My new girlfriend was a hooker. That was not something I took lightly despite the speed with which I fell into bed with her. I felt sorry for her. I assumed that if she had the benefit of a college diploma as I did, she wouldn't have to degrade herself that way for money. Still, she came into my life right when I was exploring job alternatives to my former desk job in the computer industry. I had taken off my shirt to model topless. But that was different than actually having sex for money. Truth be told, I HAD been paid for sex before too. But I never considered it a viable career choice. It was just for fun on a dare or so I could say I had tried it.
The first time I received money for sex, I was twenty-one and visiting an older boyfriend in Reno. We had an extremely open relationship, so when he invited me to stay with him during my Christmas break from Oregon State University, I flew to Reno to kick up my heels. I quickly found a sweet young boy (a couple years older than I but younger than the men I usually dated) to pal around with.
Of course I had sex with my older boyfriend as well as this new guy, just on different nights.
My older boyfriend had at least one date the week I was staying with him too. One night I was drinking at the casino bar my older boyfriend worked at. He motioned me close to him for a whispered conversation and handed me the key to his apartment. He pointed to a short, fat even older man sitting across from me at the same bar. If I took him back to the apartment, he would pay me $50. The year was 1981 and $50 went a lot farther than it does today. Even so those were not high-class rates, but then what did I know as a college kid? I was intrigued and like most college kids from poor families, broke. I grabbed the key to the apartment and sidled up next to the bloated guy in the suit. When we got to the apartment, he handed me a $50 bill and then asked for a blowjob. At 21, I didn't have any experience raising the dead, so it was a lost cause. The now grumpy guy mumbled something about a refund but I did have the good sense to refuse that. I sent him out the door frustrated and angry and the next day, I bought a new pair of shoes with the money.
End of experience. I never thought about it as a career choice for god's sake. I was going to college for a career. In 1982, I graduated with honors. No one warned me that a Bachelor of Science in Psychology only translated to an extra $2000 annually at a low-level desk job. After seven years of attempting to work my way up the company ladder in several different computer companies, I was a little more than frustrated and disillusioned. As I embarked on my search for a new career in 1989, I considered the life of a sex worker. I was becoming very familiar with their world. My boyfriend of a year was a male stripper and now I was dating a female prostitute. It was a very personal and erotic education for me.
The problem I had with prostitution was that it conflicted with my feminist politics.
Somehow stripping didn't offend me of and by itself, although I couldn't stand the dark and dismal atmosphere of most men's clubs. But actually having sex with someone for money seemed very degrading to me. My feminism told me that it was a way of buying into and promoting the oppression of women. Men came to prostitutes for the type of sex they couldn't get at home. The prostitute was nothing more than a collection of orifices.
But my new girlfriend defied all the stereotypes about prostitutes. She was older (in her late 30's). She had a husband and children. She owned a house and drove an expensive car. She was the picture of health, working out in the gym every day and pampering her body with massages, pedicures, manicures, etc. She was totally in charge of her day to day life and didn't even take any shit from her clients. In the final analysis, I had to admit that she was living the empowered life my feminist friends and I only talked about.
Somehow, I took the leap. I asked her to train me. At first she was reluctant but eventually she relented. I learned from her that the prostitute is anything but a collection of orifices.
Girlfriends and wives are more likely to wind up in that role than a pro. I started out by doing "doubles" with her on an incall basis. Working along side her (and sometimes on top of her and under her), I became educated and experienced in everything from sexy ways to put on a condom to the best way to perform a blowjob (no problem raising the dead now). To my surprise the clients were NOT demanding jerks. Most of them were sweet, shy guys who were terribly grateful to be getting any kind of sexual attention at all. My girlfriend and I orchestrated the sessions and the clients laid back and enjoyed the ride!
My first experiences as a prostitute were not entirely problem free. As in anything there is a learning curve and consequently I had to learn from my mistakes too. I wore braces at the time and my enthusiastic blowjobs occasionally resulted in a rip in the condom. I usually spotted these and quickly replaced the condom with a new one. However, early in my new career, I must have let a rip get by me because the condom broke during intercourse and the guy came inside of me. I was mortified. My girlfriend was there as usual and I took it out on her. I have no recollection of how I treated the client. He must have been mortified too. I certainly did my best to make a scene and I'd like to think I saved the screaming and sobbing for after he left but I can't remember for sure. I didn't have a similar accident until years later and in the ten years I worked as a prostitute, the condom only broke twice (knock on wood of course). Anyway I was much more calm and civil the second time. I wasn't using birth control in addition to the condom so my client called a month later to make sure I had gotten my period. I still smile when I think of him. It was incidents like that and others that eventually reshaped my negative attitudes towards clients and men in general.
In fact, my negative attitudes toward life, men, sex and myself were eventually replaced with positive thinking the more I explored prostitution. In 1990, I started taking classes in Sacred Prostitution from Cosi Fabian in San Francisco. She taught her students about the ancient prostitutes and transpersonal love. Her students were not necessarily prostitutes and she wasn't teaching them how to turn tricks. She taught something much deeper: sex is a healing force and pussy is sacred. This kind of information flew in the face of my conservative upbringing and society in general. But it resonated within me. I became interested in ancient goddess cultures, most of which had a very positive outlook on sex and coincidentally women. I flew to England and instead of racing to London like most tourists, I traveled the countryside with my female travelmates looking for ancient sacred sites such as the stones of Avebury, Chalice Well and the Tor.
I would soon experience my body and my pussy, in particular, in a completely new way.
Veronica Monet The Truth is Always Better Copyright August 2001
VERONICA MONET, INTERNATIONAL ESCORT AND TELEVISION PERSONALITY
Veronica Monet is a former prostitute and is now an escort.
Profiled in many magazines including The New York Times, Playboy, Allure and Glamour, Veronica Monet's television credits include CNN, A&E's Love Chronicles, ABC's 20/20, Bill Maher's Politically Incorrect and The Playboy Channel. She's a college grad with writing credits in four books including one college textbook and she is required reading for several college courses.
She lectures and teaches workshops on sexuality and gender at a variety of venues. You can reach her at [email protected] or through her web site at www.veronicamonet.com where you can find a complete vitae as well as a multitude of sexy photos.
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