413047-Underground-Commercial-Sex-Economy

Respondent: Yeah, illegal. They make a lot of money. They work in construction and
make a lot of money. (M3)
Some felt that the number of Mexican clients increased over time. A 40-year-old respondent from Dallas
stated, “You got more Mexicans out there. I've seen now, when I see the girls out there, I see most of them
jumping the cars with mostly Hispanics” (M1).
Similar to the sentiments expressed by many of the pimps in chapters 5–7, some respondents described
their preferences for certain clients. One individual from Washington, DC, who worked in the 1980s and
1990s, provided this information:
Back then, I would only date white guys. You get in the car with a white trick [who] gives
you $300 for ten minutes. You go with a black guy for $50–60, with a black man for a
long time. No! I’m not going to do that. Money isn’t good with black guys! (L2)
Another individual who began trading sex in the mid-1980s explained her clientele and preferences:
Most of my dates are with white guys. I don’t date black guys—there’s too much drama.
Most white johns don’t want trouble. The black guys have all this drama—they want to
rob you and they show up without the money that they say they have. Most white johns
just want to have sex and go back to [their] wife … White guys are fast. One white guy
came so quickly. He just put the condom on and took my clothes off, and he was done. I
love dating white guys. It’s not just the money, but they also wine and dine you. They
don’t want to have any problems. (L5)
Changes in Clients Over Time
Respondents were asked to describe any changes they noticed in the types of johns they saw over the
years. Some noted that it became more difficult to engage their regular and preferred clients. In the
following exchange, a 46-year-old individual, who worked in Denver, compared her earlier years in the
sex trade (in the 1990s) to the present:
Interviewer: So if you need money, do you have men you go out to
Respondent: Then, yeah. Now, no. God no. Now all I want is to get some stability. (J2)
Many others stated that it has become particularly difficult to find wealthier johns on the streets in the
current market. When asked whether she purposely sought out johns with more money in recent years, a
53-year-old respondent stated, “They are very far and few between” (J6). The reasons for this include, but
are not limited to, the effects of law enforcement crackdowns on sex work, worsening economies and
tougher financial times, and the increasing use of online venues to solicit sex work—all of which will be
explored more extensively in subsequent sections of this chapter.
It became harder for some sex workers to engage preferred clients because of the effects of drug
addictions. This was true of one woman from Denver who began trading sex at age 17 as an escort and had
a primarily “rich, white” clientele, but who later sought a broader client base after she started using crack
at age 21. She described this point in her career,
The more I cracked out, the more I lost weight, my clothes didn’t look good, so I struggled
to get those upper class white guys that I wanted. So then I had to go for anything … And
then I would do whoever. Not the black guys because they were scary. After a while, the
Mexicans wanted to give me a little for nothing. (J1)
In addition to encountering fewer wealthy clients, sex workers noted that a noticeable number of buyers
of street-based sex work have become younger, less reliable, more demanding, and more violent in recent
years. A sex worker from Washington, DC stated that “As time goes on, it gets worse. The guys are
younger and stupid. Back in the day, they were older and all they wanted was something they weren’t
getting at home: affection, love, attention” (L1). Another noted that although the “johns are the same
group of people since back in the day,” she has noticed a contingent of younger johns: “Today, [there are]
tons of younger guys. They take their money back. I don’t deal with younger guys. There’s always some
shit behind dating a young guy, 16–17-year-old guys” (L5). As a 46-year-old explained, “Today’s guys want
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