Posted on by Miss Brook$

jerked around

In January, I attended a party for $pread Magazine thrown by SWOP-USA. Overall, everyone was very nice. It was beyond disappointing to discover that my $2 bill article was not in the current issue (it was slated for the following issue, but I didn’t know it at the time).

What’s worse is that I talked, at length, to a guy who ran a bookstore and invited me to do a reading. We verbally planned the event. It was a done deal. I was very excited.

When I contacted him two days later, there was no mention of doing a reading for his store. He simply forwarded my information to another sex worker activitst in town. That’s it.

In that respect, the interaction was much like any client/provider social. The men want your undivided attention but never follow up. I should’ve seen this one coming a mile away.

Posted on by Miss Brook$

medicinal sex (work)

I’ve become addicted to the show Weeds. In one episode the main character visits a medicinal-marijuana dispensary. It was quite amazing. I haven’t even seen a place like this in Amsterdam. Out of curiosity, I looked online for more info. Turns out these places are quite real and very legal in California (legal in the state – not impervious to federal investigation and arrest).

Almost immediately, I could see where sex work activists are getting it wrong. Forget trying to legalize or decriminalize sex work on a broad scale. Instead, they should be trying to get sex work the same medical dispensation as marijuana.

Why?

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Posted on by Miss Brook$

pet peeve questions

When I started stripping, it took only a couple months before I had my #1 pet peeve question. When I started escorting, it took only a couple months before I had my #1 pet peeve question.

I’ve been doing this writing/publishing thing for over a year, but now that I’m regularly contacting other people and trying to “network,” I’ve realized I have a #1 pet peeve question for both men and women in this business. Didn’t think it would happen, but it did.

Strangely, all the questions are related.

Stripping: So what’s your real name?
Escorting: What turns you on?
Writing/Publishing (men): Are those pictures really you?
Writing/Publishing (women): Can I get a [free] copy?

I have to decide how to answer.

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Posted on by Miss Brook$

strip clubs and the $2 bill

There are 2,762 strip clubs in the US (my informal tally from TUSCL.com). Enough money flows through these clubs that the Federal Reserve has taken notice. Not because of anything illegal, but because strip clubs nationwide have started using $2 bills. According to this article on CNN Money, depository institutions ordered $122 million in $2 bills in 2005 alone. That’s more than double the average yearly amount ordered from 1991-2000.

Strip clubs aren’t responsible for all the $2 bill usage, but they’re responsible for a large portion of it. Anyone who’s visited the Baby Dolls clubs in the DFW metroplex knows that giving change in $2 bills is a tradition. It’s fairly well-known in Dallas that if you have a pocketful of $2 bills, then you were in Baby Dolls. Of course, this reputation impels men to rid themselves of the pesky bills before they leave the club, which makes life a little better for the workers in the club.

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Posted on by Miss Brook$

glamour magazine and HIV/AIDS

There is a chilling article in the December 2006 issue of Glamour magazine. It’s worth picking up off a newsstand and flipping to page 168.

The article is a profile of three women who are ‘living’ with AIDS. I found their stories very interesting, especially in light of the conversation I had with Bob on this prostitution post.

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