This article documents prostitution from the perspective of a group of Filipino sex workers down under. We delve behind the scenes to shed light on the very hidden and mysterious world of Filipino sex workers, their customers, and the niche they inhabit in contemporary Australian society. Through numerous interviews with five Filipino sex workers (Tracy, Viviane, Samantha, Chelsea and Laura), we also examine the relationship between the image men display in the outside and the lengths to which they would go to in order to meet their most private and intimate needs.
Tracy
It all started on my frustration to find a job after I finished a course in fashion design. My pay as a casual worker didn’t really help much to pay my numerous bills, I had to find a way to survive and I ended up as a sex worker. It was extremely hard at first but after a few months of doing it, somehow I began to like it. I now do it for work and pleasure at the same time, although this job is kind of risky, it pays really well so I guess it’s worth the risk for me. We fulfil people’s wildest fantasies; we can be a friend, a lover or even a toy …. All for the right price! Sometimes I get into a lot of trouble because of my job. One of my clients saved our exchange of text messages in his phone and he ended up getting busted by his partner. I then received threats and abusive calls the next day; this went on for almost a month so I decided to ditch my old number. Strangely enough, one of my long-time customers booked an appointment with me one time just to tell me how happy he was because he’s back to being single again after his wife divorced him when she saw me and my client checking in to a motel in the city. I don’t actually intend to be a home-wrecker, it just happens that way sometimes.
The downside:
I’m actually a transsexual; I require a lot of maintenance so I have to charge more than real girls. Lately I have been fighting with some friends because their clients are switching to my service, perhaps they get more satisfied with me, and I don’t really care because I am running a business. I have to sacrifice friendship to get more money. I don’t even know who my real friends are now because I feel that everybody is just spying on each other. I’m quite paranoid now; I don’t trust anyone in this business.
Viviane
To get the ball rolling I had to take a few courses in massage then I started my business by advertising in the adult section of some local newspaper. Ninety percent of the inquiries I received were asking for a ‘happy ending’ so I studied some additional courses in tantric massage to help me earn more. I usually charge $250 for an hour service which is more than enough for most of my clients as most of them don’t even last for an hour. My ‘magical tantric touches’ (I call this ‘prostate milking’ in my advertisements) is what keeps my customers coming back for more. My tantric touch usually satisfies my customers so quickly that I end up doubling my income.
The downside:
When guys hear or read about “prostate milking” they get really curious and they want to try it. Most of the time I get anonymous calls just inquiring about it, most of my clients now are actually repeat clients. The thing is, their once a month visit can become twice or thrice a month visit or even more. They get addicted to the service. I was once even forced to charge just $50 to a client because he was spending his weekly pay to get the service and he is a single parent with 3 kids. I thought the kids deserve to benefit from his pay more than I should! It is hard on my part because I am running a business not a charity but my conscience tells me to be understanding as well.
Samantha
I won’t actually be able to maintain my $10k -15k/week earning if I do what Viviane does. Ten minutes per customer is all the time I usually need to give my customers that ‘happy ending.’ A whole night with me usually costs my clients around $1,500 to $3,000 and that’s actually a bargain! Through all these years of working as a pleasure giver, I’ve discovered how to break people’s inhibitions and tickle their fantasies. I’ve discovered that every man has a particular soft spot; sometimes even just sitting on their lap face to face with my breast close to their chest gets them uncontrollably excited! Strangely enough,not all of my clients are actually looking for sexual encounters though, some just want to talk. Sometimes I wonder why they don’t go to a shrink to discuss their issues, instead, they prefer talking to me. Some of my clients would talk for more than 2 hours about their girlfriends or wives in some instances, I’m just here to listen to them – I just let them talk and vent out while I do my nails or fix my hair. There are some instances where I would go shopping with some of my clients so that they can buy their favourite lingerie, ironically the lingerie is not for me but actually for THEM! Seriously, some people just have bizarre fantasies!
The downside:
In this line of business you have to work double time to maintain your target cash every week. I don’t get to choose my client; I welcome anybody who has cash. Old, fat, ugly guys seem to have the big cash to pay for my services; good looking guys don’t pay much so I seldom go with them. This business is very risky. STD is very easy to catch and a condom is actually not enough to protect yourself most of the time. I have to constantly get a sexual health check to make sure that I am clean and disease-free. I got into trouble one time when one of my clients came back to me and blamed me because he got his wife infected with STD after having sex with me! Most common STD’s are easy to get rid of but the treatment for Syphilis hurts a lot. I had it twice last year and believe me; the penicillin injections gave me a harsh horse kick in the backside! Even if I’m really careful, I can still easily catch a disease from someone.
Laura
I used to work as a hairdresser; I had an unemployed boyfriend who used to always come home drunk every night and would demand that I make love with him 5 times a night! Of course I ditched that loser and I now operate in Canberra where my typical clients usually come in suits. With this job, privacy is extremely important. I’ve seen some of my customers in TV but I just pretend that they are total strangers and that I don’t recognise them. This may sound shocking but a number of my clients are actually some of the most recognisable footy players in Australia! These guys usually wants to get dominated, violated, physically hurt and to some extent – even humiliated! My goodness, thousands of people would be shocked if they only knew that some of these brawny footy players are in fact emotionally weak in the inside which is contrary to the image that they display in public. Knowing that some of my clients are famous gives me great pleasure in being regarded to as their goddess – I enjoy bossing them around! LOL
The downside:
I will be lying if I said that I’ve never fallen in love with any of my clients, I have fallen in love a few times but I had to pull back. Sooner or later I will be too old to do this business and like any typical girl, I want to have a relationship with someone and I’d like to be married one day. If given the chance, I would like to be a plain housewife, just a typical Filipina wife who will cook, clean the house and look after her husband and kids. But then the word “commitment” always gives me mixed emotions of excitement and fear. What if I fall in love with someone and he suddenly discovers that I used to be a sex worker? I wonder if anybody out there will actually take me for what I am? What if one of my clients actually recognized me one day on a function when I’m with my husband and kids? I have seen a lot of movies with the same scenario. People laugh at it, I also laugh when I see situations that relates to what I do but at the same time I get a pinch in the heart because it has either happened to me or it is likely to happen to me someday. All these thoughts play in my mind on a constant basis, will I ever find love? Do I deserve to find a true love and happiness?
Chelsea
The mining boom in Western Australia actually gave a subsequent boom to my business as well. My ‘work name’ used to be Victoria originally, but I’ve changed my name to Chelsea since then because the name triggers a sexy bell to lot of people. I definitely think people in the mining business needs some form of entertainment after a hard day at work digging treasures in the ground. I usually book a luxury hotel for a week and there is not a single day that I don’t get busy. I suppose these miners’ needs good sex after a hard long day at work. My schedule is so busy that I actually have to turn down a few calls every now and then, sometimes the higher bidder wins! Fat, thin, tall, short, brother, father, uncle, granny, cut or uncut – they are all one and the same to me and they only have one thing in mind and that is SEX! As long as the price is right, they all get the same treatment and satisfaction from me.
The downside:
Western Australia is my territory; I think I’ve had sex with almost half of the male population in this region! That’s why I have to constantly wear different wigs whenever I go shopping so that people won’t recognise me at all, especially when I go to the church – I actually still pray you know. I need to also change my name on a constant basis to get new clients because it is a very small community here. It seems that guys want to experience new things all the time that’s why I have to keep on re-inventing myself. A client’s wife actually knocked on my door one day and as soon as I opened the door she kicked me in the stomach and threatened to kill me! I wanted to go to the police but I might get into trouble more because I don’t have license to run my prostitution business. I was forced to move to another suburb because of this and I had to also replace my phone number. I hope nobody would splash acid on my face one day because that would be the end of my livelihood as a sex worker. If I lose this job I don’t know how my family back home would survive anymore. I have been in this business for a while so I don’t know any other jobs.
