$ex Inc
Tales from the Sex Industry
by
Zoya Carmen
Copyright
2011 Zoya Carmen
Smashwords Edition
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Contents
One - Keely: Strippergram girl
Three - Desiree: Transsexual prostitute
Four - Alyssa: Phone sex operator
Seven - Cameron: Male stripper
Eight - Jacqueline: High-class call girl
Nine - Mistress Kristina: Dominatrix
Niche marketing is what the sex industry is all about. There’s something for everyone. In fact, there’s a bewildering variety of different services available.
Want to look? Strippers? Take your pick from peepshows, table dancing, pole dancing, strippergrams, jelly wrestling, lingerie lunches. Want some hot and heavy talk? Call that phone sex hotline. Maybe you’d like a massage with no sex, massage with sextras, sex without massage. Maybe the sex you want is male-female, male-male, female-female or transsexual. Perhaps you’d like the top-end of the industry and the service from a high-class hooker in a five-star hotel, or maybe you like the thrill of budget priced blow jobs in dangerous back alleys.
No problems. There’s a service for everyone. And, just to make it easy, most major credit cards are accepted. Worried about your partner finding out about your sexual forays? Worry no more. Most establishments have the sensitivity to use innocuous pseudonyms for those who pay by credit card.
Not everyone is what – or who – they seem. Not those involved in the adult entertainment business and not their clients. Working girls and working guys use false names and so do some clients.
And then there are the strict demarcations. Generally speaking, strippers don’t provide a sexual service. Some prostitutes don’t kiss, but the strippergram gal might.
What the adult entertainment business is selling is the fantasy of sex. What the client buys is that fantasy. Perhaps it’s not surprising that the most requested costume for strippergrams is the police uniform, together with handcuffs and batons. And it’s perhaps not surprising that many high-class prostitutes who work out of hotel lobbies and bars introduce themselves with the ‘I’m a flight attendant’ line.
You’ll meet women and men who work in the sex industry in different capacities. What you’ll learn from their stories is how knowledgeable they are about human nature and how smart you have to be if you’re going to make a success out of being a sex performer.
We’ve all heard terrible stories about women and men being exploited in the sex industry. This book is not about those women and men.
In this book, you’ll read those stories from women and men who have chosen to take up life as a sex performer of one kind or another – strippergram girl, exotic dancer, male stripper, transsexual prostitute, phone sex operator, high-class call girl, centerfold, dominatrix and male prostitute. Mostly they’ve made this choice for financial reasons, but occasionally it has given them the means to explore their own sexuality.
Keely’s stage is any place where she’s asked to perform a strippergram. Her stage is a moveable one and sometimes it’s a pleasant environment and other times it’s not so pleasant, but she laughs and says, ‘That’s life.’
‘I’m a stripper, not a dancer. And my performance is a combination of things. It’s part sex act and part comedy and part getting the audience enthused. You’ve got to whip up that sense of excitement and have them yelling and clambering for more! When you have that atmosphere, I know I’ve done my job well.’
Keely says that pacing her performance is everything. When she first started out, her nerves drove her to perform too quickly, but she learnt that you need to pace things and build it up – to a point of excitement. But on her first night, she says she was rushing through her songs and routine and thinking, ‘Get me out of here!’
Much to her surprise, even that first performance was a hit and she hasn’t looked back. Keely has that delicate complexion that belongs exclusively to natural redheads. She says that her coloring is a point of difference, something that she can capitalize on. Not everyone can boast a milky white skin, deep green eyes and flaming red hair.
‘I guess people are pretty forgiving. I mean if they’ve hired you they want to enjoy your performance, so they’re not going to be too fussy. Also, I think my first-night nerves distorted how I was doing. Obviously, I was doing better than I thought.’
Keely had spent a week being tutored on her moves and while she might not have felt ready, she may well have underestimated her power as a performer. After a year, she’s doing six performances on a busy night and luckily for her, requests vary.
‘The variety means you don’t get bored. I’ve also worked on changing even the most popular routines so they are kind of fresh. You never know when you’re going to be performing in front of the same people. So I might be a nurse in a short, tight, skimpy uniform or the sexy policewoman, or the saucy French maid or the shy librarian who lets down her hair and gets all her gear off when she’s moved by the music. The dominatrix theme goes down well, although at first some people visibly cower as you produce your whip! You psyche yourself up and go into this role and then it’s easy. I’m so experienced now that I can trust myself to just make up routines as I go. Kind of using the context and atmosphere to inspire me.’
Keely is a 21 year old college student who is working towards her dream – becoming a nurse. While she studies hard, she also works hard and is much more financially secure than her peers.
‘For me, it’s easy to be a student and a strippergram girl. The two things are not mutually exclusive. People have some funny ideas about who does this sort of job. Well, it’s anyone who has some theatrical flair, can sing a little, move well to music and want to make money. Of course, you also have to have a good body. That’s part of the basic job description.’
For Keely, who says she was a shy child, her choice of work as a sex performer may seem unusual. But in her teenage years, she says she blossomed and people started to comment on how sexy she looked. By the time she was 17, she says she was very confident, particularly sexually confident, knowing people would look at her and admire her. She noticed the looks she got from men and knew she had some power to attract.
‘Getting all my clothes off was daunting at first, but I did it pretty easily. I guess I’m very confident about my body. Not all the jobs require a full strip but when they do, it’s no big deal. I get paid extra to take my top and my bottom off, so it’s very financially rewarding.’
When people book a strippergram they’re booking a fun, sexy time – a sex fantasy that everyone really knows is just that – a fantasy. Keely says that the strippergram girl or guy is really at the ‘innocent’ end of the sex industry.
‘Things are kept pretty light and harassment is not a big issue. Everyone knows you’re there to strip down to whatever you’re booked to strip down to, but most people also know the limits. I don’t fuck and asking me to do that would be harassment. I mean you pretend to hump some guy and go through the motions, even making it look a little comedic for a laugh but there’s no explicit sex act. I may get down on my knees and pretend to go down on him, but it’s all just show.’
Occasionally, unexpected choreography happens. Something totally unexpected happens and Keely says you just dust yourself off, try to make a joke out of it and keep going.
‘Once, I kind of jumped on this guy and the chair fell back and I ended up doing a backward roll to the ground and he ended up on his back on the collapsed chair. It was one of those crazy moments, and after a short silence, people were laughing and I laughed along – and the guy joined in – and I said something silly like, ‘Gosh you don’t have to fall for me’ and everyone laughed even more. It was kind of fun.’
Strippergrams are marketed as innocent fun entertainment. Just a bit of fantasy. What gives them an edge is a smart performer who knows it’s about sex – but also about limits.
According to Keely, all performers have their limits – and mostly audiences and clients don’t overstep those unspoken lines. But occasionally, some men get too adventurous and it’s up to the performer to manage them without losing the moment – and having the whole performance spoiled.
‘I don’t like the gropey-type guy, not unless I’ve decided to make a victim of him.
After a while you learn not to work near where there are gropey people and you don’t work up close to the ones who are screaming and chanting, ‘Get it off’. Once a guy groped me from behind and he had both his hands around my breasts. I calmly turned around and humorously pushed him back and then gave him a good shove and he ended up falling backwards and having to be caught by his friend. It was funny and everyone laughed until the guy had to join in, otherwise he’d look a bad sport.
There was another time when a really drunk guy pushed his luck too far by grabbing me and putting his hand between my legs. Again, I thought, ‘Okay, you’ve gone too far….’ and with a big smile on my face, I moved away and pretended to go back for more and when I was close up to him, I grabbed his balls and turned them around hard. He was pretty drunk and smiling and I was smiling the whole time. But then he started to feel the pain and moved to get away. As far as the audience was concerned it was all just a tease, but I think he understood he’d pushed too far. There are limits. We all need to observe them if the fantasy is going to work.’
Keely says that strippergram performers have to be in control all the time. And entertain. Choosing a victim, which can be the birthday boy, or for a more general strippergram, a member of her audience.
‘You learn how to pick your victim – or handle the victim, if he’s the obvious target. If they’re too frisky, you slap them down gently and humorously. If they’re embarrassed, then the whole thing is more entertaining. If I can choose my victim, then I usually go for the very young or the older man. One thing I never do, is pick one of the rowdy guys who’s been chanting, ‘Get your gear off’. That would be a big mistake.
No, it’s much more fun for everyone if the victim is young and perhaps a bit shocked, not knowing how to touch me, being unsure. You can play up that uncertainty and awkwardness – it can be very entertaining. I had such fun with this young good-looking guy once. I sat on his lap and invited him to touch my breast and he kind of froze, so I had to take his hand and help him. It almost brought the house down! Then, another time, I had this older man who looked shy but interested. I sashayed over to him and asked him to lie down. He looked scared, poor man, but he did as I asked. I think he was also fascinated and wondering what would happen next. I was only wearing a thong and I began sliding over him and stopping to build some tension, whispering into his ear and then turning to the audience and sharing with them what I’d said. All in this really teasing kind of way. Like – ‘we’re all in this together’.
I’d said that if he was very good and just laid there feeling me sliding over him, being very good, I’d reward him. And I did. At the end, because he’d been so good, I sat delicately on his face. That performance was a real winner and guys were yelling out to be made to lie down on the ground and have me slide over them and sit on their faces.
It’s all good innocent fun really. Nobody gets hurt. Everyone has a good time. And I make some good money.’
Sex industry work has been good to Keely. She’s enjoyed herself and she’s made money. Not all young women can confidently perform as Keely and other strippergram performers do. Not everyone can grab men’s crotches, sit on their laps, pretend to hump them or stand up, bend over to flash her pussy and wave to her audience between her legs.
Keely says, ‘It’s not for everyone, but for someone like me, it’s easy. None of it is ‘real’ It’s just fantasy and fun. Even when I did my first full strip I kind of felt confident. You know, people think you feel vulnerable as the only naked person in a room full of clothed people. But, hey, it made me feel very powerful. Everyone was looking at me. And with such appreciation on their faces! Well, I guess mostly they were looking at parts of me – but that’s okay. I’m inviting that – and those parts of me are good to look at and I feel high when I have that sort of undivided attention.
I wouldn’t be totally honest if I said that there are days when I don’t feel like doing this sort of work. But, when I feel that way, I say to myself, ‘Get a grip – the show must go on’. I know I won’t be doing this sort of work when I’m 30, so I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts.’
CoCo describes herself as an exotic dancer and she certainly looks exotic. With velvety chocolate skin and dark ringlets that spring out in wild abandon from her head, she is a real head-turner. She calls herself an exotic dancer rather than a stripper, because she believes she entertains rather than just removes her clothes to music. Oh, and she works with snakes. So she really does qualify for the ‘exotic’ label. She gives her age as ‘thirtysomething’ but she could easily pass for much younger.
With a dancing background, CoCo says she’s comfortable performing and has always felt an adrenaline high when she’s on stage and hears the roar of the crowd and the enthusiastic clapping.
‘I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t dancing or moving around to music. It’s something that’s in my soul It’s the best way of expressing myself. I’d done a few boring jobs when I left school and then I was in this club and saw this stripper who made it seem like an art form. You know, the sort of stripper who strips and entertains men as well as women. Slow, sophisticated sort of stuff, like I’d imagine Gypsy Rose Lee would do. It got me thinking – I can do that!
I guess I was young, but I decided to go back to the club the next day and ask for a job. You do that sort of thing when you’re young and feel you’ve got something to offer. You don’t think of being rejected or the consequences. It was like, this is what I want to do – and I went for it.’
CoCo says that now she’s a veteran of the business her original ideas and the way she made the approach to the club seem naïve, but perhaps because she was seen as keen and ready to learn, she was taken on. And she’s never looked back. She’s moved around and performed all over the world and refined her act until it’s her unique act and hers alone.
‘I don’t think you can survive in this business unless you’ve got something different to offer. I mean, how many strippers or exotic dancers are there? Tons! And there’s always more where they came from. Always a fresh supply of girls ready to take their clothes off and get paid for it. I’ve survived because I’ve got a point of difference – I look like a strong woman and the fact I work with snakes means I’m seen as unusual and different.
I work out at the gym every day to keep my muscle tone and I do pilates and yoga for flexibility. I do a lot of writhing with the snakes and I need a good range of motion!’
CoCo does look strong and healthy, the sort of woman who is formidable – and she says she doesn’t get too harassed as she looks tough and a little unapproachable.
‘I guess I’ve fostered looking like people can’t mess with me, because you don’t want people thinking you’ve got a weak spot in this business. If you appear weak, you make yourself vulnerable – to bosses and to your audience. It’s best to appear strong and show them your ‘you can’t mess with me and get away with it’ attitude. I think working with the snakes helps a lot there.’
CoCo laughs as she says that maybe people are scared that she’ll turn the snake on them, but it works for her because she doesn’t get harassed as much as other girls do.
‘Once I had this guy making a nuisance of himself, like he was trying to grab the snake and it bit him! Well serves him right I thought. You shouldn’t fuck with the snake. It’s got fangs. I’ve been bitten a couple of times but it’s okay, I knew it didn’t mean it….what’s that about biting the hand that feeds you? I had a guy once try to pull the snake from me and I knew he’d get bitten so I just lifted my leg and put my stiletto in his face. He knew I meant business and stopped.‘
CoCo thinks that working with a snake adds a dangerous element to her act and that’s what people come to see.
‘Danger excites people. I know it excites me – up to a point. It’s thrilling to feel a little scared, to watch someone working with a snake, which is a scary thing. I mean, I love my snakes, but I know how people see them. Watching me fondling the snake and treating it so lovingly sets up this kind of contradiction in people’s heads. They’re fascinated by how I can do it.’
Like many women involved in the adult entertainment industry for any length of time, CoCo can provide some penetrating analysis into what motivates her audience and she can play on their desires and their fears. Desire and fear is a heady mixture. She’s learned how many people are phobic about snakes, because they’ve told her.
‘I know they want to see me naked – and because I work with snakes, it adds another dimension. Like, ‘what’s she going to do with the snake?’ It adds a thrill, because their fantasies are running amok and they’re also a little fearful, I mean, guys have often said, ‘Aren’t you frightened of being bitten?’ It’s a little touching, do you know what I mean? That these total strangers who are there to watch you undress are concerned about your welfare.’
Coco laughs and says she’s not being mean when she laughs. She really means it, she’s touched that people care about her. She stops and says maybe there’s also a morbid fascination.
‘I think there are a lot of sickos out there and some of them might be praying for the snake to bite me or for me to do dirty things with the snake. I don’t dwell on these thoughts much, I mean I can’t control people’s minds or their fantasies. I think I give them a good show and they should be pleased with it.’
So, what does she do with her snakes? CoCo says she’s developed her own signature style and she can use the snakes in all sorts of suggestive ways without getting too sleazy about things.
‘It’d be too easy to do obvious things with the snakes. I handle them and let them slither over me and they slither on the ground and I pick them up and dance with them as they wind their way around me. I’m always moving. There’s always motion, with something to look at all the time. There’d be no challenge for me in straight stripping. Too boring. Just bumping and grinding around the stage would seem silly to me and I’d be bored out of my mind. By dancing with the snakes, I’m moving every part of my body all the time and the snake sort of acts like clothes would – a visual interest – as I get down to my G-string.’
For CoCo, that’s usually when she does stop moving. When she’s down to her G-string with a snake coiled around her neck or working its way down towards her stomach, she stands very still.
‘For maximum impact – I stand with my legs wide apart – like in a wide triangle – you know, suggestive stand but strong and just let the snake do its thing sliding over me. I might lift my arms above my head so my breasts move a bit and then I might, still standing very still, bring my hands down to my breasts and tweak my nipples so there’s some movement from, me and some from the snake. People think I train them, but you can’t train snakes. I follow them in my moves, so it looks like they’re trained. Now I can almost predict their moves and where they’re going and I follow along with my moves.
My finale is always breathtaking for my audience. I’ve had people say they’ve come to see me over and over just to see my working with the snakes. My finale has never failed to, I don’t know what the correct word is – fascinate, thrill – everyone. It’s a guaranteed winner.
I kiss the snake and then I put the little tip in my mouth and let it straight in. The snakes seem to like the warmth and darkness I guess. It just feels like something in my mouth, I’ve even described it as feeling like having a lollipop in your mouth. I know that sounds weird, but that’s the way it is. I have to block my throat, otherwise the snake would go right down and I’d gag.’
So, there it is. CoCo’s finale to her extraordinary act, where a snake slithers over her naked body, is to place its head in her mouth in a kind of reptilian deep throat. It’s certainly an act her audience isn’t likely to forget in a hurry.
Coco is a reflective person and is making long-term plans for herself – and her daughter.
‘My daughter is four years old now and I’d like to be out of the industry by the time she’s 10. It’s not that I’m ashamed of what I do, but I don’t necessarily want my daughter thinking she should follow me into the business. I’m making sure she’s going to have more options in life than me. Don’t get me wrong. This industry has provided me with more money than I could make doing anything else. But I’d like my daughter to have more choices – if she decides to become an exotic dancer – well, so be it.
CoCo has thought about retiring and has had an offer to manage a club. She’s not ready for that just yet. She enjoys the flexibility of her job and her rate of pay.
‘It’s not every job that lets you earn big money and have time to yourself. I like that. I’ve been approached to manage a club and I could do it. I’ve got brains – and I’m pretty bossy. But it’s not the time for that yet. I’ve still got a few good years dancing and working with my snakes. But don’t get me wrong. This job has a use-by date. It’d be sad to still be doing this at 45. Sad and embarrassing. I mean, not so much embarrassing for me, but the audience might feel embarrassed. No, I’ve still got some exotic dancing left in me and I’ll know when it’s time to pack away my costumes and snakes.’
Interestingly, CoCo has touched on a topic that all strippers and exotic dancers know only too well. Pulling power. Young women have greater pulling power for the audience than older women, although there are those men who’ve said that they’d rather watch a veteran who knows what she’s doing and is comfortable and confident performing than a rank beginner who doesn’t know how to tease yet.