Teenage escorts...

I got a worrying text from a young 18 year old beautician this evening. It read -

'Times are getting hard for cash at the mo and I've been thinking a lot recently and I was wondering how old do you have to be to escort?'

Although the legal age for escorting is 18 I actually think it should be 25. At 18 you think you know everything when you don't, and it's a very vulnerable age to start. I would never encourage anyone to escort. It doesn't suit everyone and potentially it can be extremely damaging to a girls self worth.

Those that do decide to do it have to be doing it for the right reasons and certainly not if they are in any way unstable or are 'desperate for cash'. It's not for me to assess who is suitable and who is not and I certainly wouldn't want the responsibility of recommending someone to give it a go and then them getting messed up . I consider myself incredibly lucky to be unscathed after 9 years of escorting. I have been very disciplined and done things my own unique way and because of strict with the method of conducting my business I have kept my self respect and self worth. However lots and lots of girls lose it and end up hating men and turning to drugs and alcohol. I've discussed this in my book The Girlfriend Experience.

I had a young 18 year old friend when I first started escorting when I was 25. Unfortunately she decided that she wanted to start working as an escort. I was mortified. I couldn't discourage her so all I could do was to advise her as best as I could hope she listened to my advice to stay safe.

I gave her two very important pieces of advice and told her she was never to compromise them -

1 - to always tell her Mum where she was going, give her all the contact details of the person she was seeing and where she was staying and also when to expect her back.

2 - to never ever do anything she didn't want to do.

Unfortunately she didn't take my advice on either of these things and once I got a call from her mother at 10 am one morning telling me she hadn't returned home. She was expected back the previous evening and her mum hadn't heard from her. She had not left her mum any of the details. Her mum was extremely distressed and worried and so was I, especially because with no information there was nothing I or her mum could do, but wait for her to get home or get in touch. I advised her mum to wait a couple more hours and then phone the police to report her missing. She rocked up home, oblivious to all the stress and upset she had caused. The guy had basically asked her to stay longer and she had done so without telling her mum.

She also considered going to Thailand to meet a client. I asked her a series of questions -

Where is Thailand? 'I don't know'

What language do they speak? 'I don't know'

What currency do they use? 'I don't know'

Have you got a credit card? 'No'

How do you expect to get home if there are any problems? 'I don't know'

Do you know there is a lot of people trafficking in Thailand, especially young girls going missing? 'No'

Can you use your mobile phone there? 'I don't know'

Have you asked him to pay a deposit? 'No'

Have you got a reference from someone who has been to see him? 'No'

Are you going to be able to receive the full return ticket before you travel? 'I don't know'

She was crazy to consider going, but she thought I was jealous and trying to spoil her fun.

Another time she called me traumatised with a meeting with a disabled client who rudely hadn't informed her of his disability before she arrived. I would have taken quite a chunk of the fee for my inconvenience and left if I felt uncomfortable. She felt obliged to stay and go through with the meeting even though she was distressed because she was worried she'd get a 'bad review'. Sod the reviews! I won't compromise my comfort and safety for anyone!

I have turned down work, even though I have really needed money because I didn't feel that the job was for me, and I've taken payment holidays from my mortgage and struggled with the lack of cash, but I still wouldn't go and see just anyone. The problem is girls get greedy and want to earn as much money as possible, and that's when it can get dangerous.

I replied to the above text saying that the legal age is 18 but that there isn't much work around at the moment with the 'credit crunch' - especially for someone new who isn't known, starting out and that the market is saturated with girls - which is true. I hope this is enough to discourage her. Fingers crossed.

Update.... she's coming to mine next Friday and I've offered to help her with her CV, hopefully I can tweak that and give her some advice so she has some luck with getting some interviews and hopefully a job.