being too lazy to work and using shallow, self-absorbed rationalizations to enable douche bag dipshit behavior. They'd never go to jail. The fact that this 22 year old hack ran around trying to imitate them and glorify them is just proof that she's the same as well. I mean really...who gives a flying fuck about "high class call girls"? Life isn't a fucking Showtime sitcom no matter how much these creepy skanks want it to be.
Also, why is it that a lot of these privileged millennial writers never seem to cover real shit? It's always fake-ass, watered down suburban-moved-to-the-big-city type bullshit. Cover something interesting. Or maybe, god forbid, just something that doesn't further empower the spoiled brat behavior of the luxo-class scumbags. Here's a suggestion: write a fucking piece about actual REAL street walkers, (you know, the ones that every single article about "high priced call girls" makes sure to explain are "different" than the ones they're talking about...) and what they have to deal with. Maybe make a difference and draw some awareness to something beyond trendy fucked up little girls wildly stabbing away in the dark, trying to get back at daddy.
That is, of course, if the article is even true. I'm kinda leaning towards what Tatiana said...it doesn't seem to have the ring of truth to it. Maybe I'm wrong though.
Posted by: Stew on August 20, 2008 3:51 AM
What a great work of fiction. I see all the creative writing course paid off.
Posted by: brooklynsteve on August 20, 2008 8:24 AM
I particularly enjoyed the story where the one client pasted money to her with his semen. Personally I would do worse than these disgusting lowlifes.
Posted by: FrankBlack on August 20, 2008 10:40 AM
Can I get a number??? :)
Posted by: RyanTweed on August 20, 2008 2:29 PM
Reminds me of the Sex & the City episode where Carrie accidentally gets paid for banging that businessman... huh.
Maybe the author's been watching a little much of that lately? Heard it before, don't buy it.
Posted by: SuperAdge on August 20, 2008 3:24 PM
Um. This is total fiction. Is Radar so desperate that they needed to run this and so broke that they don't have fact-checkers? This is just pathetic.
Posted by: Bette on August 20, 2008 5:06 PM
Total, total fiction. Is there a verifiable fact in here? And even the made-up stuff is lame. Let me guess, aging punk rock star, non-stage name, wanted to be made to eat dog food.... Ah, yes! James Osterberg/Iggy Pop and "Now I Wanna Be Your Dog" is a true story!!!!! Geezus....
Posted by: Pedro on August 20, 2008 7:04 PM
Damn. I wanted to believe it... I thought it kind of sounded like fun. Of course, I also thought that when I read the Happy Hooker a gazillion years ago.
Posted by: girlyalias99 on August 20, 2008 10:25 PM
Hey...wasn't this just on "Secret Confessions"? This article is compleeeeeete bullshit.
Posted by: JE_in_SJ on August 20, 2008 10:29 PM
Not to be a blowhard (ha!) but I'm an ex-hooker. While some of it rings true, I think the author embellished a bit. It's hard for me to imagine a madam being so glib with a journalist. Most of them are shrewd businesswomen with strong survival instincts, and they would not put their necks out like that.
Many of my former colleagues tell me they get a lot of letters these days from women seeking advice on how to get into the business. I expect it has a great deal to do with articles like this, The Secret Diary of a Call Girl on Showtime, and it's only going to get worse with "GFE" and "Diary of a Manhattan Callgirl" in production. I'm sure much of it is just the fantasy of glamour and easy money, and most will never follow through, but some will.
And I understand the lure, and I understand that for many young women, sex comes without attachments. But sex without attraction, sometimes with portly, hairy dudes who want to paper-fly you with cum-soaked c-notes (or have you watch them eat their shit, or stick cocaine-covered dildos up their asses) is entirely another matter. Can you do that and not bat an eye, not let it get to you? Yes? Then go for it.
Money can buy glamor, but the nature of the work is not always very glamorous. Sometimes it's downright exhausting. And it's really fucking dangerous, especially if you're hooking in the United States, where you have to look over your shoulder constantly for both bad tricks AND cops. That really sucks.
Posted by: breedaniels on August 20, 2008 10:44 PM
I feel like we glamorize prostitution, because it's a really crappy job
Posted by: presswhore on August 21, 2008 2:03 AM
This article makes me want to move to Cuba and live on rations. Just mention of that whole NYC scene tickles the nihilist in me. I'm glad I got the F out of that shallow and over prized tenement.
Posted by: mutale on August 21, 2008 3:20 AM
I'm not terribly suprised many of these girls came from privleged or at least reasonably well-off backgrounds. Having known more than my share of Trust Fund Babies, it's common to find that they have a pretty severe personality defect that makes them only understand worth in terms of dollars -- after all, thats the only way their parents ever expressed affection for them, and the way they defined themselves amongst their peers.
Of course there are exceptions -- Trust Fund Babies who are actually well-developed human beings, and Hookers who are capable of a normal interior life and human interactions. But they're few and far between -- and of the remainder, few are worse than the examples in this article of people who have developed such severe (and painfully obvious) justifications and coping mechanisms.
I haven't met any of these types of girls -- but I've known plenty of guys who escort for wealthy clients, and even though I still count some of them as my friends... I wouldn't trust them further than I could throw them, especially in a relationship. There's some deep hurt (and usually some pretty bad Daddy issues) there usually, under all the "happy hooker" fascade. It either warps them into the most severe of narcissists, or cripples them with the insecurity that no one will ever want them except for their sex, and no one will ever care about them other than the lonely and the desperate.
Posted by: daveny on August 21, 2008 12:17 PM
wow--this is so obviously fiction...and annoying.
Posted by: frenchbelle on August 21, 2008 1:35 PM
not fiction!!! why would ANYONE admit to posing as a call girl? its an honest, brilliant article--love all the juicy quotes. I'm sorry that the author had such a nasty bf, but other than that---more power to her!
Posted by: maggiepebbles on August 21, 2008 2:08 PM
You're a bit silly for paying the madam back. What was she going to do? Call the cops on you? Sue you?
"I don't want to encourage young women to become prostitutes," she says. "But they should know that being objectified is not all that bad."
I found the article interesting, but in the end, your friends are a waste of human life. Dignity is something that others can't take away from us. It is what we take away from ourselves.
Posted by: JustCurious on August 21, 2008 2:19 PM
You dont sound like a bohemian. More like a low grade sceneter. flirting with the sex industry is borish. the french were hipper in the 1700s. the ancient romans were more hip. exploitive scribble is very common. the writing style is the epitome of mediocrity.
Posted by: ginsu on August 21, 2008 2:41 PM
I have to call BULLSHIT on this one. Being as i am a REAL escort there's nothing in the work of fiction that rings true.
I could debunk this whole piece line by line but I'll just give a couple of highlights that screams BULLSHIT to me.
1. No escort making 300,000 a year (which is bullshit in itself) is going to happily give over to some "madam" 150,000 to get them clients they are ALREADY getting. Indies don't go agency, agency girls go INDIE.
2. The "madam" gave you her real name and where she worked and invited you to her home? NOT IN A MILLION YEARS. You wouldn't have all that information on her, they are way to smart for that. Double lives is what sex workers lead. That includes madams, agency owners, pimps as well as Escorts.
There are ridiculous indescrepancies all over this piece, its just another example of glamorizing the sex for money biz for a juicy story. that's what this is just story. Clients are not powerful, rich, young men who just want a little action on the side and love the finer things in life so they pay thousands of dollars a pop for it. Call girls are not all from rich families and have ivy league educations with high powered day jobs . those are the exceptions not the rules. Anyone who really submerged themselves in the Escort world would have that figured out in a heart beat.
This is a HARD job, as one ex-sex worker commented its exhausting. You can make a good living do it but you have to be wired right and it takes a toll and NO ONE i mean NO one does this because they don't have to. every ones reasons are different but no one does this if their isn't a reason deep seated or otherwise for doing it.
Jenny DeMilo (a real escort)
http://jennydemilo.blogspot.com
Posted by: JennyDeMilo on August 21, 2008 3:11 PM
Wow, totally and transparently fake. I know the whole hooker thing is a kinky fantasy for a lot of chicks (a LOT of chicks), but writing a fantasy-based (as opposed to reality-based) article and passing it off as the hip new thing? Good god. Well-written and entertaining, but a tragedy for the vapid girls who seriously think they're going to sell their bodies to rich men for hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Just look at the descriptions of the girls in the article: recently graduated, naive entry-level yuppies who are a little trashy and like to party? You know that any guy making decent cash can take these girls home and humiliate them for free, right? It's called the NYC dating scene.
Posted by: loc on August 21, 2008 6:38 PM
A good piece if it's completely true. Although I would bet that the earning numbers were a bit skewed. I was disappointed about Beatrice being a connector piece. It was a bit unnecessary. Some people like going there and would not like to have to worry about another raid (this time for prostitution). Socialista would have been a better choice. After all, they've already had a Hep C outbreak.
Posted by: golfing on August 21, 2008 8:36 PM
Female misogyny at its worst.
Posted by: nikoluree on August 22, 2008 3:36 AM
How many posters here have enough first hand knowledge of this business that they can say for sure this is fake? Why is it impossible that some women can make several hundred thousand dollars a year, when they can charge $1000 an hour (or more)? Also, every business has good and bad people working in it. Is it hard to believe that a madam could be a poor business person, making bad decisions about revealing information to a journalist?
Posted by: theirspace on August 22, 2008 8:20 AM
Jeny DeMilo- I don't know if you READ the story, but the girls dont work for an agency, so the rates they set are more than you get.
Someone needs to just contact the author, and get her to answer some of these questions.
Posted by: bettylouxo on August 22, 2008 10:50 AM
@BettyLouxo: Yeah I READ it and PIMP, Madam or Agency Its all the same. You work for someone else, they take half or more of your money. I don't work for an agency Betty, I am an Independent GFE escort. I do all the work, i keep all the money. This story is just that... a story. It plays to the fantasy that the main stream wants to believe, all the girls are high dollar hotties commanding thousands of dollars an hour and don't "need" to do this because they come from money, or work a high powered day job or have an Ivy league education. BULLSHIT. :)
@Theirspace that's like asking how can someone who works in a hospital know that ER Is fake. Because we live it and when someone writes about your industry and makes stuff up you know how it really is because you work in it day in and day out.
A madam who supposedly runs girls who make 3000,000+ a year has got to be a little smarter then giving out her real name occupation and where her day job is. Don't forget what happened to Heidi when she started talking to the press thinking that she was invincible. Oh and NO madam has a day job, their phones ring 24/7. Like i said riddled with inconsistency.
here's another fact that could have easily been checked, but obviously wasn't:
The author says "Heather, Kelly, and Olivia are all dues-paying members of the International Sex Worker Foundation for Art, Culture, and Education"
the international Sex Worker Foundation for Art, Culture, and Education is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization. They don't have "due paying members. They take DONATIONS and by the looks of them they need more, they haven't updated their events page since 2006 and haven't had a new newsletter since spring 2006.
i could go on and on and on....
Jenny DeMilo
http://jennydemilo.blogspot.com
Posted by: JennyDeMilo on August 22, 2008 11:51 AM
This article is pure bullshit. Jenny's right. Indies don't go to agencies. And clients don't use their real names. Neither do providers nor their madams. This story's ripped right from the pages of Viva.
Posted by: exJohn on August 22, 2008 6:31 PM
READ THIS
good interview
http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/feature/2008/08/20/hooking/print.html
Posted by: bettylouxo on August 22, 2008 9:34 PM
I like the Salon article. But it's also funny for me to read. I was a 23-year-old attractive female when I had my first major piece published. It was a serious political piece for Salon. Jessica Pilot is looking at a short career if she can only write sensationalistic sex articles that include herself getting involved in the action for dying pubs like Radar.
Posted by: Bette on August 23, 2008 2:08 AM
LOVED the salon piece! Radar PLEASE do a follow up with Ms. Pilot. I respect this girl, and I want to know more about why/how she got involved. Seriously people, WHY ON EARTH would ANYONE IN THEIR RIGHT MINDS fake posing as a hooker. I really enjoyed this piece and will be looking out for her work.
found her myspace.]
myspace.com/pilotious
I want to hear from that dirtbag boyfriend!
Posted by: jonkidd on August 23, 2008 2:59 AM
jeez..im soooo tired of reading all these comments...people stop hating on this girl. shes bold, not a bimbo! man, i contacted her last night, was the most humble, witty chick. Radar obviously hyped up her naivate, which is EXPECTED from a mag like this. I feel bad that she has to deal with all this, but haters will be haters
Posted by: monicamoneyx on August 23, 2008 5:39 PM
jeez..im soooo tired of reading all these comments...people stop hating on this girl. shes bold, not a bimbo! man, i contacted her last night, was the most humble, witty chick. Radar obviously hyped up her naivate, which is EXPECTED from a mag like this. I feel bad that she has to deal with all this, but haters will be haters
Posted by: monicamoneyx on August 23, 2008 5:40 PM
Jenny DeMilo is right....
This girl didn't know if she was a prostitute or not ?
How do you become an educated adult woman journalist who pays her own bills without know whether or not you are a prostitute ? Are we to believe that all women are prostitutes at heart but have just not been offered the opportunity ?
How insulting. Any woman with any sense of self knows at a young age that there are things she is unwilling to do for any amount of money.
Thanks Jessica Pilot for perpetuating the myth that all women are whores.
You must be very proud.
Posted by: Tatiana on August 23, 2008 10:06 PM
monicamoneyx : You must work for Radar.This girl is NOT bold and she IS a bimbo (who uses that word anymore?)!! Even worse, she's a stupid girl who whored herself out to get published. SHAMEFUL! This is right in the same league as Jessica Cutler.
Posted by: Bette on August 24, 2008 1:04 AM
All I have to say is enjoy the LAST issue of Radar, again. This pub is done!!!
Posted by: Bette on August 24, 2008 1:06 AM
wow! so many females angry with Jessica! I don't think she did the piece to get all these people heated. Everyone is entitled to their own belief, and really--there is NO implication that she is in support of prostitution, or encouraging women to do so. Tatiana, why don't you take a step back, and re-read the piece. Kinda rude, woman to woman, if you think about it. IT's interesting that the only journalist so far, that has done an interview (granted, it's only a 5 days) is the editor @ Salon--and it was a damn good one! Of course, I'd love to hear from the girls, but that's just given...
Posted by: kittykat90210 on August 24, 2008 3:28 AM
I didn't think this was a particularly compelling or well-written piece. Could have been, should have been, but wasn't. The writing was particularly flat in spite of the subject matter. I'm in agreement that most of the juicier bits rang false, and the writer's interjection of herself into the story was completely unnecessary and ultimately took away from it. The working girls featured in the story, Heather, Olivia and Kelly, came off as vapid and social-climbing; that'd be fine, if the writer wasn't clearly intending them to come off as sexy, strong and liberated. There could have been so many more interesting angles to take on this subject, but Jessica Pilot opted to fashion the piece after her own laughable (and seemingly embellished) attempt at gonzo. The critics are right--a simpering, name-dropping, self-congratulatory fable about a Carrie Bradshaw wannabe on a short-lived, self-exploitative joyride.
My favorite line: "I don't want to encourage young women to become prostitutes, but they should know that being objectified is not all that bad."
Posted by: CarrieNations on August 24, 2008 12:10 PM
what rot
Posted by: 911truth on August 24, 2008 7:04 PM
The writer makes this sound very glamorous, but I suspect the truth is a little different. Am I crazy here, or wouldn't the story have been more interesting if the author had gone through with her encounter with a client. Then maybe she could write about what it really felt like.
Posted by: Janeair on August 24, 2008 10:39 PM
just becauseit does sound crazy that this goes on--its an important story. that's why she probably wrote it.
Posted by: hollygolightly on August 25, 2008 3:32 AM
Posted by: hollygolightly on August 26, 2008 12:59 AM
First off, loved the piece.
Second, those who are questioning the reporting--listen up
This is REALITY. I work in finance, and plenty of guys I've worked with have spent a shitload of money on hookers.
I respect her, and hope her subjects are safe.
Posted by: steveng on August 27, 2008 12:54 AM
I call BS. If this contrived mess was a lead story, Radar's cover would feature a skinny jeaned Fabio locked in a longing embrace with Ashley Dupree. But seriously, Jessica, good luck with the fiction career!
Posted by: cbucket on August 27, 2008 4:13 PM
CBucket, what are you talking about? Fabio? have you checked out her myspace, man?
damn, you're pretty clueless
yes or no? have you ever paid for sex?
I haven't either, but why question what you have never done?
Posted by: bobbyd on August 27, 2008 11:24 PM
Bobbyd -- I'm clueless? Pick up on the pop culture reference. Think about what Fabio did before his posters were tacked to your bedroom walls. Can't figure it out? Maybe you're too young to know, so I'll give you the clue: he was a cover model for trashy romance novels -- fiction's equivalent to this article.
Oh yeah, to answer your other question: No, I've never paid for sex. It is, however, perfectly acceptable to question the veracity of the writer's reporting when it comes off so contrived.
And no, I sure as hell didn't "check out her myspace, man."
Posted by: cbucket on August 28, 2008 11:27 AM
Can't wait for the HBO documentary, "Hipsters at the Point."
Posted by: mogil on August 28, 2008 12:02 PM
I loved this piece, and I think that most of the readers have a preconceived idea of "high class hookers" because of what they have seen, and read before. The author may have been inspired by all the media hype, but this is a very original report.
Posted by: Monica301 on August 30, 2008 2:04 PM
being a former sex worker, i can tell you- don't believe the hype.
Posted by: pennypaxil on August 30, 2008 8:21 PM
Great story!
Posted by: kasey76 on September 2, 2008 12:24 PM
I find myself upset that you allowed the madam lady to get this kind of power over you in the end. You should not have paid her a dime. You owed her nothing and anything she lost was the result of ill-gotten-gains. What you should have done, rather, was reported her to the IRS so that she and her friends could start paying taxes on their collective millions.
Posted by: obamafan on September 2, 2008 1:09 PM
More power to the girl who has the guts to write such a personal report, and I'm sorry there are those that have to make fun of her choices, instead of taking a step back to acknowledge her integrity
Posted by: bobbyd on September 3, 2008 10:47 PM
"New York Times reporter poses as hooker on Twitter" now THIS guy, made a BIG mistake...., not Ms. P
Posted by: kasey76 on September 4, 2008 9:16 AM
Dear Josef:
Thanks for speaking with me today, I am sorry that you had such problems
with Kaitlyn. Like I said, I have had a similar situation as well.
The girls on my website that are available are:
Amber Easton
Angela Taylor
Jennifer Corbin
Jessica Conseco (Former Wife of Jose Conseco)
Jessica Difeo
Lorrie Stewart
Michelle McCurry
Paula LaRocca
Rhonda Adams
Shauna Sand
Stacy Rogers
Suzanne Stokes
Veronica Becerra
Yvette Lopez
Just to let you know Kaitlyn went on and on about how good looking you were
to a couple of my very close girls and these two girls are dying to work
with you, they are very close to me.
Let me know if there is an interest. I can send them to you in your country
or wait until you are in the US. They both have passports. Also, I have
just acquired Deanna Merryman (Former Playmate and Mystique Model), and
Heidi Mark, you can see her at www.heidimarkland.com, as well as a couple of
others.
Please let me know what we can do.
Tracy
From: "Tracy Reed"
To: "Yousef Al Otaiba"
Subject: Re: Tracy's Girls
Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 22:34:25 -0400
Dear Yousef,
Thanks and I sincerely apologize. We rec over 8 million hits within the
past couple of weeks as Carmella DeCecare made Playmate of the Year. Plus
two of my other girls appeared on the cover of Book of Lingerie and other
Playboy specials.
Sorry, here are the addiional photos of the girls, they are named.
You can go to Stacy Rogers site at www.stacyrogers.com and
www.yvettelopez.com as well I do believe, here are the additional photos.
Sorry and keep trying we are trying to move the website to another server.
Tracy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Yousef Al Otaiba"
To:
Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 2004 8:19 PM
Subject: RE: Tracy's Girls
> Tracy,
>
> I'm having trouble accessing your site for some reason, could you send me
> some pics of the rest of the girls on that list when you get a chance
> please.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Yousef
>
>
> From: "Tracy Reed"
> To:
> Subject: Tracy's Girls
> Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 14:57:56 -0400
>
> Dear Josef:
>
> Thanks for speaking with me today, I am sorry that you had such problems
> with Kaitlyn. Like I said, I have had a similar situation as well.
>
> The girls on my website that are available are:
>
> Amber Easton
> Angela Taylor
> Jennifer Corbin
> Jessica Conseco (Former Wife of Jose Conseco)
> Jessica Difeo
> Lorrie Stewart
> Michelle McCurry
> Paula LaRocca
> Rhonda Adams
> Shauna Sand
> Stacy Rogers
> Suzanne Stokes
> Veronica Becerra
> Yvette Lopez
>
> Just to let you know Kaitlyn went on and on about how good looking you
were
> to a couple of my very close girls and these two girls are dying to work
> with you, they are very close to me.
>
> Let me know if there is an interest. I can send them to you in your
country
> or wait until you are in the US. They both have passports. Also, I have
> just acquired Deanna Merryman (Former Playmate and Mystique Model), and
> Heidi Mark, you can see her at www.heidimarkland.com, as well as a couple
of
> others.
>
> Please let me know what we can do.
From: "Tracy Reed"
To: "Yousef Al Otaiba"
Subject: Re: names
Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2004 22:02:32 -0400
Dear Yousef,
Attached is a letter from Nici, please for my sake keep it confidential, but
I wanted you to see the pressure she is putting on me not to work with you,
I don't understand, she is under the mistaken impression that I am trying to
take her accounts, I never once asked anyone for any numbers, the clients
called me who were dissatisfied of her services and performance.
So, just so you know, can you pass this on to Bella as well as you are good
friends, I like Bella, I feel warmth within her as I do in you. Those
relationships make the best.
Tracy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Yousef Al Otaiba"
To:
Sent: Monday, May 31, 2004 4:39 PM
Subject: Re: names
> Tracy,
>
> Can you please confirm which is the account and which is the routing
> numbers.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Yousef
>
> P.S Kaitllyn's money went out today
>
>
> From: "Tracy Reed"
> To: "Yousef Al Otaiba"
> Subject: Re: names
> Date: Sun, 30 May 2004 12:52:45 -0400
>
> Yousef,
>
> It was so very good to hear from you. And, am excited to work with you
in
> the future. Paula is the first suggestion I would make to you as you like
> Brunettes. Don't forget your wish list.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Yousef Al Otaiba"
> To:
> Sent: Sunday, May 30, 2004 11:23 AM
> Subject: names
>
>
> > Tracy,
> >
> > The names I'm initially interested in are the following:
> >
> > 1. Jennifer Korbin
> > 2. Jessica Difeo
> > 3. Jessica Conseco
> > 4. Paula LaRocca
> > 5. Veronica Becerra
> >
> > These are in no particular order.
> >
> > Have you ever seen Jessica Conseco? The reason I'm asking is that I
> think
> > thats a pretty old picture so I was just wondering if she still looks
> liike
> > that.
> >
> > When you get a chance, send me your accont details and I'll transfer
some
> > money to your account.
> >
> >
> > Yousef
Posted by: leslynan on October 15, 2008 10:32 AM
Yousef Al Otaiba, UAE Ambassador to the US, Ordering High End Hookers
Dear Josef:
Thanks for speaking with me today, I am sorry that you had such problems
with Kaitlyn. Like I said, I have had a similar situation as well.
The girls on my website that are available are:
Amber Easton
Angela Taylor
Jennifer Corbin
Jessica Conseco (Former Wife of Jose Conseco)
Jessica Difeo
Lorrie Stewart
Michelle McCurry
Paula LaRocca
Rhonda Adams
Shauna Sand
Stacy Rogers
Suzanne Stokes
Veronica Becerra
Yvette Lopez
Just to let you know Kaitlyn went on and on about how good looking you were
to a couple of my very close girls and these two girls are dying to work
with you, they are very close to me.
Let me know if there is an interest. I can send them to you in your country
or wait until you are in the US. They both have passports. Also, I have
just acquired Deanna Merryman (Former Playmate and Mystique Model), and
Heidi Mark, you can see her at www.heidimarkland.com, as well as a couple of
others.
Please let me know what we can do.
Tracy
From: "Tracy Reed"
To: "Yousef Al Otaiba"
Subject: Re: Tracy's Girls
Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 22:34:25 -0400
Dear Yousef,
Thanks and I sincerely apologize. We rec over 8 million hits within the
past couple of weeks as Carmella DeCecare made Playmate of the Year. Plus
two of my other girls appeared on the cover of Book of Lingerie and other
Playboy specials.
Sorry, here are the addiional photos of the girls, they are named.
You can go to Stacy Rogers site at www.stacyrogers.com and
www.yvettelopez.com as well I do believe, here are the additional photos.
Sorry and keep trying we are trying to move the website to another server.
Tracy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Yousef Al Otaiba"
To:
Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 2004 8:19 PM
Subject: RE: Tracy's Girls
> Tracy,
>
> I'm having trouble accessing your site for some reason, could you send me
> some pics of the rest of the girls on that list when you get a chance
> please.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Yousef
>
>
> From: "Tracy Reed"
> To:
> Subject: Tracy's Girls
> Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 14:57:56 -0400
>
> Dear Josef:
>
> Thanks for speaking with me today, I am sorry that you had such problems
> with Kaitlyn. Like I said, I have had a similar situation as well.
>
> The girls on my website that are available are:
>
> Amber Easton
> Angela Taylor
> Jennifer Corbin
> Jessica Conseco (Former Wife of Jose Conseco)
> Jessica Difeo
> Lorrie Stewart
> Michelle McCurry
> Paula LaRocca
> Rhonda Adams
> Shauna Sand
> Stacy Rogers
> Suzanne Stokes
> Veronica Becerra
> Yvette Lopez
>
> Just to let you know Kaitlyn went on and on about how good looking you
were
> to a couple of my very close girls and these two girls are dying to work
> with you, they are very close to me.
>
> Let me know if there is an interest. I can send them to you in your
country
> or wait until you are in the US. They both have passports. Also, I have
> just acquired Deanna Merryman (Former Playmate and Mystique Model), and
> Heidi Mark, you can see her at www.heidimarkland.com, as well as a couple
of
> others.
>
> Please let me know what we can do.
From: "Tracy Reed"
To: "Yousef Al Otaiba"
Subject: Re: names
Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2004 22:02:32 -0400
Dear Yousef,
Attached is a letter from Nici, please for my sake keep it confidential, but
I wanted you to see the pressure she is putting on me not to work with you,
I don't understand, she is under the mistaken impression that I am trying to
take her accounts, I never once asked anyone for any numbers, the clients
called me who were dissatisfied of her services and performance.
So, just so you know, can you pass this on to Bella as well as you are good
friends, I like Bella, I feel warmth within her as I do in you. Those
relationships make the best.
Tracy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Yousef Al Otaiba"
To:
Sent: Monday, May 31, 2004 4:39 PM
Subject: Re: names
> Tracy,
>
> Can you please confirm which is the account and which is the routing
> numbers.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Yousef
>
> P.S Kaitllyn's money went out today
>
>
> From: "Tracy Reed"
> To: "Yousef Al Otaiba"
> Subject: Re: names
> Date: Sun, 30 May 2004 12:52:45 -0400
>
> Yousef,
>
> It was so very good to hear from you. And, am excited to work with you
in
> the future. Paula is the first suggestion I would make to you as you like
> Brunettes. Don't forget your wish list.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Yousef Al Otaiba"
> To:
> Sent: Sunday, May 30, 2004 11:23 AM
> Subject: names
>
>
> > Tracy,
> >
> > The names I'm initially interested in are the following:
> >
> > 1. Jennifer Korbin
> > 2. Jessica Difeo
> > 3. Jessica Conseco
> > 4. Paula LaRocca
> > 5. Veronica Becerra
> >
> > These are in no particular order.
> >
> > Have you ever seen Jessica Conseco? The reason I'm asking is that I
> think
> > thats a pretty old picture so I was just wondering if she still looks
> liike
> > that.
> >
> > When you get a chance, send me your accont details and I'll transfer
some
> > money to your account.
> >
> >
> > Yousef
Posted by: leslynan on October 15, 2008 10:37 AM
great piece.
major props to Ms. Pilot