I’ll be in San Francisco the last week of January (have a book-reading on 1/30!) and in Dallas at the beginning of February. Yes, I’m open to seeing clients established between 2002-04 and there are a few people I want to meet for coffee and a real-live chat. Not everyone though. I’m going to Dallas for personal reasons and won’t have a whole lot of spare time. (Yes, there is a reason I’m not publicly posting specific dates but I’m happy to tell you privately.)
Just FYI.
This is a toss-off post, really. But should be amusing.
In Dallas, when I was ready for things to move from talking to action, I’d say (like many escorts) “Would you like to get comfortable?†One day a client sitting on the couch in my incall said in perfect sincerity and innocence “I already am, thank you.â€
I took his hand to lead him where I wanted him to go. And I stopped asking the question.
More recently, a client in Vegas, new to gambling, told me that he’d played Russian Roulette but didn’t like it because he kept losing.
The roulette played on the main floor of Vegas casinos is not Russian, no matter how painful it is to lose.
Reading news about the presidential-pardon applications crossing Bush’s desk (he does not seem inclined to make many pardons right now), one caught my attention. It seems John Walker Lindh, who was picked up a few years ago fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan, wants a pardon. He’s serving a 20yr prison sentence.
Deborah Jeane Palfrey (aka The DC Madam), was facing a possible maximum sentence of 55 years when she was killed/committed suicide (take your pick). She, of course, ran an escort agency/fantasy-sex service/prostitution ring (take your pick). Article-writers covering the story said she realistically faced anywhere between 4-15 years in prison.
All this over $2 million in income she paid taxes on, with a stable of consensual employees and a very consenting clientele.
And Lindh wants a pardon because his prison sentence is obviously a bit much for him. Perhaps he feels like the victim of a miscarriage of justice.
An article about Michelle Obama as First Lady reminds me of a lot of issues around sex work. The writer (Allison Samuels) points out that public perception of black women are limited to: sassy single mothers, crack whores or victims of AIDS by thoughtless partners. Samuels can’t find portrayals of the very normal black women she knows: college-educated, in stable relationships, non-sassy. Until Michelle.
And I have no doubt that reactions to this article will include cries that Michelle Obama is a “privileged†black woman and does not represent the a majority experience (of course she can’t represent everyone – she is only one person with one life).
Sounds like sex work to me.
The CNBC show has ruffled feathers for various reasons, one of which is the expected sighs over its portrayal of a small segment of the industry. While high-end escorts are indeed a small percentage of sex work, so are street-based workers – who are often used to make sweeping statements about all sex work. The truth is the silent majority of sex workers fall in the middle.
That’s what average is.
I have hopes the show will start a needed dialogue about the spectrum of sex work, as well as change some perceptions. Samuels hopes Michelle can help change perceptions of the modern black woman by starting a dialogue.
There is needed change in the air. I have optimism.
In dealing with some recent issues of my own, a wise friend told me that change — no matter how positive or needed — is difficult and painful. We may not always see the process of change as something good or something we want. We can only focus on the end result of the process.
If Michelle Obama helps the country realize black woman are not caricatures, that’s a step forward. If the show helps the public realize there is a broad range to sex work, that’s a step forward to a realistic view of sex work, opening the possibility to realistic solutions to problems that need to be fixed.
I hope.
Filmed in July, I almost forgot that it was real. But I’m going to be in a CNBC documentary on high-end prostitution. Sometimes I’m excited about it, sometimes not.
It airs tonight at 10pm. I don’t even watch TV and don’t have cable (I was given a TV, but my DVD player is still in storage in another state).
And it seems that the blog post I wrote about “Amanda Brooks” was prescient (thanks to a friend for the link).
FYI: The show will re-air a few more times over the month of November. Go to its web page for the schedule (link above).