I was recently contacted to do two seperate stories... One I flatly refused do to the fact that it was for TV... I found out later that W5 aired the story of another a week and a half later.
The second was for the Ryerson paper. They were doing one on Students in the sex industry. They managed to get my attention, and now I will post what was written.
**************************************************
Jenn Angel's first day at her new job was as tentative and nerve-wracking as a first date.
In fact, that's exactly what it was.
Four years ago, Angel was living in Kingston, Ont. and attending high school when she decided to earn some fast cash by working for an escort agency. "I had friends who did it. They said the money was good."
Before meeting up with her first client, who was in his thirties, at his hotel room, the then 18-year-old was "nervous as sin."
"[But] it was a really nice dinner | in an expensive restaurant and we managed to converse all through dinner. He treated me like an old friend," says Angel, who won't confess whether or not she slept with him on her first night at the job.
Angel, 22, is one of many university and college students paying for their tuition by working in the sex industry. And when sex becomes a commodity, there is money to be made. Most escort services charge between $200-300 an hour, a wage that cash-strapped students will not find working at the local Starbucks.
An aviation management student at Georgian College, Angel divides her time between going to school in Barrie, Ont. and working as an independent escort in Toronto. She charges up to $250 an hour, or $600 for three continuous hours of her company. For international clients, rates are negotiable. And for those looking to catch Angel's full-figured body on camera, the viewing price is a hefty $500.
Agencies and escorts have a ?you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours' approach to the business. The student escort attacts men solely on the basis of her youthful look, and the agency sets up the appointments.
Tom, owner of Toronto escort agencies Executive Choice and Catchet Ladies, says men prefer students who look young - as young as possible, in many cases.
A buxom 5-foot-10 and 200 lbs, Angel commands attention in a room. Her curly blonde hair flows around her face, dotted with both a nose and tongue piercing.
"Everybody says I have a pretty face and everybody says I have great tits," says Angel, who doesn't know many women who share her G-40 bra size.
Angel has no pretenses about the unorthodox business she is involved in. Nor is she overtly secretive about what she does, except when it may involve hurting others. As an escort, she maintains the utmost respect for her clients. "I'm sorry, but no matter what I say or do, my client's discretion is involved. They pay me to be discreet and not screw it up for them," says Angel, who bears the responsibility of soliciting those clients by herself.
Angel went solo last January because the agency she was working for wasn't giving her enough clients. While soliticing clients independent of an agency gives escorts the ability to be their own boss, the baggage that comes with marketing themselves is often a lot of trouble for students with limited time.
"When you're an independent, you do it all yourself, there's nobody else there. If you don't have the bookings coming in off your ads ... that's your own problem," says Angel, who relies on her Web site to attract clients.
In recent years, the sex industry has created a culture that thrives on the Web. A sex-seeker only has to type in the word ?escort' and the name of the city he lives in and hundreds of Web sites and directories pop up. More than a few offer university students for an intimate evening. Angel, like many others, has no problem calling herself a student in the bio on her Web page.
The actual number of women who work in the sex trade is hard to determine. Women who work temporarily as escorts, such as students, don't necessarily identify themselves as being sex workers, says Maurganne Mooney, an outreach coordinator for Maggie's, a Toronto-based advocacy group for sex workers. "They may go in and out of sex work throughout their education."
Anonymity is another statistical loop-hole in the industry, because not only are women afraid to identify themselves as sex workers for fear of legal issues, but also because of the stigma attached to job.
Angel gets the "heebeegeebees" when she thinks of all the men she has slept with since she started escorting.
...TBC
The second was for the Ryerson paper. They were doing one on Students in the sex industry. They managed to get my attention, and now I will post what was written.
**************************************************
Jenn Angel's first day at her new job was as tentative and nerve-wracking as a first date.
In fact, that's exactly what it was.
Four years ago, Angel was living in Kingston, Ont. and attending high school when she decided to earn some fast cash by working for an escort agency. "I had friends who did it. They said the money was good."
Before meeting up with her first client, who was in his thirties, at his hotel room, the then 18-year-old was "nervous as sin."
"[But] it was a really nice dinner | in an expensive restaurant and we managed to converse all through dinner. He treated me like an old friend," says Angel, who won't confess whether or not she slept with him on her first night at the job.
Angel, 22, is one of many university and college students paying for their tuition by working in the sex industry. And when sex becomes a commodity, there is money to be made. Most escort services charge between $200-300 an hour, a wage that cash-strapped students will not find working at the local Starbucks.
An aviation management student at Georgian College, Angel divides her time between going to school in Barrie, Ont. and working as an independent escort in Toronto. She charges up to $250 an hour, or $600 for three continuous hours of her company. For international clients, rates are negotiable. And for those looking to catch Angel's full-figured body on camera, the viewing price is a hefty $500.
Agencies and escorts have a ?you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours' approach to the business. The student escort attacts men solely on the basis of her youthful look, and the agency sets up the appointments.
Tom, owner of Toronto escort agencies Executive Choice and Catchet Ladies, says men prefer students who look young - as young as possible, in many cases.
A buxom 5-foot-10 and 200 lbs, Angel commands attention in a room. Her curly blonde hair flows around her face, dotted with both a nose and tongue piercing.
"Everybody says I have a pretty face and everybody says I have great tits," says Angel, who doesn't know many women who share her G-40 bra size.
Angel has no pretenses about the unorthodox business she is involved in. Nor is she overtly secretive about what she does, except when it may involve hurting others. As an escort, she maintains the utmost respect for her clients. "I'm sorry, but no matter what I say or do, my client's discretion is involved. They pay me to be discreet and not screw it up for them," says Angel, who bears the responsibility of soliciting those clients by herself.
Angel went solo last January because the agency she was working for wasn't giving her enough clients. While soliticing clients independent of an agency gives escorts the ability to be their own boss, the baggage that comes with marketing themselves is often a lot of trouble for students with limited time.
"When you're an independent, you do it all yourself, there's nobody else there. If you don't have the bookings coming in off your ads ... that's your own problem," says Angel, who relies on her Web site to attract clients.
In recent years, the sex industry has created a culture that thrives on the Web. A sex-seeker only has to type in the word ?escort' and the name of the city he lives in and hundreds of Web sites and directories pop up. More than a few offer university students for an intimate evening. Angel, like many others, has no problem calling herself a student in the bio on her Web page.
The actual number of women who work in the sex trade is hard to determine. Women who work temporarily as escorts, such as students, don't necessarily identify themselves as being sex workers, says Maurganne Mooney, an outreach coordinator for Maggie's, a Toronto-based advocacy group for sex workers. "They may go in and out of sex work throughout their education."
Anonymity is another statistical loop-hole in the industry, because not only are women afraid to identify themselves as sex workers for fear of legal issues, but also because of the stigma attached to job.
Angel gets the "heebeegeebees" when she thinks of all the men she has slept with since she started escorting.
...TBC
