sp's , drug users?

[threepeat]

From a University of Victoria study

"Drugs do lead some women into prostitution, but not as many as the stereotype suggests: In the University of Victoria study, 18 per cent of respondents blamed addiction. Women who follow that path tend to have suffered horrible abuse in childhood and adolescence, with substance abuse and addiction coming later."

I would imagine that those 18% are concentrated on the low track, too.

http://www.missingpeople.net/the_hidden_world_of_hookers-june_8,_2002.htm

 

[Maury Beniowski]

You forgot meth and crack, probably the 2 most prevalent.

As for the body odors, are u saying the smell comes "thru" even if the SP is freshly showered?

I was going to list those, but preferred saying there are others, as the list is longer than I dare to think.

As for the body odors, the complaint comes from co-workers who sit in the same room wafted by their comings and goings. It's not unlike heavy smokers, or pungent food consumers who are for the most part unaware of the odors they exude. Aggravating this phenomena is a tendency for many drug users to slack up on the hygiene side of things.

I don't think SP's are any different than the rest of the general population as far as drug use goes

Oh yes they are - up to fifty percent. Can't say the same about the population at large.

"Drugs do lead some women into prostitution, but not as many as the stereotype suggests: In the University of Victoria study, 18 per cent of respondents blamed addiction. Women who follow that path tend to have suffered horrible abuse in childhood and adolescence, with substance abuse and addiction coming later."

I would imagine that those 18% are concentrated on the low track, too.

I'm sorry, I'm not a big fan of Academic Statisticians. Whenever I have seen ladies polled, they become quite animated and creative in their replies. They also guffaw uncontrollably when the lads and lassies depart. No, my facts are drawn from real sources - owners, SPs and MPs.

 

[Dulcinea]

This industry is saturated with dope. It's offered all the time, the dealers love hookers as they always seem to have cash. Crack heads and jib heads love hookers for the same reason and will seek them out as girl friends. If a girl wasn't a drug addict before she started in the industry, she will have MANY opportunitys to become one after.

It's a very big problem. In Edmonton, we have studios that will hire drug addicts, and other studios that will fire you for using, or even run you off for not using. In some places, the drug use happens right in the staff room.

The majority of drug addicts are in fact on the street, but with over 40 MP's in Edmonton, and upwards of 2000 licensed girls, they are moving off the street and into the low rate seedy studios.

crack, cocaine, methamphetamine and downers (pills like valium or percoset) are the most common, in that order

I would estimate that at least half of the girls I've met over the years use occasionally, if not daily.

 

[westwoody]

I was at Swedish Touch and the girl reeked, the place reeked and she was obviously high.Big waste of time and money.

 

[JustAGuy]

That sounds too conservative.
I think a really motivated SP can work 12 hours a day, Monday thru Saturday, and do a half-day on Sunday (gotta go to church, ya know), at $300 an hour, 51 weeks a year.
That's 78 X 51 X $300 = $1,193,400. And hardly any taxes!
No wonder so many of them do it.

Fifty-one weeks a year only? Ya big softie!!! You have absolutely no future as a pimp if you're going to cut the gals that much slack, Herb. I say let them have February 29th off every four years and be done with it.

 

[Hollybaby]

no drugs here!

Drugs certainly didn't get me into this business. I do this because it's exciting, every experience is different (and I love variety), the hours are flexible, the money is good, and I am my own boss.

I smoked marijuana three times when I was 14, and I don't even think I did it right. That's the extent of my drug experience. Lol.

 

[chayenne]

so funny

I smoked my first joint when I was 13, being a teen who tries shit. By the time I was 21 most of my friends had fallen for the hard stuff and I lost my best friend being on heroin, prosituting herself to feed her habbit, ending up being HIV positive and taking her own life with a overdose when she was 21 to not die the slow dead. Yeah so much about drugs. I still smoke my joint and enjoy to do it as it calms me down, but then I have family and I am a very responsible person, would never cross the border. I do what I do because being a single mom and working a job for $8.50 just doesn't cut it. So there you go. I don't like to be "stoned" when I have company and would not ever consider to set up a date when I am stoned or go on a date when I am under the influence. I smoke to get my sleep but I don't sleep around to get my smoke. Anybody who would thinks that an SP is automatically a drug user is with a great probability a druguser himself who tries to support his habbit in a $9.50 job. There is a difference in being a street whore and a SP...that might be just it.

 

[crackhead]

Do you think the sp's are doing this... mainly because they are drug users?

Some do. Some don't.

I know for a fact that more than a few SPs use drugs. Like other drug users, however, very few SPs can manage their habits. So they tend not to be PERB regulars, since if they (or their friends) have computers, they don't have them for long. I'd guess that almost all of the SW's in the DTES and many on the mid are addicts.

I've also noticed that many of those SPs who do NOT use drugs tend to feel quite strongly about the issue. They don't want to be around any sort of drug use, no matter how discrete. They tend to be quite strident in their views. (A little smoke gets me in the mood. If a SP doesn't want me to do so, I'm cool with that. So long as she makes this clear in advance, neither of us will waste our time.)

I like to light up at playtime. It doesn't matter to me whether my partner does or not, so long as she's cool with my (limited) usage. I never ask partners to try it, but if they have used previously, I'll share mine. I've been surprised at how many ask to share.

Even though I'm a user myself, I avoid spending time with hard-case users who can't manage their highs. There are no tree police. And paranoia is a real buzz kill.

 

[Discombobbled]

While it's appreciative that you wonder about SPs well being, it's downright offensive that you paint all SPs as drug users. Get a life or better yet, see all the SPs in the Lower Mainland and report back to the board with final analysis on drug use amongst providers. I think you'd be surprised.

A lot of SPs use the drugs to cope with being in this industry however it doesn't take long before they spiral out of control and leave the business it's better for them that they retire. And there are recreational users. And there are those who don't the stuff, I'm in that camp alcohol included. I've seen some amazing girls who've started out a shining star then dabble until they lost everything and pull themselves out of the funk and continue in the business making a profit, those girls are a rarity.

On the one hand you suggest drug use isn't rampant among SPs, but on the other you state 'A lot of SPs use drugs to cope'. Paradox or simply an oxymoron? Your post is conflictive with what I think you are trying to say. Maybe you could clarify?

 

[Creole Lady Marmalade]

On the one hand you suggest drug use isn't rampant among SPs, but on the other you state 'A lot of SPs use drugs to cope'. Paradox or simply an oxymoron? Your post is conflictive with what I think you are trying to say. Maybe you could clarify?

The original poster wanted to know why all SPs were on drugs. I was clarifying that there SPs in every drug use stage from none to using while in session.

 

[Discombobbled]

The original poster wanted to know why all SPs were on drugs. I was clarifying that there SPs in every drug use stage from none to using while in session.

I think you're reading that in, in regard to 'all' SPs' using drugs. Let's face it, a whole lot of SP's use drugs for their own reasons, generally to hide their own issues. For instance, I hide behind booze cause I don't want you to know the real me cause you might not like it. It doesn't matter cause you don't know who I am or why I do the things I do. If an SP is using, who really cares beyond the HIV issue? Even then, if they're using a condom does it really matter that much? You seem to be fixated on this issue CLM, and you might want to let it go!!

 

[Randy Whorewald]

Oh yes they are - up to fifty percent. Can't say the same about the population at large.

I do not consider that to be accurate unless you're talking about the low track where I think the percentage is even higher. there are other people in that part of town not involved in the sex trade with even higher incidence of drug use. We shouldn't compare apples to oranges here.

 

[Creole Lady Marmalade]

I think you're reading that in, in regard to 'all' SPs' using drugs. Let's face it, a whole lot of SP's use drugs for their own reasons, generally to hide their own issues. For instance, I hide behind booze cause I don't want you to know the real me cause you might not like it. It doesn't matter cause you don't know who I am or why I do the things I do. If an SP is using, who really cares beyond the HIV issue? Even then, if they're using a condom does it really matter that much? You seem to be fixated on this issue CLM, and you might want to let it go!!

"Do you think the sp's are doing this because they acutally enjoy their work or are they doing because of other circumstances mainly because they are drug users?" -ispep

I don't believe I'm reading too much into it at all, especially when a handful of people posted in response their same perception and interpretation as I did. How I could be contradictory considering my original post had been two paragraphs with the "contradictory statement" being in the second one and my jotting down stats of what different kinds of SPs do with their drugs, if any.

Who really cares? Most people. The clients who want to be with a clean (non-using, zero drama,etc) SP and not have to worry that he just walked in and gave her a handful of cash and she has her dealer knock on the door in the most inoppertune moment. And any SP who doesn't do or use drugs would be greatly offended. Wouldn't you be offended if someone has branded you something that you simply were not?

Your post was both useless and redundant, repeating everything I had posted.

BTW it's hardly a fixation when this is the first post on SPs and drugs form what I can remember.

 

[john23]

I'd say being a single parent is one of the most compelling indicators for someone getting into sex work. Apart from Quebec most people can't afford a babysitter and work in some crappy service job.

 

[Hollybaby]

Some research for you

"Prostitution follows addiction in 48% of the subjects, precedes it in 38%, and is simultaneous in 14%"
(James, 1977)

"They found that the average age at first heroin injection and first prostitution was similar (19.0 years for heroin vs. 19.2 years for prostitution) and that 44% had used heroin prior to prostitution entry, 26% subsequent to entry, and 30% at about the same time as entry."
(Gossop, Powis, Griffiths, & Strang, 1994)

"To assess the sequence, timing, and prevalence of sexual and illegal drug use milestones in prostitute women, we interviewed 237 prostitutes in the community and 407 comparison women at an STD clinic. Drug use was more commonly reported by prostitutes than comparisons [...] Sexual- and drug-related milestones occurred in the same order in both groups, with drug use preceding sexual activity and injecting drug use preceding prostitution. Ninety-four percent of prostitutes who injected drugs reported noninjectable drug use before prostitution, and 75% of prostitutes who injected drugs reported doing so before beginning prostitution. [...] Currently, there is little theory to guide our understanding of why such events occur in the order they do. The available data suggest considerable variation in the forces, both internal and external, that affect women's lives and move them toward drug use, drug injection, and prostitution (in some order). At least one pulp fiction version would have us believe that women are lured into prostitution by drugs and that the latter serves to maintain the former, but the available literature suggests that the true situation is more complex and heterogeneous."
(Potterat, John J., Rothenberg, Richard B., Muth, Stephen Q., Darrow, William W., Phillips-Plummer, Lynanne, Journal of Sex Research, 00224499, Nov98, Vol. 35, Issue 4)

The general consensus seems to be that drug use and prostitution are related, and the relationship varies depending on the individual. Drug use is particularly problematic among street prostitutes, where drug users become prostitutes to pay for their addiction, and their addiction contributes to an overall stressful work environment (which is in turn relieved by more drugs).

Escorts sometimes begin drug use after beginning regular sex work, but the link seems to be more facillitative than causal (that is, people want to do drugs, but cannot until they get a job which allows them to afford it. This is similar to any job which comes with a substantial increase in money, such as a business executive) Drug use in general is far rarer among escorts than other prostitutes, and drug use is discouraged in the world of "high class" prostitutes in general:

 

[john23]

Actually, I think money isn't the only facilitator here. Flexible working hours is another major factor.

Also, one downside of the business is the eratic variations in schedule. One woman I knew who worked in an MP would have several shifts a month where nobody came in in 7 hours. In her case lack of attractiveness was not an issue. Sitting around bored will obviously make taking something seem more attractive.

I've known people going downhill on either heroin or cocaine and they can't function on a schedule. The drugs basically become their schedule. I knew a woman about 9 years ago who would be completely incapacitated if she didn't get heroin every 4 hours.

 

[ScottyTwoHotty]

that's good to hear. I wasn't generalizing. I haven't visited a SP yet. (but soon =) . I just won't want to do it with a druggy. I guess if this biz is making $1 mil a year, heck , if I had the bod, I'd be working too =)

ONE MILLION A YEAR?!?!?!?!?! God damn........ I'd like to hear from the SP that's making a million a year! I'd face fuck Rita McNeil for 8 hours a day solid for a year for a cool million!
Somehow I hardly doubt SP's are making even close to a million. How many SP's really work 8 hours a day solid, without taking time to clean up, travel for outcalls, eat, and so on? If anything, to keep those kinda hours, I'd need speed!

 

[sdw]

Also, one downside of the business is the eratic variations in schedule. One woman I knew who worked in an MP would have several shifts a month where nobody came in in 7 hours. In her case lack of attractiveness was not an issue. Sitting around bored will obviously make taking something seem more attractive.

I don't buy boredom as a cause of drug use.

At one point in my life I tried everything but Cocaine. (Cocaine wasn't easily available then)

I didn't get the advertized high from any of them, nor did I get addicted to any of them.

My friends don't offer me anything anymore because they know that it does nothing for me. The unbelievers who tried brownies and cookies as a way of sneaking something in invariabley ended up disappointed.

There is research that says that some people have receptors that drugs affect and this is why drugs have a greater effect on them and they are easily addicted. Others, like me, don't have the open receptors and get nothing out of drugs.

It seems to have a great deal to do with how easily a person is depressed or excited. People that are always on an emotional roller coaster seem to be easily addicted. People that are "dead sticks" or emotionless are not easily addicted.

 

[stryker]

Fuck,,how the hell did I miss this thread???

I'll tell ya something,after 4 years in the business and meeting countless amounts of ladies,,I would say 60 % are users of some sort,20 % are alcoholics and the other 20% have their head screwed on straight,,,pretty depressing if you think about it

 

[ms.belair]

I'll tell ya something,after 14 years in the business and meeting countless amounts of actors and producers, I would say 60 % are users of some sort,20 % are alcoholics and the other 20% have their head screwed on straight,,,pretty depressing if you think about it...

oh damn, I thought you were talking about the film industry.