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Louis: How many clients have you seen this week?
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX
Woman: Five or six.
You take the cash before anything happens?
- Yes, I do. Yes. - And count it?
- Yes. I always count it in front of them.
- Yeah, I would find that embarrassing if I was an escort.
But I'm not, but Caroline's more mercenary.
- [sighs] I'm ready.
- Mmm. Mmm, OK.
- But I just wanted to say that I belong to you.
I'm yours, but I want to give myself to another man...
- Mmm. - ..for an hour.
So I just wondered if you could give me away to him?
- OK, darling. Yes, I give you away to Dave for the hour.
- Yeah. - Mmm.
- Mmm. Thank you. - [they kiss]
[soft solemn music]
Louis: For several months, I've been spending time with
women around Britain who legally sell sex for a living.
- Bah! [laughs]
- Fuelled by websites and social media,
a new economy has emerged,
bringing a world of transactional sex
to people who might never previously have considered it.
- [reads] A splendidly satisfactory young lady.
- Wow! That one's almost, I don't know, written in...
- Eloquent.
- ..sort of Victorian English. - [laughs]
But the act still carries a weight of stigma,
and many view it as damaging and degrading.
- People say that I'm a bad mum and stuff like that,
'cause I do what I do.
But, you know, we're just providing a service,
that's what we're doing.
- Raising the question of whether selling sex
can ever be a healthy way to make money.
[reads] I'm very relaxed and will give you a genuine,
not acted, real girlfriend experience.
I promise you that we will have a time you will never forget.
[soft music]
[computer keystrokes]
In Nottingham, I had a breakfast appointment.
[knock on door]
- Hi! Louis. - Hello!
- Are you Victoria? - I am.
- Nice to meet you. - And you.
- Can we come in? - Yeah, come on in.
What do you want, you lot?
Who's having toast?
- At 33 years old, Victoria, her working name,
is a single mum and sole provider for her family.
- No. - Kid: Yeah!
- For the last 4.5 years,
she's worked in the sex industry.
- How many children do you have? - Four.
- Socks would be a bonus at some point, wouldn't they?
- Listen to Mummy. You need to go and put your socks on.
- Kid: Yay!
- Victoria: Bye! - Louis: Bye!
- I'll let you sit on the comfy chair. [laughs]
This is me, yeah.
- Like an increasing number of women who sell sex,
Victoria finds her clients through social media
and a website called Adult Work.
- So, I'll show you my profile.
- Is that you? - That's me, yeah.
- [reads] Classy Filth69.
I'm very honest, caring, upfront and extremely classy lady,
who enjoys all the finer things in life,
but when it comes to the bedroom,
I'm the most naughtiest, filthiest lady
you would ever meet.
- What do you think?
- It's the Yin and the Yang. I like it.
- Yeah.
- And how many bookings would you expect to get on a day
when you are on?
- I normally get about four.
- So, that... - Four in one day?
- Yeah. So you gotta understand
I still like to take the children to school,
so, and then I'll try and do my bookings,
the majority of them, while the children are at school.
- It's important to you to be around for the kids?
- Yeah. So, I always say, like,
my main job is to be a mother.
Then the second is, obviously, work.
That's why this is a perfect job for me, you know?
Flexible.
- Louis: Victoria never takes bookings at home.
She does most of her appointments
at hotels around Nottingham,
charging around 250 pounds an hour.
How much do we know about this guy? This client?
- I've seen him practically, like, once a week he sees me.
He's a single guy.
He can just keep going and going and going and going.
- Are you aware of there being
a degree of danger involved in the work?
- There's a danger in anything, isn't there?
And I think that this is a lot less dangerous
than me on a night out, being drunk and meeting somebody
and going back to a hotel with somebody.
But I think you just have to be on guard.
[soft music]
- Have you worked in this one before?
- Yes.
- Do you need to get into... - I need to get changed.
- I need to jump in the shower.
- You need to get into game mode. Yeah.
[shower running]
[phone chimes]
- I'm coming.
Going and going, isn't it?
That's it, I'm dressed now.
- That's all the jobs coming. - Is it?
- Yeah. - It's popping off?
- Yeah, it's dinner time.
- Dinner time. - Yeah, break time.
- Right. People on their lunch break...
- Yeah. - Popping out for a quickie.
- Yeah.
[knock on door]
- With the client arriving, it was time for me to leave.
The exchange of sex for money is legal in Britain
so long as it doesn't involve coercion, exploitation
or any kind of public nuisance.
And with the advent of social media
and specialist websites it is on the rise.
Technology has made sexual services more accessible
than ever before, with every taste catered to.
Users can see photos, check reviews
and offer feedback.
But the age old issue
of whether sex should ever be traded remains.
[pensive music]
A growing number of those involved
are said to be students trying to make ends meet
while they pursue an education.
In South West London I was meeting a 23-year-old
in her final year of art school.
- Hello! - Come in.
- Are you Ashleigh? - That's me.
- Louis. How do you do? - Hi! Can we hug instead?
- Of course. - [laughs]
- Louis: For several years, Ashleigh had streamed
live sex shows from home for money.
Six weeks earlier she'd taken the step of opening an account
on an industry website.
- Welcome! [laughs] - I like it. Top floor.
Ashleigh also has Asperger's.
She lives with her best friend, Georgina.
It's really nice. It's got so much character.
So I understand you've got a booking tonight?
- Yeah, at eight o'clock.
- Did it come through Adult Work?
- Yeah. So, I put myself as available
at about three o'clock today,
and this guy messaged me, being like, "Oh, I'm in Fulham.
"Can you come out for an hour?"
And he was, like, "I'm 25, 5 foot 10, same height as you.
"Clean." Like, I know.
Like, it's gonna... Yeah, it should be fine.
- Have you got reviews of the guy?
- That I'm going to see? - Yeah.
- OK, let me have a look. - Have you looked at them?
- No. Let me go and look.
Well, they were all positive so, like, that was fine.
- Yeah. If you go on it and they're all positive...
- So, he's got 498. - ..there's not really a...
- [gasps] - Louis: Reviews?
- Yeah. "Good guy. Big cock. Knows how to use it." Ah!
[laughs]
"One hour full of orgasms and pleasure. Kiss, kiss, kiss."
- "Expected someone coy. Was instead surprised by a real man,
"someone who genuinely taught me so much about my own body."
- Maybe I'm in for a wild ride tonight.
- Wow!
- "Handsome and possessed great skill."
- Who knows? Maybe I'll come out a different woman?
- Sounds like you've got someone
who's been around the block a few times.
- Oh, I'm ready for it. Bring it on, bitch!
[laughter]
- Brm, brm! Can I get dressed? - Yeah, please. Yeah.
- I'm getting nervous. Sorry. Brm, brm! [chuckles]
- Gonna be really late. - Well, let's just go then.
- [laughs] - Let's go.
- I'll just be, like, "Ah, ah!"
- How are you feeling?
- I'm fine, to be honest. I'm, like, excited. It's quite fun.
Like, it's like going out, but without the commitment,
'cause it's only one hour and I can leave.
- How many bookings would you say you've had
in the six weeks you've been doing it?
- Oh, gosh. 50?
Yeah, maybe? Yeah.
- That's quite a lot, isn't it?
- I know that a lot of people say, like,
"Oh, you don't have to do this,"
like, you know, "Saviour complex."
Like, I don't need to be saved. I'm doing it on my own terms,
and I'm actually in power in this situation.
And I feel empowered by it, and if that's how I feel,
then that's all that matters really, you know what I mean?
- Would you expect to have an orgasm if you had sex?
- No. I think that I'm, like, a bit closed off with
letting myself have the enjoyment.
It's more about the scenario.
I will orgasm if I'm in a scenario where I feel calm
and comfortable, as opposed to, like, the actual pleasure.
- But you'd expect to be aroused?
- Well, I just get aroused by being touched.
- Do you?
- Yeah, like, if you were to put your arm on my leg right now,
I'd probably be aroused.
Like, people always compliment me, I guess, being, like,
"Oh, you're always so wet. You must be so into it."
And I'm just, like, "Honey, I'm always wet," like...
[laughs] I'm just aroused a lot of the time.'
Yeah. [laughs]
- OK, then. - [laughs]
Let me just have a cigarette. [laughs]
[solemn music]
- With a moment to myself, I reflected on the strangeness
of what was taking place.
Behind a closed door, Ashleigh was providing
what is usually understood to be the most intimate physical act
to a stranger for money.
I wondered whether she was safe
and how she really felt about what was happening.
An hour later, she re-emerged.
- How was it? - It was great!
- I don't know, he was, like, I'm 23, he was, like, 25,
and he had, like, nice hair, and he was kind of, like,
cool, I guess.
- And I was just, like... - Really?
- "I would date you, I don't know why you're paying me,
"'cause I would go on a date with you."
And I said to him, I was like, "Why do you use Adult Work?
"Like, why not just go on Tinder or whatever?"
And he was like, "On the weekend,
"it's popping off on Tinder. During the week, not so much.
"Everyone's got a job, so gotta get on the old Adult Work
"and it's less, like, commitment, innit?"
- Well, I'm just conscious that you are six weeks in.
- It's still really... - Early days.
- ..early days. - Exactly.
I've been so lucky with the clients that I've got
and the way that, like, it's gone for me.
- So, now you are feeling, what's in your...
- I feel great. I've got money in my bag.
I've been sexually satisfied.
[laughs] I'm gonna go home and order a pizza.
Probably chain smoke some Marlboro cigarettes,
menthol at the moment.
[solemn music]
[plane engine]
- Louis: The common criticism of selling sex,
that the act is necessarily intimate
and should not be traded,
is made even more real
when the person involved is in a relationship.
I was curious to meet a woman participating in
the sexual economy but who is part of a committed couple.
- Hello! - Hi!
- Can I come in? - Come in.
- How are you?
In West Sussex, I was with Caroline,
who describes herself as an escort,
and her husband of 44 years, Graham,
a chartered surveyor.
- On my wedding day was one of the first times
I discovered that I loved being the centre of attention.
- Mmm.
How old were you both?
- I was 19, and Graham was 23.
- And you were both virgins? - Mm-hm.
- Yeah.
- Because you'd come from quite a religious upbringing,
- both of you. - Yes. Yeah.
It wasn't the done thing to have sex before you got married.
Graham would have done, if I'd let him.
- But must be quite difficult.
Neither of you with any sexual experience
attempting to have sex for the first time?
- Yeah. Yes, it was interesting. - Graham: Did it work?
- No. - Oh!
[laughter]
- Didn't go very well? - Didn't go very well.
- It wasn't a revelatory experience?
- No. - Do you remember it?
- [laughs] - Vaguely. Not very well. No.
- [laughs]
- It was just on the M1, wasn't it? Trying to get North.
- [laughs] - Newport Pagnell.
- Oh, yeah! [laughs] - Is that a metaphor?
- Well, no, it was Newport... - We went... [laughs]
We went to the Lake District for our honeymoon,
so we stopped halfway in a Travelodge overnight.
- It took a while for you to get comfortable with your sexuality?
- Yeah. Definitely. Yeah.
I mean, it took quite a few years, in fact.
Quite a few years.
[soft music]
- Put your head down over...
- Louis: Downstairs, Caroline and Graham had arranged
a photo shoot for Caroline's social media
to attract more clients.
What sort of work did you do before this, Caroline?
- Dental nursing.
I'm still a qualified dental nurse,
but I don't really do it much anymore.
- Do you want to do an explicit one with your bra off?
- OK.
- When you decided to do it, was it for the money
or the adventure or the pleasure of the sex?
- I never thought about being an escort
until we met some friends on holiday
when we were in the South of France,
and she told us that she was an escort.
Probably took me about a year to come to the decision.
But when she first said it, Graham said,
"Ooh, you ought to do that."
- I was joking, to be honest.
- He was joking but one percent serious.
You know, I struggle with,
or have done over the years, with my self-esteem.
So this helps me to see myself in a better light,
when I can see that lots of men want to come and see me
and they fancy me.
It makes me feel better about myself.
And now Graham's my biggest encourager.
- Right. Now turn round to face the mirror.
Yeah. That's great.
[soft music]
- Louis: I was back in Nottingham with Victoria.
I'd been curious to get to know a little more about her.
I knew she'd had to rebuild her life five years earlier
when she'd left the father of her children.
Tell me if you need a hand with anything.
She'd also told me she'd had a difficult upbringing,
moving out of the family home at 14.
I wondered how that had affected her later on.
She was getting her kit bag ready for an appointment.
- Oh, I'm so disorganised.
- What were you looking for?
- A stocking. I only had one stocking.
- Oh.
- [laughs]
- This is gonna sound like a really weird,
open-ended question, OK, but,
what do you think is the right way of doing it?
- What's the right way of doing sex?
- Mmm. - Everybody's different.
Everybody's different, aren't they?
So...
- For you, then. - For me?
I see having a cuddle as sex. [laughs]
I've had, like, so many bad sexual experiences,
like, people just abusing me, taking everything from me
from being 14, that I just think there's nothing...
I can just easily do it. There's nothing...
There's no good connection there through sex.
So I've turned it around,
so I've got an ability to be able to have sex with anybody
and it not mean anything, so I can easily go do my job.
Do you know what I mean?
So I just look at it in a positive way.
[laughs] Is that bad? [laughs]
- Does it feel bad?
- No. No.
I'm not doing anything wrong or illegal,
or anything that people don't want to do.
People want to do this. People come to me, you know?
I just use it as an advantage.
Do you see what I mean? So...
- Were you abused when you were...
Before you were 14, were you abused?
- No. 14. I was just a stray of a kid, really.
I was everywhere and everywhere, so people took advantage.
Especially one guy in particular, who was 25.
Obviously, he just see me as vulnerable, but...
Yeah.
- Someone who took advantage of you?
- Yeah. Yeah.
So... [laughs]
But when you're young and when you're vulnerable
and when you've got nowhere to go and nothing to do,
you don't go to school, you don't have really a home...
and somebody shows an interest,
you don't realise it's just sexual.
You'd think that they care about you and stuff like that,
you know?
So, I used to do all these crazy sexual things
to keep him happy.
Yeah, sex is just not the same for me as most people.
I think that's the best way to word it, I think.
- Is that all that's coming? I can carry that.
- Are you sure? - Yeah.
- Must be good for something. - Oh, I'm hot now. [laughs]
- Is that it? - That's it. All done.
[solemn music]
- The revelation of Victoria's abuse seemed to put her decision
to sell sex in a different light.
Now seemed a side effect of her upbringing,
but whether that made it the wrong lifestyle for her
was a different question.
We were on our way to another hotel.
One of her regulars had agreed to speak to me
with his identity protected.
[knock on door]
- Victoria: Hello! - Louis: How are you doing?
- Man: Nervous. - Louis: Yeah. I can imagine.
Victoria was saying that you've been seeing each other
for a couple of months, wasn't it?
- Couple of months, yeah.
- How did you first find out about her?
- It was through an online site actually.
- Mmm.
- Looked at Victoria's profile, I went really, really deep
into the research of, like, what she's like.
- As I understand it,
you were coming out of a relationship, is that right?
- Yes, that's correct. It had kinda gone dead.
In fact, there was no contact anymore, no...
- No physical side to it?
- No physical side to it, no emotional side to it.
I was kinda crying out for basically some attention.
- Mmm.
Is the aim to get back to a kind of girlfriend relationship?
- I don't know what I want at the minute.
I think I'm trying to find my way
of reconnecting with new people again.
And this has been kind of a big help for that.
It's actually been a big boost of confidence for me.
- I think this is, like, a bit of fresh air.
A breath of fresh air, do you know what I mean?
And I think without that, that could...
you could spiral down into depression.
- I could. Yeah, like you say, I could...
- Like, problem... I don't know. That's my thinking.
- Oh, yeah. No, I know I could have spiralled out really badly.
- Is it important for you that Victoria enjoys
having sex with you?
- Oh, God, yeah.
I only want us to do things that we both wanna do together.
I'm not interested in meeting somebody who's just...
there to please me in that kinda way and then leave it at that.
- But at the same time, we have to acknowledge
that she would not be having sex with you
were it not for the professional arrangement, right?
- I would assume so. - Yeah.
- It's not something I've actually given
a lot of thought to.
I don't know where I sit with that at the minute.
[solemn music]
- I was surprised at the apparent vulnerability
of Victoria's client
and also by him failing to consider
whether Victoria might not enjoy the sex.
I wondered about the impact on her
of having to impersonate a level of intimacy she didn't feel.
[soft music]
[child laughs]
- Victoria: You can have your TV on for a little bit.
- Louis: later that day, back at home,
it was time for the evening routine with the kids.
Who's in this one, then?
This is like being on a submarine, this one.
- Kid: Yeah! - Whoa!
- It's quite long, isn't it? - Victoria: It's huge.
- Uh-oh! There's a ninja.
He's got a special way of ninja walking.
[Victoria laughs]
- He's so quiet when he's ninja walking.
[Victoria laughs]
- He's ninja-walked away.
Victoria had told me she planned to tell her boys what she does
when they're older,
but she's made no secret of it in the wider community
Show me around. What have we got in here?
Among those in the know is her daughter,
14-year-old Sapphire, who she told a year ago.
We talked a little bit downstairs, didn't we,
about escorting?
What's your view of it?
- I think, if she wants to do it, then it's her choice.
Nobody should, like, not accept that,
or nobody should say anything bad about it
because it's her decision.
- Do you understand why some people don't like it?
- Yeah, it's just a job that people see as a negative job.
Like, if you're in a bank, that's a good job.
If you're a cleaner, that's seen as a bad job.
It's just one of the jobs that people don't like,
and I think that because she has children, as well,
people are like, "That's setting a bad example for your kids."
But we don't mind. Well, I don't mind, anyway.
She's come from, like, not having a lot
to having everything that she needs and a lot more, so.
Yeah, really proud of her.
- She seems like she's a really good mum.
- She is. She is a really good mum.
[soft music]
[child laughs]
- Victoria: Bring me your Lego box.
- Louis: I left Victoria struck by the contrast
between a happy and stable home
and the way that many would view the work
that was underpinning it.
[solemn music]
It's hard to know how much the cost of selling sex
stems from the sense of judgement it brings with it.
But it's been suggested that younger people
may take a less critical view.
I wondered what Ashleigh's friends
thought about her lifestyle
and, so, I'd arranged to meet some of them at a parent's house
where they were discussing a joint art project.
- We wanted to show the extremes of, like, the sex work stuff.
Louisa is our designer.
- I've been brought on... - Costume.
- ..just to do costumes, I'm not performing.
- Are you curious how Ashleigh's found it so far, the sex work?
- Yeah, kind of. I mean, I presume you're happy?
- Yeah, I'm fine. - Yeah?
- There you go.
If I was upset, they'd both be able to tell, for one.
And, like, they just won't pry.
Like, if I say, "I'm fine," they know that's just it,
I'm fine, they don't need to ask questions.
So they're both very supportive.
And I've fucked her over millions of times.
- So many times.
- I've been so horrible to her in the past.
- I think a lot of people in your life have, like,
come against a struggle or something that's difficult
about your friendship and just cut you off, and just been,
like, "Do you know what? I don't need it."
- Are you saying that a friendship with Ashleigh
comes with a certain amount of drama?
- Ashleigh: Yeah. - [laughter]
- Hell, yeah. Hell, yeah. - That's putting it lightly.
- No, no, that's, like, that's a teaspoon.
Oh, some person in one of my other friendship groups
that I'm friends with
has decided to book me for his birthday,
so I'm gonna have sex with,
like, one of my friends for his birthday.
- It sounds potentially quite confusing,
I would have thought, no?
- What's confusing? [laughs]
- [sighs] I don't know.
- He's just my friend who's gonna come round
and have sex on his birthday.
I'm offering a service, he wants the service,
and that's how it's going. And nothing's gonna come of it.
- It's actually better doing it this way,
because if there wasn't an exchange happening,
like, financially, then that would be more confusing, surely?
- Yeah.
- And then afterwards he'll go back to being your friend?
- Yeah. - I guess that can work.
- Yeah. - I don't know.
- I mean, that's kind of what our generation are like anyway.
- Yeah. - Really?
- If you look in many friendship groups,
most people have had sex with each other.
Not every friendship group, like, definitely.
- Yeah, it's what happens.
- But I think sex now, even compared to,
like, 20 years ago, is just so liberal.
Like, just, like...
And, like, quite meaningless to a lot of people.
Dating apps have come almost to fill the need
of how we have sex with each other in these days.
- How long do you think you're gonna do it for?
- I can't see myself in the future having a real job.
A real job? I mean, like, a 9-to-5
is what I mean when I say "real job."
Like, standard as a 9-to-5.
Just because of, like, my head.
If I was making enough money from just doing art stuff,
then, fab, but, like, I'm fine working like everyone else,
to get my money to pay for things.
I don't expect it to be given to me.
- That's good, isn't it? [laughs]
- Louis: It was reassuring to see Ashleigh in the midst
of a caring peer group.
I was struck by their view that sex was something that
could be freely traded between acquaintances and strangers
without consequences,
though I also had the impression of them wanting to make
a show of support for a friend
they viewed as a little bit vulnerable.
For those who are close to someone selling sex,
I could only imagine there must be a balance between,
on the one hand, respecting their choice,
and on the other, wanting to save them from a lifestyle
many still view as damaging.
And for those in a committed relationship, even more so.
In West Sussex, I was back with Caroline and Graham.
- Is that alright for you, Louis? [speaks French]
- Merci beaucoup.
- [speaks French] [laughs]
- Mmm! - I've no idea what that meant.
- What time is the client coming?
- He's coming at ten.
- What can you tell me about him?
- Nice guy, middle-aged.
- Mm-hm. Meaning, 60? 50?
- Fifties. - Mm-hm. He's someone you...
- I've met him quite a few times, yes.
- He's a regular? - He's a regular. Yeah.
- So, this picture stays up, does it?
- Yeah. Yeah.
- I mean, that could almost be a bit off-putting, couldn't it?
You are maybe paying for the girlfriend experience...
- Mmm.
- ..and then there's a picture of a random guy...
with his hands on your "girlfriend..."
- Yes. - ..that you've paid for.
- Yeah, well, that's a good point, yeah.
- But then there's the other side.
You make no secret of the fact that you're married.
- No, I don't make any secret of the fact that I'm married.
- You mentioned, I think, that you do...
or at least sometimes,
you do enjoy having sex with your clients...
- Yes, I do. - ..maybe, right?
- Because I think it's an amazing job,
if you like to call it that, that I can have,
to give so many men so much pleasure.
And I know that I do that.
I make so many men happy, and I love that.
- And it makes you happy, by the way.
- And it makes me happy. It makes me happy.
Basically, for most of my life,
I've not wanted to be in the foreground at all.
I've been like a snail sort of in its shell.
And I've always sort of hidden behind Graham
and I feel like it's my time
to come out and be the person... the real me.
And I feel like, you know, this sort of sexual freedom
that I've moved into is the real me.
[solemn music]
- So, when I'm around, I'll often do this.
Well, I know the dress I like.
From what you've told me about him, he'll like that.
- [sighs] I'm ready.
Well, you have a great time. Enjoy yourself.
- Louis: With the client en route, Graham and I left
for a local pub to give them some space.
It would also be a chance to talk to him about his marriage.
When she became a little bit emotional back at the house,
what was behind that?
- She was brought up to believe that women should be seen...
Well, probably not even seen. Not seen and not heard.
And that was her upbringing,
and she just carried it on into her adult life.
I knew, for example, sexually, she was pretty...
suppressed, to put it mildly, so that was an issue.
- Meaning what?
- Well, she just didn't want to have sex.
- At all? - No.
So if I'd been different, I would have probably been a guy
who would go and see escorts.
So I kept on thinking, you know, "How can I initiate her?
"How can I... Maybe she might change."
I never dreamt that Caroline would take it this far.
- Really? - Oh, never.
No, I didn't have the end game in mind
that the final part of this for Caroline would be an escort.
- It sounds as though having sorta nudged her along the way,
now she's taken off like a rocket,
and you're now in the position, slightly paradoxically,
of being less certain about where you are.
- Yes.
If we've had a row, or if things haven't gone right,
or if I feel that I haven't been thought of
or considered in some way or another,
then I can feel something negative coming out of me.
I can feel maybe a bit jealous or a bit irritated.
- About what?
- What she's doing sometimes. - Having sex with another guy?
- Yeah. We'd have these great big flare-ups,
but, of course, then so I would threaten with, you know,
that it'd be the end of our sexually free lifestyle,
end of everything.
And then, of course, four hours later we'll be fine.
I want her to be absolutely successful
as a woman in her own right,
'cause she's never been in her own right.
I want her to be happy and have pleasure.
I really do, you know, in every way, not just sexually.
[solemn music]
- Graham: Ooh, hello, gorgeous! - Mm-hm!
- How are you? - Mmm, good. [laughs]
- How was it? - Yeah, great, thank you, yeah.
Great time. Would you like a glass of that?
- Well, sure, I'll have a little one. Why not?
- Yeah. So, it was good, was it? - Mmm.
- Good? Very good? Spectacular? Awful?
Professional job?
- No, no, it wasn't a professional job.
It was a good time. It was...enjoyable.
- Mmm.
[solemn music]
- Louis: Several months into filming,
and I was still conflicted about the nature of the transaction
at the heart of the sexual economy.
Whether it was a choice freely made like any other
or a symptom of a society in which vulnerable women
were traded and controlled.
[camera clicks]
- [sighs] - That's better. I'm smiling.
- Louis: In Nottingham, Victoria had invited me
to a porn shoot she'd organised,
creating online content to sell to fans and clients.
- Victoria: OK? - Man: Better.
- Louis: I can tell you're doing a terrific job.
- Man: Thank you, Louis.
Now I'm gonna go for a medium, then a close.
- Louis: She'd told me of a plan to do more porn
and move away from private bookings.
- Man: Did you get that? - [laughter]
- You prefer the porn over the escorting, don't you?
- Yeah. I don't have to be so close and personal to people.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- Give less of yourself? - Yeah. Yeah, definitely.
- And I'm just wondering whether, just in general,
as a sensual experience,
leaving the professionalism to one side,
whether it's pleasurable?
- Um... Yeah, it can be.
- Just not today.
- It can... No. [sighs] - [laughs]
- It's so hard for me to answer this question,
because it's...
Oh, it's sex. I do it all day every day.
[solemn music]
- Loitering on set, I reflected on the paradox of leveraging
the after-effects of trauma into financial opportunity.
And whether it represented a kind of power,
or its opposite.
[solemn music]
The same new websites that have induced some women
to enter the sexual marketplace
are also bringing that world to clients who,
in the past, might never have thought of doing it.
In Croydon, South London, I was meeting Hugh.
Hello!
- Hi! - How are you?
- Great, thank you. - Louis. Nice to meet you.
At age 16, Hugh had been diagnosed
with muscular dystrophy.
He lost his virginity at 30.
But after that, his sexual experiences had dwindled away.
- Can I make you one? - By all means, yes.
- You don't have kids, is that right?
- No. - Never been married?
- Never been married, no. - Not interested?
- I know people say, "He'd never met the right person,"
but, yeah, I just never met someone who would have me.
[laughs] I mean, in the perfect world, I've always wanted a...
It seems unfair, but I've always wanted
an able-bodied girlfriend,
or not so disabled that she couldn't, well,
get on top, essentially. [laughs]
[solemn music]
- OK. Yeah.
- Louis: Hugh had an appointment that evening.
A carer arrived to get him ready.
One year earlier, Hugh had set up an account
on the main sex industry website.
- How's it going in there?
- Well, thank you. Yeah.
- You like to look your best for your date?
- Yeah. [laughs] Yes, my...my appointment.
- How many women have you seen since you started?
- Nine. The eldest, 51, youngest was about 21.
- Was there a moment or something that prompted you
to take that step?
- I think it was the realisation I was getting to a certain age,
and if I didn't do drastic action I'd go to my grave...
[laughs] ..never having sex again.
- Mmm.
Can you characterise for me how much it's meant to you?
- I mean, it's pleasurable. It's expensive.
It doesn't ruin my life.
I'd rather have a girlfriend...
but it just hasn't worked out for me for whatever reason,
be that my disability, be that my winning personality,
I don't know. [laughs]
I think a lot of women...
understandably see me
and put me in the "too complicated" category.
- Hugh was seeing someone he'd booked twice before,
a woman selling sex to supplement her income.
Would you say you've got to know each other a little bit?
- I enjoy her company very much.
- But you have to be realistic, don't you...
- Yeah. Exactly
- About what's actually taking place?
- Exactly. - Which is what?
We're enjoying each other's company in exchange for money.
I think I would be less happy
if I hadn't explored this avenue.
That, probably, well, I feel better for it, yes.
- Mmm.
- There's a little bit of guilt. [laughs softly]
I suppose paying for it was an admission of failure on my part.
[solemn music]
- I wasn't sure how to judge Hugh's choice.
I was conscious of how much I didn't know
about the young woman's story.
At the same time, his desire for a life made a little more full
by the ability to buy sex
seemed completely understandable.
[solemn music]
In my time among women selling sex,
the only one for whom the work
was not mainly motivated by money was Caroline.
Caroline had also been the only one to say clearly
she enjoyed sex with clients.
Hello!
Gonna find my friends downstairs.
- Nice to see you. - Hi! Mmm! You, too.
- But even with all the time we'd spent together,
there were aspects of her relationship with Graham
I didn't really understand.
Hoping to find out more, I was meeting them again.
- Something I wanted to show you. [laughs]
- Go on.
- 'Hot Wives'. - Yeah, you've got two there.
- And who have we got here? She looks familiar.
- [laughs] - That's you.
- Yeah. They put me on the cover.
- That's nice, isn't it?
- [laughs] Yeah. So I'm quite proud of that.
I thought that I could wear one of these.
I like that idea.
Or there's this one, as well, look,
and got a zip down the front.
- Louis: How's it going between the two of you?
- Up and down.
- Are you in a good place?
- Yes and no. It depends what time of the day you catch me.
- But, I mean, how much of any of this is to do with
either insecurity or mixed feelings
or jealousy around Caroline's work?
- Do you know, generally, I don't think it's that.
The best way I can say it, for me, is that...
To be continued.
- Louis: Uh-oh! - [Graham laughs]
- Police!
- Now, we always need to do the feel test.
- It's an important part. - Yeah.
- So... - What do you think?
- Do you like the feel? - Oh, I like that.
- It's nice and smooth. - I'll have a walk around.
- You look...gorgeous!
- Yeah, I like it. - Great. OK.
- We'll get this.
- I think I've probably spent half my life
standing outside changing rooms.
- What were you gonna say, before we were interrupted?
- I want more attention from her.
I would just like to spend more intimate
communication time with Caroline.
And that's something I didn't think through.
It started to develop inside me.
[solemn music]
- Louis: At a nearby coffee shop,
the conversation moved on
to the subject of Caroline's childhood.
- My upbringing was quite Victorian,
but also mixed with religion,
as I was brought up to believe that sex was dirty,
it was wrong.
I went into our marriage with, I think, the same attitude.
- And you feel that having led this life,
or certainly had this upbringing,
where men were dictating what you should do...
- Yeah.
- ..you feel that now, this is very different?
- Yeah.
- You are calling the shots, deciding what you want to do.
- Graham: Absolutely. - Yes. Yeah.
It's been a process over the last few years particularly,
that I've really been discovering who I am
and what I want and need.
And the experience I've had with other men
helps me have a better sex life with Graham.
- You're quite happy with your sex life with Caroline?
- She's everything I think, I want and dream of.
Which is not something I would have said a few years ago.
- Mmm.
- Forgive me for pushing a certain idea,
and I just want to get it out there,
but do you think there's a sense in which, you know,
this was a sort of fantasy that you had?
- I'm surprised as anybody could be
as to where we've landed up and where Caroline's landed up.
- Being an escort was entirely my choice, and Graham never,
at any point, told me I needed to be, or anything like that.
- I'm proud of her and I think it's amazing,
and I constantly want to be sure
that she's doing what she wants to do, though.
- Mmm.
- I worry far more about that than maybe you know.
- Yeah. - Do you really want to do this?
- Yeah. Well, some days I don't.
Some days I wake up and I think,
"Oh, I don't really feel like doing that today."
- [Graham laughs]
- But then, at the same time, I think,
"Well, you know,
"I want to be committed to doing a good job...
"and I don't have anything else to do,
"so, you know, I'll do it."
[both laugh]
But then, in the process of that, I'll enjoy it,
so then I'll get into it.
[solemn music]
- Louis: It was incongruous,
but Caroline seemed to have gained a sense of self
from embracing a role as a sexual commodity.
Controlled in her childhood, and now finding satisfaction
fulfilling the desires of men on terms that were more her own.
Graham, for his part, seemed happy to endure some insecurity
as the price of a more sexually adventurous marriage.
[solemn music]
In a way, Caroline's age and maturity were reassuring.
It was with those who were younger
that I found myself tempted to take a more protective attitude.
At a pub near her flat in South West London,
I was meeting Ashleigh.
- Louis! Louis! - Hello!
- Hello! How are you? - Good. How are you?
- I'm OK. Sorry, I'm a bit sweaty, 'cause I'm, like...
- You've changed your hair again!
- I know! But I look great. - Wow! Nice to see you.
- Nice to see you. How are you? - Good.
- Good! - Let's go inside.
- Did you have a haircut? - Yes, I'm afraid so.
- Looks great.
- You know I asked you to bring some photos?
- Yeah, I brought my baby photos.
- Did you bring them?
Oh, so cute!
- I know! I'm so cute. [laughs]
- Your parents were very young when they had you.
- Yeah. So, I think my mum got pregnant at 15.
- Really?
But, I mean, it wasn't like your dad was much older, though?
- No, I think my dad was 16.
- So that's your dad? - That's my dad. Uh-huh.
- He looks like a child himself. Yeah.
- 1995, my dude. - Was it '95?
- That's when I was born. But they were children.
- But they didn't stay together that long, is that right?
- Yeah. They stayed together till I was about 3 or 4,
- I think? - So, three or four years.
- Yeah. I don't ever remember them being together.
He wasn't the kindest man when I was growing up,
or the most supportive,
and I've tried so hard to form a relationship with my dad,
like, so hard, for so many years,
and I'm not doing it anymore. I've given up,
'cause it's heartbreaking... [laughs]
..to try, do you know what I mean?
- It's almost a cliché of women involved in sex work
that they have complicated or strained relationships.
- With their father. I don't know if it is completely.
I can only speak for myself.
I'm so desperate for people to, like, not even like me, just,
like, acknowledge my existence,
and I think that I only see my existence as a sum of my,
like...the pleasure that I can give other people.
No-one wants to be around me just for who I am.
People want to be around me for what I can give to them,
and, like, for most men, what I can give to them is sex.
Between the ages of 6 to 12,
I was sexually abused by someone that was really close to me,
so I think that I'm just very hypersexualised
because of that,
and I just value a lot of my, like...
That was the time that I felt wanted,
because they didn't care about me otherwise.
[laughs]
Oh, it was really rough.
It was really, really, really rough.
And then when he stopped,
I basically just assumed that he hated me.
Does that make sense? So then, when he stopped,
it just made everything worse, basically.
Sorry.
But I'm over it, I think.
I say that as I cry. I'm over it, it's fine.
Like, it happens. Shit happens.
You just have to try and turn that into something
that you can make yourself a better person with,
so I'm using that experience to not let myself
be in situations where I'm gonna feel vulnerable
and feel like my self-worth is down to my sexual actions.
Does that make sense?
- Are you alright? - Yeah, I'm honestly fine.
- OK. - I'm just a big crier, sorry.
[laughs]
- What occurs to me is that you've got a lot going on...
- Mmm. - ..inside your head.
I've heard you say more than once
that you don't appreciate a sort of saviour mentality.
- No.
- And I think I respect you too much...
- [laughs]
- ..to presume to judge your choices, right?
- Yeah.
- But at the same time, I'm also aware
that with everything going on,
it's actually screaming out, isn't it, the fact...
- Yeah. Look, that's true.
- ..that you've embraced a kind of work
that involves a lot of emotional and physical self-exposure.
- Yeah. 100%. - Right?
And you must have thought about that a lot?
- Definitely.
And I think that because I was just so used to it,
I don't see it as a big deal, because I...
- Right. Which doesn't necessarily mean
- it isn't a big deal. - Yeah, exactly.
- Is there part of you that's wondering whether...
it's the right kind of work?
- No, I'm fine with the work.
I think it gives you, like, a numbness.
- But I think... A sort of "numbness."
OK, that's a good way of putting it.
- It's just, like, I always say this to my mum, like,
"I don't like sex, I like affection,"
and you get affection from sex,
and I seem to think that that's the only way I'm gonna get it,
so I'm, like, trapped in this.
But I don't think that I'm gonna get affection
from these men on Adult Work.
I know for a fact that it's, like, not sustainable,
and I know that that's not gonna cure me.
I'm cute, aren't I? I'm so fat.
Look at my cheeks. [laughs]
[solemn music]
It seemed clear Ashleigh was drawn to selling sex
at least in part because of a background of abuse
and ill treatment.
How her new life would contribute to her recovery
I found almost impossible to know.
More than ever, I was struck by the difficult position
of many of those selling sex,
taking part in an economy viewed by some as immoral
and others as coerced and unhealthy...
feeling judged on both sides.
But I was also troubled by the question of whether
they were being completely open with me
about the cost of what they did.
Back in Nottingham for one last visit,
I was with Victoria and Sapphire on an outing to the nail salon.
- Victoria: Mmm, what shall I have?
- Have a blue sorta thing. - I don't like blue.
- I like blue. It looks nice on you.
Oh, not silver, 'cause you always get silver.
- Right. - I'll have to get pink.
- I love pink-silver on my glitter. [laughs]
- But I think the two of you are quite close, aren't you?
- Yeah. - Yeah, we're very close.
- Yeah.
But she's still at that age now where...
she's got her own little life,
and she wants to go out with her friends, as well.
- Mmm. Do you think, having had the experiences you had
growing up, that that's made you more careful as a mum?
- Oh, God, yeah. Definitely.
[laughs] Sapphire will tell you, I've put trackers on her phone
and everything, haven't I?
- You're very protective.
But that's a good thing.
I know I've complained about it a lot,
but it is a good thing really, isn't it?
- It is, yeah.
- In an alternate reality,
if Sapphire was sort of a different person
and wanted to pursue work like you do, adult work,
what would be your view?
- No, I wouldn't want that at all, you know?
No, of course I wouldn't.
It's just the judgement around it,
especially when everybody else is questioning you and saying,
you know, stuff about you, you...
then you're battling with yourself, thinking,
"Am I doing the right thing? Am I not?" You know?
I think that's why girls don't last long
in this industry, as well.
I guess it's a whole stigma.
- [laughs] Bye-bye! [laughs] See ya!
- Bye!
Oh!
- Louis: Driving back, I thought about Victoria's choices.
For all the difficulty they'd created in her life,
it was also true that they'd allowed her to give her children
an upbringing very different from the one she'd had.
- Hello! - Oh, thank you! See ya!
Look what we got!
Wait! Don't all grab. Don't be rude.
I'm gonna put 'em on a plate for you.
- [kid laughs]
- Louis: They bring you a dipping sauce, as well.
That's quite handy, isn't it?
- Come on, let's go get you in bed. Shoes off.
Come on then, do your teeth.
Do you want a book?
"Paw Patrol pups love spending time playing outdoors."
- Louis: Goodnight!
With the kids in bed, it was a chance to speak more candidly.
- You'd talked about getting out of escorting...
- Yeah.
- ..and just doing adult film and appearances,
- things like that. - Yeah.
- Are you winding it down?
- I'm being a lot more picky, yeah. Definitely.
Even, to be honest, on certain shoots and stuff like that,
I've just said, "No, I'm not doing that anymore.
"I don't need to do that."
I'm spreading myself too thinly. I'm just wearing myself out.
- And doing this sorta work doesn't make you...
feel anything against men?
Men are just...
[laughs] Well...
I always refer to 'em as very simple creatures, pretty much.
They're not complex like us.
They're not. You know, they're very simple.
The majority of men are not nice. [laughs]
There's a big percentage that, you know,
I don't agree with, I don't think are nice,
I don't think respectable.
- And what are you basing that on?
The fact that the way men have treated you
in your personal life, or the way your clients are?
- Or both? - Both.
I think it takes a lot for me to be able to, I don't know...
trust a man or whatever.
- When we were talking before, there was this question of,
can it be healthy sort of psychologically, I suppose.
What I hear from you is that, actually,
doing sex work is emotionally complicated.
- Yeah. [sighs]
I mean, ideally, I'd love a normal relationship, you know?
But, I mean, the situation I'm in at the minute...
[sighs]
..is just a relationship with me and the children,
do you know what I mean?
But, obviously, I don't wanna be like this forever.
[sighs]
[footsteps]
One of the kids is up. [laughs]
Let me go and ask him to settle down.
[solemn music]
- Louis: Whether because of prejudice
or the unique nature of physical intimacy,
we have for centuries tended to judge those
who trade sex for money.
My time among those working in the new sexual economy
had shown me women escaping lives of repression and abuse,
who believed they were using trauma to empower themselves.
With some, I'd worried about the possibility
of making vulnerabilities worse.
But it was also true that for at least one,
faced with few other options,
it had made a precarious position more manageable
for her and her family.
Captioned by Ai-Media ai-media.tv