413047-Underground-Commercial-Sex-Economy

Interviewer: You mentioned that what you did changed a lot once you started using
drugs.
Respondent: Oh yeah. Well, once I started using drugs, I still see those certain people,
but then the money wasn’t enough because I had a drug habit to support.
Interviewer: Could they tell that you were using them
Respondent: It took a while. It took a while and there was a couple that didn’t really
care. And then, there was a couple that were like … And, then they quit seeing me …
Cause I was getting too needy. I was wanting more money. I was wanting to see them
more often … There was a couple that quit seeing me. So that’s when I took to the streets
… That’s when I started car hopping. (M3)
Drug-addicted sex workers in cities across the country experienced this impulse to see more clients to
fund their habit. The experience of one individual who worked in Washington, DC exemplifies this:
The 1980s were more tragic for me. The drugs came and I became addicted to crack in
1985. It was more pushy then. I was really trying to get all I could because it was for a
purpose … I was flat backing—tricking for my addiction. I would make $200 to $300 in a
matter of minutes on tricking and that would get me crack. My addiction grew, so I
needed to do more. (L3)
Respondents interviewed for this study increasingly used and exchanged drugs with johns while on dates.
Some felt that this made the dates better and more profitable because their desire for drugs could be
fulfilled by clients who supplied drugs, and because johns could be coaxed into spending more for sex. A
49-year-old from Washington, DC described her tactics while on dates with johns who smoked:
When crack cocaine was introduced on the streets, the tricks actually got better because
most of the tricks smoked too. [You] had to be a smart smoker. You smoke, stash some of
his, and then when he leaves you smoke too. Half up and half away. When he leaves, you
don’t need him. (L2)
A woman from Dallas explained how she was able to increase the amount of money and drugs she earned
and collected while with clients:
We would go to a hotel room and we would get high and he would trip so bad that I
learned how to make extra money. Because when he was done smoking he would say,
“You have another piece [of crack]” He would then say, “I’ll give you $20 if you’ve got
another piece,” and the price would steadily go up … “I’ll give you $50 if you’ve got
another piece.” So I learned from this, and I would always put the piece away so then—
he’d already given me a hundred—he’d pay me fifty dollars for the little piece he had, then
he’d give me another fifty dollars for the push off the pipe. I had him. I would walk away
with at least $200 every time I’d see him. (M3)
A number of participants indicated that they stole from drug using clients in the 1990s and 2000s—which
was not as common in the 1980s. This was a tactic used by one Denver-based sex worker with a client who
did not bring money to a date: “I stole, yeah. I stole the powder, crack cocaine. I would steal from a dope
dealer, ‘cause it was a date [with] me and another girl. But [the client] didn’t have any money, so when he
would sleep, we would look around and [find] a bag of dope and [say], see you” (J5). Another participant
explained that she would seek out and steal from wealthier clients:
We would find rich men who knew where to get the crack, as well as spend time with
them … When they were high, they wouldn’t pay attention. That’s when we started
stealing [their] cars. We sold them to the dope men … we would take their car and sell
them. (J3)
Stolen goods served to supplement dates that were, by the 1990s and 2000s, becoming less profitable.
Even though this increased the risk of retaliation from the johns and in some cases the dope dealers—in
addition to increasing the risk of law enforcement involvement—the respondents felt it was one of the
only viable alternatives to obtain enough money to feed their drug habits.
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