Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
<correspond> asks: "Is one place better? What is
the worst place and why? Is there something special about New York?"

I don't know anything about LA or Vegas prostitution -- so I can't
comment. I am a New Yorker at this point and I can't imagine doing this
job anywhere else. In reality, I know that there are sex workers all
over the US and all over the world. But this is my home and I don't
think I would do this in a town where I don't feel "at home." I think,
also, New York became my home *because* of the sex business. So, for
me, being a prostitute was a stabilizing force -- emotionally and
geographically. Prostitution made it possible for me to say that "any
place I hang my hat is home" and this where I created a home. I've
never turned tricks in another US city and can't imagine doing it.
  

    
"Christmas Day or Christmas Eve a particularly busy time for hookers?"

Not especially, in my experience. But sometimes there is a bit of
largesse happening right around that time of year. Some clients pop by
for a visit just before the holiday, perhaps as a way to prepare for
that block of family time. And Xmas is, of course, end of the year
bonus time. I think, in Manhattan, with so many different religions
competing or coexisting, it's actually easier to think of this as just
another day. (I say this *despite* the ridiculous traffic jams and
shopper gridlock and pilgrimages to the Rock Center tree.)Christmas is
really the time of year when hookers take care of their own support
staff, as it were. Doormen, housekeepers, beauticians -- all the people
who help us to stay in business or run a smoother operation -- this is
when we can reward them without seeming to corrupt them with a piece
of the pie. It's really a very handy holiday. 
  

    
That's an interesting comment about "support staff" that you make.

I'm sure you would have to deal with their feelings about what you do
and ask that it not become something personal. Has that ever put you in
a jam? I can't imagine what it would be like if you had to get your
hair done in a hurry and the person you sit with doesn't like you
because of what you do...or that you are "rumored" to do. It would make
me want to not say a word about what I do to anyone who might intimate
my line of work if it wasn't above board.

Myself and other friends in the computer business find it very awkward
just discussing the possibility of running a porno website. "How do
you introduce yourself?" seems to be the biggest bugaboo. Ha!
  

    
...and thanks for popping back in!

Merry Christmas and have a very happy New Year!
  

    
Thanks <correspond> for your Xmas greetings. We had a holiday benefit
for PONY on Tuesday the 18th and it went quite well -- SRO! This gets
back to what you said in #153: what if you have to get your
hair done in a hurry and the person doesn't like you because you are a
prostitute or are "rumored" to be one?

In fact, I find that there is a lot of good will toward prostitutes
and I rarely meet people who don't like sex workers. The other night, I
saw a range of people -- not in the industry -- who came out to
support our cause. 

I want to add that doormen, cab drivers, housekeepers, hair stylists,
beauticians, bartenders, restaurant staff, personal trainers -- they
view us as regular people, like them. A beauty professional knows what
it's like to take care of other people's needs and does not look down
on you for making a living with your body! People in service industries
are not a highly judgemental or uptight lot -- they see much more than
they admit and know what life is about. That's a generalization, of
course, but I find it to be true. Most people in service professions or
jobs also have a practical attitude -- it's pointless to look down on
a customer. That would ultimately be self-hating since the customer
keeps you in business. 

Hostility toward hookers is generally found among people who do NOT
deal with hookers in their day to day life -- people for whom
prostitutes are alien beings.  
  

    
I also forgot to answer this question about writing that you posted
earlier: "I have been conflicted about using a pen name, thought about
what my family would think if they read it and what my friends would
think and how my girlfriend would react. How did you deal with [these
factors]? How did these influence what you wrote?"

I wrote whatever I wanted and sometimes allowed myself to believe my
parents, former boyfriends and god knows who else would never read the
book. Whenever I was nervous about what they would think, I had to use
the material. I decided the work was more important than any other
person in my life and proceeded on this basis. I took some painful
moments in my personal life and totally played with them -- in ways
that might well offend those who were there in real time. But if the
situation were reversed, I would NOT be offended -- I'd be flattered --
so that made it okay. I sometimes wonder if certain people are pissed
off about the story I've written but I'd rather wonder about it than
have the regret of not writing it. I also decided that people who can't
deal with that aspect of knowing a writer shouldn't know me -- whether
they are relatives, friends or boyfriends. This may sound brutal, but
who wants to read stuff that was written in order NOT to offend your
mom, husband, wife, kids, or best friend? Even your best friend doesn't
want to read that!
  

    
Thanks for the answers! The answer to your last question reminds me of
a quote from Muhammed Ali (paraphrasing) that he always asked for
advice, but never asked for permission. However, I don't think that he
is as vulnerable to lawsuits as writers are. There is no such thing as
"libel" for boxing, although I suppose that in a litigous society that
could happen. I wonder how often people get sued for this kind of stuff
anymore? Comment?

Also, it occurs to me that some prostitutes and sex workers may have
very absurd views about AIDS and the risk of exposure. Do you find that
to be true? Do prostitutes insist on using condoms for fellatio? Are
there ever situations when prostitutes you know would just not use a
condom when a doctor who deals with AIDS patients would advise them
that they should?
  

    
Actually, many prostitutes use condoms in situations where other
people (including doctors) would not bother. When I was working, I had
a few clients who were doctors and they were not the most careful!I was
the one who had to police the situation. Doctors are famously flakey
and many have drug/alcohol problems. 
  

    
A while back, mnemonic and I had an argument about the ethics of cheeking
condoms (I said it was always permissible but he said it was unethical if
done deceptively and counted as a breach of contract or something).  Do you
have an opinion on this, Tracy?  Is this an odd question?
  

    
It may be that mnemonic's sense of humor is different from yours. I
would have to know the context in order to say more about that.

When you use a term like "permissible"... I'm curious to know:
permissible by whom? If we're talking about prostitution in New York
state, it's part of the informal economy. So who decides what is
permissible? The prostitute? The state? The random voyeur? This is
mysterious!
  

    

I don't recall the details of my discussion with ludlow, but it seems
to me that his question is likely omitting a whole lot of context,
perhaps intentionally in order to be provocative.

Not impossibly, ludlow's original discussion was predicated on the
assumption that prostitutes don't have the ability to negotiate over
condom use, and so are compelled to be deceptive about it.

Certainly deception is not unethical, in my view, if in fact one is
compelled to be deceptive.

And it seems to me that there are also circumstances in which a client
might want to be "deceived" about condom use -- in which he's buying into
an illusion of unsafe sex, and both prostitute and client are aware on 
some level that the illusion is part of the deal.

But I'm perhaps not so quick as ludlow to buy into the mythology of
prostitute as most likely a powerless victim in desperate straits,
compelled to lie about condom use, or otherwise face starvation.
Or at least not when we're talking about prostitutes in our particular
culture.

So the original disagreement was probably less about the ethics of 
condom use than about the presumption that prostitutes are typically
powerless to negotiate.
  

    

I should add that I'm flattered TQ knows my sense of humor well enough
to suspect I might be using legal or ethical arguments to tease ludlow
into surfacing his assumptions about the relative negotiating power of
prostitutes.
  

    
Happy Christmas to all! People make a big thing out of condom use --
as if men are conspiring to get condomless sex from hookers everywhere
they go. These are a minority of customers, I think. If you look at
countries where condoms aren't in use, it's often because people can't
afford the condoms. So, once the condoms are available or affordable,
the problem is resolved. We don't have to assume that the customer is
trying to take advantage of a prostitute's economic disadvantage -- in
fact, many customers in those situations are also rather poor. 

In Calcutta, there's a prostitute's cooperative that buys condoms at
the best price so that they'll be affordable -- they also pool their
money for other things. These aren't the high-living courtesans but
rather the hard-working brothel prostitutes in the red-light area who
face a lot of discrimination and adversity. In many ways, the
prostitutes' movement there is far ahead of our own here. They have
bigger membership numbers. Outside of the US, in other countries, the
most visible prostitutes with less to lose are often the leading
activists. 
  

    
The context for the great condom-cheeking debate was ethics 28 from post 100
on (the topic was also linked to eff). In rereading it I note that Mike
makes reference to a former sex worker involved with PONY, so maybe that was
you, Tracy.  In fact, a lot of the thread turned on whether prostitutes are
sometimes coerced into not using condoms, but there were other issues
involved.

By "permissible" I simply meant "morally permissible" in the abstract.  I
didn't mean it in the sense of legally or culturally permitted.

By the way, I'm only just now reading the book, which is fantastic.  After
doing my required (for work) reading I usually can't stand to read
anything, but this one is easy to pick up and hard to put down.
  

    
I had always imagined that there are prostitutes somewhere in places
like New York that are paid significantly higher amounts of money to
have condomless sex because they are guaranteed to not have STDs by
their madam or whatever service or broker they use.

I know that if I was a multimillionaire and I wanted a regular
prostitute that I would pay enough money so that she is kept, which I
know of someone who does that BTW, and so is it just fantasy (or just
my "writer's version of New York") that such women exist.

And also, what's up with that whole scene from Eyes Wide Shut with the
secret sex society and all that. I can see that actually happening,
but not to that degree (number of people, number of good-looking rich
guys, etc.). It's like the reality of nudist resorts...the ones that go
are usually the ones that you wouldn't want to see there. :)

(Merry Christmas all!)
  

    
<ludlow> I'm glad you enjoy the book. More than anything, I would like
people to have a good time with this story. In answer to your comment
about what "permissible" means, thank you for clarifying. I'm a
pragmatic sort, as are most hookers, and the abstract dimensions of
condom use have never been my thing. Other people may have lots to say
about that but I have to admit -- I'm drawing a blank here! I'd be more
concerned about whether sneaking a condom on compromises the
effectiveness of the condom in any way. (Teeth, emollients from lip
gloss, storage temperature, stuff like that.)

<correspond>, most men who deal with private madams aren't
multi-grillionaires --but they're affluent men who go to the gym, visit
the doctor routinely, plan for the future, own property, eat healthy
food. Many of these guys take very good care of their bodies. They're
accustomed to being around high-maintenace women who take vitamins and
all that. They are attracted to well-groomed, healthy women who take
good care of themselves. Using a condom is part of that lifestyle. As
for having a permanent exclusive commercial sex partner, that's more
often a fantasy than a reality. Most men go to prostitutes because they
want sex without commitment. There are many more johns than
sugardaddies. 
  

    
A local TV news show aired some highlights of an interview with Heidi
Fleiss about a new video about her where she talks about "the business"
and offers a bunch of other insights into the "Hollywood sex scene"
and made some interesting statements.

She said that whatever you can imagine is going on in Hollywood is not
just happening, but it's happening almost around the clock and much
kinkier than you can imagine. Any comments?

(By the way, I'm sure there are many more johns than sugardaddies.)

Did you ever wish you had one? This German guy that I know pays a girl
in New York about $5,000 a month so that he can see her when he is in
town and sometimes she goes on vacations with him. I don't know if he
found her through a service. Since he's a fat guy, at least 300 pounds,
I'm not so sure that he'd make a great sugardaddy.

How choosy can prostitutes get when some fat guy wants a girl for a
night? Do they tell their madam they don't do fat guys?
  

    
Just got back from a Christmas dinner with some friends -- one of whom
told me she had seen my name on Page 6 of the December 25 New York
Post! In the "Sightings" column. I feel like a real New Yorker  now. :)
  

    
And here's the link -- good until 12/31 or so.

http://www.pagesix.com/seven/12252001/pagesix/36708.htm
  

    
Page six of the post!  (Christmas day, no less.)  Too cool!
  

    
We always knew you were destined for stardom, Tracy!
  

    

The Page Six piece can be found at
<http://www.pagesix.com/seven/12252001/pagesix/36708.htm>, at least
for right now.
  

    
Thanks, Mike!! I just found out, also, that an interview I did in DC
is up at <http://www.eyeonbooks.com>  A faster way to get there is the
title index:  <http://www.eyeonbooks.com/fiction4x.html#td>

In the New Year, here is what January-Feb looks like: a profile in
Taiwan Next (Chinese language weekly), an interview in DOJO magazine,
something in Visao (a Portuguese news weekly) and a segment on Candice
Bergen's new cable show (Oxygen Media)... I will also be on the radio
at 6 am next Sunday Jan 6 in Philadelphia (WIP-AM 610)and a feature
about the book in Yahoo Internet Life.

In March, Florent-Massot will come out with the French edition of
"Diary" -- exciting to see already on French Amazon "Le journal d'une
call girl" ISBN: 2845880456 But they did not mention the translator
yet: Dov Rueff who is also responsible for making Dave Barry accessible
to Francophones.

Anyway, my website is a good place to keep up with all this news:
www.tracyquan.net  and I'm looking forward to 2002!
  

    

April 18, 2002

Star Dials Up 'Call Girl' Picture

By REUTERS

Filed at 4:15 a.m. ET

NEW YORK (Variety) - ``Sex and the City'' creator Darren Star is sticking to
a familiar subject, but this time he's taking it to the big screen.

Star will adapt and direct Tracy Quan's book ``Diary of a Manhattan Call
Girl: A Nancy Chan Novel'' for Sony-based Revolution Studios.

The book is based on Quan's successful Salon.com column. It centers on the
diary of Chan, a call girl who lives and works on Manhattan's Upper East
Side. The picture will be a comedic take on the behind-the-scenes world of
the oldest profession.

Star, whose other credits include ``Beverly Hills, 90210'' and ``Melrose
Place,'' created and worked on ``Sex and the City'' for the show's first two
seasons. He subsequently created Fox's ''The Street.''
  

    

Congratulations to Tracy!!!