Amy, 19: From an idyllic childhood to sordid liaisons with sleazy middle-aged businessmen
THERE can be no doubt that Amy loves her family dearly: next to her laptop and a pile of textbooks on the desk in her bedroom is a picture of herself and her siblings playing with their pet spaniel outside the home where they grew up.
Yet the 19-year-old, a secondyear arts student at one of Scotland’s oldest universities, keeps a dark secret from them all.
In order to pay her way, the teenager advertises online and sells her body to strangers in her student flat for £120 a time.
To complete her education, she needs to be able to pay her rent and buy food – and with a course that sees her in class from 9am until 5pm, Monday to Friday, and an hour travelling time each way to her flat on the outskirts of the city, there is very little time for her to work.
Amy’s parents – middle-class professionals with good jobs – earn too much money for her to receive full financial support from the Student Awards Agency for Scotland, but too little to fully support her living costs, as they have two younger children to support.
So Amy started selling sex, in a very 21st century way, not in a brothel or on a street corner, but over the internet.
Her adverts are simple: ‘Student needs help. Discreet and professional service. Please don’t waste my time. Can accommodate, but only tonight. If seriously interested feel free to contact me.’
She usually advertises twice a week then arranges via email to meet her customers – mainly 40 to 50-year-old, married businessmen – either in her flat, which she shares with a classmate, or in the men’s hotel.
Amy is tall and slim, with long light-brown hair. She said: ‘This is how I make my living now – I work in the sex industry. I am a prostitute.
‘I have been doing this sort of work since last November. At the time, I needed to put down a £500 deposit for a flat and didn’t have enough, so I had to borrow money from my friend.
‘Then the next month’s bills started coming in, and I knew I needed to make some money fast. I sold a lot of my things to pay for it all, like my TV, but I hated doing this and decided I had had enough. So I thought, what do I have to lose?
‘I was 18 when I put up my first advert – and within an hour I had made £120. It was that quick. I
I would be very upset if my mother ever found out
have been doing it ever since, and simply put up posts when I am available, on the website Craigslist mainly, and wait for men to respond via email.
‘We then negotiate my terms and conditions, and what I am willing and unwilling to do, before arranging where and when to meet. Sometimes we meet within an hour – it can be that fast.
‘I know people will judge me for it. But at the end of the day, I need the money to study and get my degree, and I don’t have enough time outside of work to get a job. So this is what I do.’
Amy was a bright student in school, receiving As and Bs in her Highers, with a particular flair for English and drama.
But now she is at university, she has to pay £400 a month in rent, £40 for internet and bills, £50 for a monthly bus pass, and around £100 a term for course equipment – and only receives £50 a month from SAAS to help her, because of her parents’ income. She refuses to ask her mother or stepfather for help.
Instead she charges men for sexual services, starting at £60, rising to £120 for full sex.
She said: ‘I do it once or twice a week. The weekends and holidays are the most popular times for the work, as there are lots of businessmen passing through the city.
‘Sometimes I’m really tired and I don’t want to do it, but I need to go and buy food that day, so I don’t have a lot of choice, because some days I only have 50p in my account.
‘The friend I live with knows I do it, and she supports me, but she thinks it’s unsafe, and has said she wishes there was another way I would make money. But there isn’t.
‘My university schedule is so busy, and I do extra-curricular activities too. I would have to work really late nights or the whole weekend, and I would be exhausted – and not do so well in my degree, I just know it.
‘I know my flatmate worries, but it’s not that bad. A lot of men aren’t attractive and I just grit my teeth. Normally, I think about other things when I am doing it too, and although I act like I’m enjoying it, I am often in another world in my mind. It’s normally over quickly, too, so I don’t have to endure too much for too long – the better I act, the faster it will all end and I can get rid of them and carry on with my day.’
She added: ‘I would rather do this than ask my mum for money. I would never ask her – it wouldn’t be fair, as she has my two younger siblings to look after.
‘I would be very upset if she ever found out. She would just be
desperately worried about me if she knew, she would probably be horrified actually, and I don’t want her to feel that.’
Despite being aware of how vulnerable her work makes her, Amy’s need for secrecy means there is little she can do to protect herself, other than telling her flatmate when and where she is meeting someone.
She said: ‘I believe I’m safest in my flat, as I feel more comfortable in my own space. I always tell my flatmate when I’m meeting someone and where I’ll be. I will never risk myself if I feel something is wrong. You can get a vibe from men through the emails beforehand, and if I feel they are dodgy or they say something vulgar, I just don’t reply and never see them.’
She added: ‘Men offer more money to have sex without protection, but I will never do that. I’m often offered drink or drugs, but I always refuse it too – I need to be sharp and in control. Sometimes I feel vulnerable but I am a fairly confident person and try my best to overcome it. When I have a proper salary, I will not be doing this. No way.
‘It gets in the way of relationships too. I can’t have a boyfriend when I’m doing this and I want to be able to settle down and live a comfortable life when I’m older. It’s all about business for me, it’s just a transaction – to get me a great degree and a good job in the future.’