Questions are never indiscreet, answers sometimes are. – Oscar Wilde
In the commentary on my column of November 15th, regular reader Susan asked: Maggie, perhaps you would like to do a science fiction anthology with sex work as a subject which we can all contribute? Well, I just thought that was a smashing idea so I volunteered to tackle the editing if we can get enough submissions. Regular reader Sailor Barsoom was kind enough to send me information on publishing via Kindle, which turns out to be spectacularly easy so I think I’m officially ready to accept submissions now.
Stories can be either science fiction, fantasy or horror but one of the main characters must be a sex worker, preferably in a positive role; I am only accepting short stories, so submissions must not be longer than 7000 words. Please copyright anything you send me by putting the date and your name at the end of the text document (I prefer Word format but can convert if necessary) and email them to me at maggiemcneill@earthlink.net with the word “anthology” in the subject line. You may make as many submissions as you like. Of the purchase price for each book, Amazon keeps 30% and I plan to donate 20% to SWOP or Desiree Alliance (maybe 10% to each). I will keep 5% as my editorial fee, and the remaining 45% will be divided equally among the published stories (one share per story) regardless of length; I don’t want authors padding their stories just to inflate their word count, and this way each story will be as long or as short as it needs to be. If you have any questions or suggestions, please use the same “anthology” subject line. Don’t be shy, y’all; if you have a good idea but feel your ability to express it lacks finesse just write it up and your editor will happily assist you in polishing it.
So if the average age at which a woman enters prostitution isn’t really 13, what age is it?
An anomaly on several levels.
Good question! A friend of mine who is still a working escort recently conducted a poll of 100 escorts who frequent a message board of which she is a member. She asked at what age they started the trade, and her results were as follows:
Younger than 15: 3%
15-17: 11%
18-20: 13%
21-23: 18%
24-26: 16%
27-29: 10%
30-32: 10%
Older than 32: 19%
She polled the “older than 32” respondents separately and the average age for that category was 42; she estimated the average for the “under 15” category at 13. Given these figures, the average age of entry into prostitution for American escorts is 26.46.
It’s difficult to know what percentage of all American prostitutes are escorts, but I would suspect 60% is a good guesstimate; with our standard 15% streetwalker estimate that would allow 25% in brothels and massage parlors. Estimating the average age of streetwalkers is tricky; I’m going to be really generous and pretend that HALF of all streetwalkers are underage. Now, by all reasonable estimates that’s much higher than the reality but I want to err on the side of caution. Let’s presume adult streetwalkers enter at roughly the same times as escorts (average 26); what’s the average for underage girls? Well, guess what; it still isn’t 13 even for them. As explained in this analysis, it’s about 16. If we average the two figures (26 for adult streetwalkers and 16 for underage) we arrive at an average streetwalker entry age of 21, a far cry from 13 even allowing HALF of streetwalkers are underage! We have no stats on brothel or massage girls, so again I’m going to be incredibly generous to the liars and fanatics and estimate that the average for that group is the same as among streetwalkers, namely 21. So let’s crunch the numbers: if 60% start at an average age of 26 and 40% at an average age of 21, the average age at which American hookers enter the profession is 24, which I think everyone can agree is safely into the adult range.
I’m a nurse, and most of the women patients I’ve dealt with in the past who have had anal forced on them stated they couldn’t help but scream when it was happening to them. Some passed out from the experience and woke up after the fact. Yet neither time you were raped did you do either. How were you able to get through that?
Well, there’s a vast degree of difference between a hooker who is not remotely an anal virgin and an amateur who fights such an assault rather than bending with it like a willow. To use an analogy a male might appreciate, your patients stood still and tried to resist punches in the jaw by brute force rather than rolling with them. Also, some people scream as a reaction to shock; I tend to react with a sharp intake of breath instead. With all due respect to those ladies, passing out during a violent assault, especially a sexual one, is a good way to get yourself killed. In my humble (and experienced) opinion, fighting a rape is a good strategy only until actual penetration has been accomplished; at that point it’s best to relax as best one can so as to minimize physical injury and to keep as calm as possible during the ordeal so as to be able to think clearly to plan one’s survival and/or escape strategies. Unless one is in a place where screaming may bring help, I would avoid it because it may anger the rapist and make him even more violent; rape is bad enough without being beaten or strangled as well.
During an encounter I’m sure sooner or later the condom broke during vigorous thrusting, did some clients “finish” inside you? If so what did you do about it?
Yes, that happened twice in my career. Since I had a hysterectomy at 28 I had no fear of pregnancy, but obviously any working girl who is still fertile should be on the pill just in case something like that does happen. Smart hookers don’t rely entirely on condoms for disease prevention, either; the condom is just the “safety net” if something slips through the other two layers of defense, which are 1) catering to a clientele who tend to be clean in the first place, and 2) careful visual checking as I’ve talked about before. One of my two breakages was with a regular whom I believe saw me exclusively; he was more worried than I was afterward! The other was just a typical call. In both cases I douched like crazy with a strong vinegar solution as soon as I got home and then went to my gynecologist for testing; neither accident resulted in any problem.
I was reading in your blog recently that you really don’t desire to sleep with other men? Doesn’t monogamy get kinda old for a sexually liberated woman like yourself?
Nope. As I said in my column of September 22nd, “my sexuality is almost entirely receptive; though I have no aversion to sex whatsoever, it’s pretty rare that I actually crave it. In other words, if nobody propositions me I just tend to cruise along, not really thinking about sex or wanting it, yet if someone I find attractive or interesting or nice or generous approaches me for sex I tend to get interested quite easily unless there’s some reason I shouldn’t (in which case I can resist just as easily). You might say my ‘on’ switch isn’t hard to find; it just isn’t equipped with an automatic setting.” Obviously, cheating on a husband one loves is an act of epic stupidity, so I never allow the switch to go on with any man but him; besides, I’ve had enough stranger-sex for several lifetimes. I must admit that I’m sometimes attracted to a pretty girl, but since my husband says that’s OK I make no effort to resist it when it happens.
