Should Call Girls (and Boys) Kiss and Tell?

By Tracy Quan, The Daily Beast. Posted March 11, 2009.

Lisa, who advertises on the adult website Eros Guide as an independent escort, isn't as dogmatic. "I can understand how Kristin may feel with the government on her case, and I think she should weigh the pros and cons." But she echoes Benjamin's concerns when she says, more than once, that just hearing about Davis' pull-down menu "makes me feel more confident about going independent. When I hear about agency owners having these problems, I know I chose the right path."

"I saw her on TV," says Nadia, a thirtysomething call girl, discussing Kristin. "She's pissed and I don't blame her." Nadia has her own private customer base and has never advertised online, so I don't expect her to identify with Davis. Yet she's adamant about the ex-madam's right to dangle her clients' names in the media. "She gave up a ton of money and went to jail. You don't want to piss someone like that off." Nadia says, "Look, it doesn't matter what kind of work you do. She worked hard for that money, and it pisses me off that they took it."

Nadia is surprised to learn that others in the industry disapprove of Kristin's plan. "Her name was revealed, and other girls' names were revealed. If I, physically and emotionally, were in her shoes, which I am not, I would probably do what she's doing."

Nadia and I used to work together, and I don't quite believe she would do that to her own customers. Still, I'm not shocked by her reaction. Unable to imagine betraying my former clients, I'm equally unable to judge someone else who spent three months in jail. That's something I've never had to face. Nadia concedes that she, too, "doesn't believe in naming names on a personal level." In other words, though she respects Davis' right to do so, she wouldn't name her own clients.

The sex industry has its emotional hierarchies. If you assume it's all about price, or street versus Internet, think again. Some take pride in dehumanizing the customer more effectively than other escorts, while there's a converse snobbery about being classy enough to think of your clients as real people.

To make things ever more complicated, many buy into both ideals: never entirely emotional about, nor entirely detached from our customers. This ambiguity comes into play when sex workers argue about the Manhattan Madam's online Black Book Poll. Our reactions are contradictory, as we're pulled in both directions.

Underlying this quandary is yet another ideal -- a universe where madams, call girls, and escorts can afford to comport themselves like spiced-up saints. After being hit with federal charges, mammoth legal fees, and having your assets frozen, can our ideals (and our discretion) survive unchanged? Virtue at such times starts to look more like a privilege than an obligation, and 21st-century America is not Belle Epoque Paris, however much some escort sites might try to evoke the latter.

The Internet, for escorts and their clients, holds risks and opportunities that used to be associated with the street. Now that the risks are changing, maybe the rules are changing too. What does an exposed and prosecuted madam owe to old-school ethics?

I asked Natalie whether johns like Spitzer walk away scot-free because of gender or class. "There's a little of both," she said, "but it's mostly about class and power because you can buy your freedom. When I heard that Spitzer wouldn't face any charges, I was so angry, I flipped out. He upped the sentencing for johns from three months to one year! He was AG when I was charged with promoting prostitution."

Even Benjamin's policy of total discretion blurs when it comes to crackdowns. "When government intercedes, it's a whole other issue. Am I willing to go to jail for 10 years to keep my client list in secrecy? That's a question I can't answer so easily."

The industry at every level, from Craigslist to the street, has become a target for law enforcement, and those who work in it never know when this academic question might morph into a real-life dilemma.

It may be unthinkable to expose your clients for the same reason that ratting out a co-worker or manager is unthinkable, but many sex workers will privately forgive Kristin Davis for treating her own customers to a little rough justice.

See more stories tagged with: spitzer, sex work, kristin davis, call girls, madams

Tracy Quan's latest novel is Diary of a Jetsetting Call Girl, set in Provence and praised in The Nation as a "deft account of occupational rigors and anxieties before the crash." Her debut, Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl, and the sequel, Diary of a Married Call Girl, are international bestsellers.

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