I needed money – so I became a prostitute

Claire is reluctant to speak about her family life but mentions an abusive father and a distant mother. She had left the family home at the age of 16 and at the age of 24 decided to step into a whole new world by packing up and moving to Bournemouth.

It was a big step for the couple who had only been together for 8 months – her boyfriend, Jake, left her after just two weeks in England, taking all her money with him.

In the two years that followed, Claire fell into a life of prostitution. This is her story.

We were young and in love. We wanted to see the world together – at least that was the plan.  I was so angry when he left, I couldn’t believe that he would just leave without saying a word and leave me so stranded. He hadn’t shown any signs of being unhappy and to this day I have no idea what made him do it.

I had no money but found work in a bar quite quickly – I didn’t have time to dwell on being left. I focussed on getting by and making sure I had money to eat. I began drinking a lot and sleeping with anyone who showed the slightest interest in me, life wasn’t bad but looking back I was obviously depressed. I’ve always had a high sex drive and would go a little crazy if I didn’t have sex at least 4 times a week. Needing sex and money I decided to try and have sex for money.

I had to be quiet about what I was doing, I didn’t want the people I worked with knowing – I thought I’d lose my job.

It wasn’t a quick move into prostitution. It took me around 3 weeks to find a man who would pay. The biggest problem was I simply didn’t know what I was doing: the kind of man to approach, how to approach them, what to charge or if I should get into their car, take them home or go to a hotel? I just assumed men would be throwing their money at me straight away, that it would be easy. I was very naive and ignorant to the realities of being a prostitute.

I eventually found clients who were willing to pay – this came after lots of internet research and discovering communities of ‘Doggers’, people who like to meet others for sex in public. The first few times I had sex for money it just felt like a normal hookup – except they paid.

My Charges: Handjob £20. Oral with condom £30. Oral without condom £50. Sex with condom £100. Sex without condom £150. Anal with condom £250. Anal without condom £400.

I would work in the bar a few hours a day and then I would go looking for clients. It became a routine and I’d saw between 10 and 15 men a week – this was after 8 months. and I built up some regular clients, probably 70% of the men I saw were repeat customers. I think they enjoyed the familiarity and grew more comfortable with me the more we met. I had a mix of clients: some older probably around 50. Usually they were in town for business and would show up in a suit with a briefcase – some wore wedding rings but I never talked personally with a client. It was just sex and money for me – I wasn’t dating them.

I was quite happy with what I was doing. The only times I got nervous was around new customers – I wasn’t in to anything kinky so I would say no to them – some men don’t like rejection, especially from a whore. It was rare but occasionally a new client would over step the boundaries and would get aggressive. I was only hit once but it left me terrified and I stopped working for a month.

After I returned to work I was more careful in choosing my new clients. I couldn’t just not have new clients I still needed them because my regulars weren’t always in town and I still needed to pay the bills.

I’d take clients to where they were staying – but more than once I would have to be snuck in to their rooms. Most hotels won’t look twice at a man bringing a woman back to his room but they soon get suspicious if you keep going to the same hotel night after night with different men.

I worked for close to two years and stopped in 2011. The police were becoming a problem and had scared away lots of clients so it was harder to make a good living. It was easy to leave that life behind but it was a lot harder for me to stop drinking. I received help from  Bournemouth Alcohol and Drug User Forum to stop drinking and it’s something that remains a daily struggle.

My life is good now. I have a steady office job and I’m in a happy relationship, it’s quite new and he doesn’t know about my past – I don’t know if I will tell him.

Once I had decided to leave the trade I found plenty of help when I went looking for it but there needs to be a more done to approach women on the streets. You don’t speak with the other women but you get to know who’s on what and where they tend to work from. A lot are on heavy drugs and the pimps control them – these girls don’t have the strength to go for help, they need it to come to them.

I strongly believe that prostitution needs to be legalized, not in a free for all way that makes people think there will be 30 prostitutes on every street, no, in a controlled way. I like the idea of having a safe area that has security – where the pimps are gone and the women are their own bosses. Help them off drugs and have regular health checks. Most don’t want to be in this industry – but it can be a last resort and they need help.

I don’t trust any council to be able to enforce it and keep the women safe. Politicians don’t understand the women’s situations and the issues they have to deal with.

 

As told to James Nunns in Bournemouth. The interviewee has been granted anonymity, and the interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

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