MandalayBay

I thought it was a well-done documentary for an American network and she really allowed viewers a good insight into what we do as escorts. As for the high-end prostitution, I cannot fatham making that kind of money. $12,000 for three hours. Holy smokes!

Then I'd only have the female's perspective on her! LOL She might be great with ladies and not so good with men. You never know.

I'd like to know more about her too. Many of my clients have asked if I could recommend a service provider to take my place after I retire on August 5th. I don't know any local SPs personally, but I personally think Joelene looks really hot. I'd like to know if she's any good and worth recommending.

I very much agree with the refund of 5 hours. That - as well as a sincere apology - would be the right thing to do.

For me, sporatically advertising on CL is like looking for "diamond in the rough" clients and they do exist. There have been two times I have not been paid in full and given grief. Rest assured, they were both responses from my CL advertisement. I still, however, advertise on CL because that is where new hobbiests begin (before learning about CERB) and I have met a lot of great men from there. Scams make my job as a reputable SP more difficult and I hate hearing negative stories about CL scams.

I LOVE being a cougar and if somebody offered me $100-million to go back to being a kitten forever, I think I'd turn them down. I love where my brain is at during this wonderful period of my 30s.

1) Tom Berenger 2) Angelina Jolie 3) Barack Obama 4) Senator John Edwards 5) Pierce Brosnan

I agree wholeheartedly and without meaning to hijack this thread, I'd like to share a beautiful piece of writing that is similar to what you wrote above. I hope you enjoy. Desiderata Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible and without surrender, be on good terms with all people. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to all even to the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive people, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself to others you will become vain and bitter; there will always be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let not this blind you to the virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; In the face of all aridity and disenchantment, It is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have the right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

To disappear without any notice while on a vacation (whether it be a client/SP relationship or any other relationship) is inconsiderate, rude and just plain tacky. It leaves the other person very worried during the time you are apart. I would take solace in just realizing that this particular SP has no class. Just leave it at that. Hearing stories about behaviour like this makes the jobs of classy, reputable, caring SPs (like myself) more difficult because it paints our industry in a negative light.

Any lady who lands the heart of CoachG is going to be very lucky and very happy!

I thought the exact same thing right before going on vacation with my significant other recently. I had worked a lot the week previously and was absolutely drained emotionally and physically. Driving to the airport to pick him up, I hoped I could satisfy him sexually feeling as exhausted as I was feeling. The moment I saw him, something chemically happened and our lovemaking was just as passionate and loving as it always was. When you are in love, your body has a way of getting turned on around the person you love, no matter how exhausted you are.

I wouldn't have the emotional strength to be in a relationship with a male escort. I even feel a bit jealous when my significant other goes to see the female exotic dancers without me. (Insane ... I know.) Yet he is accepting my job until the end of July. Although I'm retiring at the request of my significant other (as I genuinely believe he's the one for me), I know I would make a great girlfriend or wife to had I ended up with a different man who was okay with my continuing this work. As an escort I am making VERY good money that could help provide my family and significant other with an amazing lifestyle. If he were okay with it, it would truly be the best of both worlds.

.... continued from previous post .... 3) I hear there are less licensed escorts now. How does this affect the city industry? Relationships with police if there's a problem to report? It just means the City is getting less tax revenue and that most sex trade workers (like myself) see zero value in licensing themselves as escorts and paying the government. I refuse to pay a pimp/madame a portion of my proceeds and also refuse to pay the City of Winnipeg a portion of my proceeds. By charging a license fee, the City of Winnipeg is acting as a "Pimp" and is living off the avails of prostitution. This is illegal under the criminal code of Canada. As for relationships with police, I have no relationship with them whatsoever. I sometimes hear about sporatic busts on the online forums (i.e. http://www.cerb.ca), but they generally leave high-end, upscale, independent women like myself alone as I am quiet, discreet and not breaking the law in any capacity. Another interesting point is that there are laws (which police must enforce) that indicate that one cannot make money from the proceeds of prostitution. So if I want to hire a security guard or driver to protect myself, I am breaking the law. If I want to work out of the safety of my own home or in-call location, I am breaking the law. The system forces women to go underground and this does nothing to help protect us and keep us safe. A major overhaul needs to take place and the Canadian government needs to observe what is going on in Amsterdam and make their system happen here. As long as men continue to be born with sexual desires, the sex-trade industry will never end. It's time for government to work with us (sex trade workers) and not against us. I donate 10% of all the money I earn to local charities. What I do is a legitimate and by being safe, drug free and honourable in my profession, I am helping to prevent the spread of disease and doing a good service for society. If a man is looking for sex, it is much safer for him to turn to a legitimate escort like myself who is drug and disease free, always practicing safe sex and honourable in my behaviour and treatment towards him. I hope this helps. Sincerely, Mandalay

Hi Gabrielle, Sorry for the delay. I wanted some time to research for proper answers to your questions as I have only been in the industry for 4 months and have been learning every day from other amazing women in the industry. I consulted with other escorts who who have been in the industry for a while and have included my own thoughts in these answers. Here are my responses. Please feel free to take any excerpts you like from these very long answers. 1) How do you feel about licensing? Does it enhance safety for women? No, it does not. I think it is nothing but a tax grab for municipalities and makes cities no better than "pimps." There is no benefit to licensing yourself as an independent escort whatsoever. To test the system, I personally turned to a Winnipeg sex-trade worker outreach programs (funded by our government) to see if I could obtain hepatitis C and HPV vaccinations to help protect myself against diseases. I was told because I am not a "street level" sex trade worker, I do not qualify for covering costs of these vaccinations. So I paid for the vaccinations myself. It is laughable that those expected to pay licensing fees (high-end escorts such as myself) don't qualify for help through outreach programs, while street level prostitutes (breaking the law and walking the streets) do. It is illegal for the city to license prostitution (and they know this) so they define the term "Escort" as a person who is a paid companion. This forces anyone who uses the word "Escort" in their advertising and marketing to obtain a license to use this term (or face a nasty ticket not to mention fake bookings by police or by-laws officials set them up to ticket them). Everyone knows that a "Escort" is a nicer way to say prostitute and helps distinguish the difference between a street walker and a more exclusive courtesan. They are all "Sex workers" and just because the city defines the word "Escort" in a by-law does not make it any less a sex worker job. By charging a license fee the city becomes the "Pimp" and is living off the avails of prostitution (This is illegal under the criminal code of Canada). The license terms in many cities by-laws does not allow for SEX to take place on the call (?? - covering their own ass) all the license does is restrict the lady from doing her job and allows the local law enforcement to harass her easily as they can pass out by-law tickets a lot easier than charging someone under the criminal code. The by-law gives the city (and the police) the power to hand out municipal by-law tickets to people who are NOT breaking any laws under the criminal code of Canada. Many of these by-law charges are being disputed (It is the right of the individual to be able to appeal the by-law ticket in a actual court of law with a real justice of the peace who will look out for that individuates rights) the judges are seeing first hand that these ladies are prostitutes and not "Escorts" by the cities definition and these by-law tickets are being thrown out left and right. If the lady says "I am a prostitute" in her advertising (or a "Sex worker" or anything that distinguishes here as a sex trade worker the judge will throw out the ticket as the licensing is not for sex workers it is for escorts and companions who do not have sex for money... and well we all know they may as well license unicorns while they are at it as both things do not exist!). The cities continue to push these by-law tickets because many of the ladies are uneducated in regards to the law, many will pay the ticket (making the business less profitable and therefore less desirable). Some will even get scared and leave town ... often without disputing the ticket as facing a real judge and admitting to being a "Prostitute" is scary for a lady who knows nothing of the law except for what she has heard and seen on TV. Since most of our TV is American content and they have laws against prostitution many of the ladies get scared that they will go to jail. Many of the ladies also do not know the difference between a by-law infraction and a criminal charge. With the help of online forums like cerb.ca this is slowly changing. We explain that a by-law ticket is not a criminal charge, it has no permanent record, no jail time. If you refuse to pay the ticket they will send a collection agency after you (the same as a parking ticket) and you may not be "Allowed" to purchase a license to be a "Escort" if you don't pay your fine. When the police show up, take all the ladies info, tell her that she has been caught breaking a "Law" and then issue the lady a ticket (sometimes worth thousands of dollars) the ladies panic, they don't realize they have not actually been charged under a criminal code offense. They run out and warn their friends in the business and this makes the by-law a very good scare tactic for the police and the cities. This even makes some of the ladies leave town and go to cities without by-laws. The bottom line is that prostitution is legal in Canada but the cities put these by-laws in place to force the legally working escorts out of the city and in some cases to profit off the ladies. Some cities force the escorts to work for a "Agency" to obtain a individual license. How can this even be allowed to happen? The cities are not fooling anyone. We all know that a "Escort" is a "prostitute." You will NEVER find a "Escort" in Canada who does not offer sexual services as part of the "date." For a city to define the word "escort" in a by-law is abusing their rights. A city is not legally allowed to make a by-law because of MORAL reasons. They are not permitted to unjustly remove a person's right to legally do their job and they are NOT allowed to license prostitution under the current criminal code of Canada. 2) With the advent of the Internet, how has the escort biz changed? Better? Worse? Added safety? Less safety? Personally, I never would have entered the industry without the anonymity the internet provides. It has allowed me to supplement my income in a major way and has truly changed my life in many positive ways financially for myself and my children. (Not living paycheque to paycheque and enjoying life a bit more.) The internet has allowed me to incorporate escorting into my life in a way that works well for me and maintains my anonymity. Other ladies have told me the escort business has got better in some ways because of the internet because there are more options for advertising and exposure which newspaper advertising did not afford women. Men can access women's e-mail addresses, stats, photographs and specialties within minutes and make a more informed decision as to whether they want to see us. It does not, however, makes things safer because clients can e-mail from anonymous accounts and on public computers if they really want to "hide". In other ways the internet has made it "worse" for legitimate escorts because unscrupulous providers and clients - who once roamed the streets - are now online mixing in with honest sex-trade workers and giving legitimate clients a real headache trying to sort out the good from the bad. Free boards like Craig's List are infamous for their scams. In the Ottawa region, this is a blog called cowboysdiary.blogspot.com, which is specifically aimed at identifying scammers. Local scams are also identified in online review forums such as http://www.cerb.ca and help both sex trade workers and their clients become more informed about dangers. i.e. Sex trade workers have a private area where they trade information about bad clients and clients have areas where they can report sex trade workers who are scamming them (i.e. placing a photograph of a playboy bunny in their ad and Big Bertha actually coming to the clients doors) There are so many scammers now on websites like Craig's List, it is hard to get on top of them all, and again, it gives legitimate providers like myself a challenge in "standing apart from the crowd" if we choose to advertise on those free sites as well. Scammers = trouble = potential trouble (for both parties, actually). .... continued in next post ...

Thank you Mod & AngelaofOttawa! I took your answers and incorporated them into my own response ... using many of your exact same words. Here is my final response to the reporter. Chances are that she will only use a few sentences, but it gives her a lot of information to select from. I am also hoping she gives CERB the plug it deserves in her article. I'll scan and post the article when it appears in the newspaper.

I thought I'd bump this with the hopes that I hear back from more ladies. I'd like to get back to this journalist today or tomorrow. Any other thoughts?

Thanks Angela ... Awesome ideas that I will definitely use in my response. I look forward to hearing from more ladies.

I've been sent a few email questions by a local journalist in Winnipeg. Since I'm retiring soon, I thought I would take the time to help her out and hopefully do my small part in educating the general public about the profession and what we deal with as escorts. Since I've only been in the industry for 4 months now (and am retiring at the end of the month) I am wanting to make sure that I respond in the most educated way that makes my colleagues (you ladies) proud. Can you please give me some guidance in how you would answer these questions if they were posed to you? I will take the best responses and information you provide, combine the information into some great answers and respond to her in a way that uses all of our minds. When the article is published, I'll then scan it on here for everyone to read. Could you please provide your thoughts for good answers based on each question number below? REPORTERS COMMENTARY IN EMAIL Hi Mandalay -- Thanks for the links. This is an interesting line given some recent reporting I did on the death of Cherisse Houle: It’s clear that we are nowhere near a comfortable place on this issue. But I’d like to think that even those on the other side of the debate can grasp what Kuzyk is saying: “If we had the same access to health and safety resources on the job as other Canadians, there wouldn’t be so many of us getting murdered.” Here's the link to my story on Cherisse that I did with her family. http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/awful-questions-on-top-of-grief-50118217.html I have a lot of community contacts with people familiar with street work by women. Way less so on the escort side. (which I'd like to change) So, as starting point, here's some questions: QUESTION #1 How do you feel about licensing? Does it enhance safety for women? QUESTION #2 With the advent of the Internet, how has the escort biz changed? Better? Worse? Added safety? Less safety? QUESTION #3 I hear there are less licensed escorts now. How does this affect the city industry? Relationships with police if there's a problem to report? I am really appreciative of any and all input you can provide. As I said, I think you have a perspective that many of our readers might not otherwise hear. And it's an important one. Protecting your identity is also crucial so you can share information freely. I've stuck an article below my colleague Bart wrote on the new personal escort licenses. How are they working? Rules for escort services change Winnipeg Free Press Mon Apr 21 2008 Page: A4 Section: City Byline: Bartley Kives Escort services in Winnipeg will be required to record where they send their employees as part of crime-prevention measures built into a new business-licensing bylaw. The proposed Doing Business In Winnipeg Bylaw, which was designed to eliminate red tape, will see the city stop bothering to approve 55 out of 80 business activities listed under an existing set of rules known as the City of Winnipeg Licence Bylaw. Most of the activities the city will no longer regulate -- such as amusement parlours, soap manufacturers and barber shops -- are either governed by the province or already get dealt with by city zoning regulations. Other activities, such as psychic readers, are no longer considered a public concern. But the new rules first announced in January also call for a handful of new protective measures, including an insistence that escort services know where their employees are going at all times. Escort services will no longer be required to record the names and addresses of clients, mainly because those clients rarely offer their real names anyway. The report also recommends a comprehensive review of the way the city regulates escort services, specifically with an eye for crime prevention. Other new security measures embedded in the bylaw include new rules for pawn shops and second-hand dealers. A 15-day hold period for selling recently obtained goods will be expanded to bicycles and precious metals to allow the Winnipeg Police Service more time to track down stolen property. There are also new licencing requirements for large public venues such as concert halls or arenas, mostly to deal with potential fire threats, while swimming pools will be regulated more closely because of health concerns. But overall, the new Doing Business In Winnipeg Bylaw eliminates more rules than it creates. For example, there is now just one licencing category for outdoor mobile food vendors -- and no licencing requirement at all for carts selling only fresh, uncut fruits and vegetables. The new rules will come into effect on June 1, pending approval today at Katz's cabinet and Wednesday at city council as a whole.

I believe as an SP it is only fair to provide accurate representation of what you look like for the client. It's only fair. Just think of how we feel when we see an item in a flyer that looks exactly what we were looking for. We rush down to the store only to find out that it doesn't look the same as the photograph as it does in person. Most would be disappointed. Men are paying us hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars for our time. We owe it to them to provide exactly what we are advertising. I would get your new pics done ASAP to avoid an uncomfortable situation like this again.

There are just 18 more days until I retire ... I look forward to enjoying myself to the max during this time! http://www.escortmandalay.com

Great story. Thanks for sharing!

I would love to see it! Please look into it and let us know.

Susie, where can we see your documentary? I am very interested in watching it.

My significant other discovered this article in Toronto Now Magazine a month or so ago. I was finally able to find it online and would love to hear everyone's thoughts. http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=169559

Thank you for the kind words. I am available and still happily working up until July 31st ... so there's plenty of time to see me if you'd like!