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Time Out New York / Issue 575 : Oct 5–11, 2006

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Old profession, new tricks

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Where have all the streetwalkers gone? They’re still getting busy—just not outdoors.

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By Jennifer Cunningham

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THE WAGES OF SKIN Hookers and hustlers walk the streets in 1954, 1965 and 1971 (above), and 1988 and 1995 (below). Video

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JCM: “It seems like prostitution is the new temp job. But you don’t see those dolled-up hookers on the street anymore. I kind of miss them.”

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From Colonial times to the 1980s, the New York City streets after dark were the domain of the “working girls.” In Manhattan, anyone could see them on the stroll in Times Square, the East Village, Harlem, the Meatpacking District and Hell’s Kitchen, among other places, as they beckoned johns with come-hither stares, barely there lingerie-laden outfits and promises of a tawdry good time. But today, nearly 13 years after Mayor Rudy Giuliani launched a citywide crackdown on prostitution and (just as importantly) ten years after the mass popularization of the Internet, trolling for a hooker on 42nd Street is more likely to generate some confused looks—or to offend a nice family exiting The Lion King—than get you laid.

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With the streets no longer an open marketplace, sex workers sought new, hassle-free ways to ply their trade. They now conduct business in hotels, massage parlors, spas and even their own homes; instead of having to display their wares on the sidewalk, they’re advertising on the Web and in newspapers and magazines. Hundreds of subtly coded classifieds each week proclaim an available “GFE” (girlfriend experience) or “trips to Greece” for 200 “roses” and up. As anyone who’s watched late-night public access knows, escort services abound; many of them can be found on websites such as Craigslist, the Eros Guide and City Vibe, reaching out to eager clients.

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Meanwhile, in the darkest regions of the flesh-peddling business, many illegal aliens are being forced to prostitute themselves at under-the-radar brothels in immigrant neighborhoods. In August, for just one example, law enforcement officials broke up a Korean prostitution ring that operated at least 19 such houses in the Northeast.

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Dr. Yvonne Downes, professor of criminology at Hilbert College in Hamburg, New York, says that while there have been no formal studies, “it’s very likely” that prostitution is much less street-based. “So many johns now feel uncomfortable picking up girls on the street,” Downes says. And those who still sell themselves outside usually have nowhere else to go, says Juhu Thukral, director of the Sex Workers Project of the Urban Justice Center in New York, which describes itself as the first program in the country to focus on providing legal services, legal training, documentation and policy advocacy for prostitutes. According to a 2005 report by the Sex Workers Project, 87 percent of sex workers who still walk the pavement are homeless or live in “unstable homes.” “The people who are left on the street have the fewest resources,” Thukral says. “So there’s less [prostitution on the street]—but it’s still definitely happening.”

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The Hot Seat

Donna P., 58, a former vice girl who now employs a dozen women at her own midtown massage parlor, says that being off the sidewalk means women are simply less visible to law enforcement. “When I was working [on the streets] myself, I was arrested in Washington, D.C.,” says Donna, a maternal, petite woman with a broad smile. “I had a number of close calls and I constantly had to dodge the police.” Still, Donna says, the indoor sex industry is no haven from the law. In June, cops arrested Andreia Schwartz, an alleged high-class hooker who oversaw a bevy of beauties at a West 58th Street brothel and reportedly told the police that her two top “sugar daddies” paid her a total of $250,000 for sex (she was sent to Rikers pending $1 million bail). Also in June, cops busted five people in the city who were advertising sexual services on Craigslist. Overall, though, the advantages of modern technology and the comforts of an indoor rendezvous mean the days when transvestite hookers lined the West Side Highway aren’t going to return. Shannon, a 25-year-old bottle blond from Baltimore, says that when she was

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going to return. Shannon, a 25-year-old bottle blond from Baltimore, says that when she was addicted to cocaine and heroin, she doled out $20 blow jobs in the backs of cars and under bridges to fund her habit. But with the help of her new pimp, she’s now free of drugs and successfully working upscale hotel bars in Manhattan. She also regularly travels to Atlantic City to cater to gamblers. Shannon says she’s found that soliciting indoors is similar in many ways to working the streets—except it’s cleaner, less stressful and even easier. “First I sit next to them and ask if they’re law enforcement,”Shannon says, describing her M.O. “Then I ask if they want some company.” If he declines? “Just be on my way.” Meet them all They've ruled the city and now they've told us why this city rules.

Real sex | Fast company | Pressing the flesh | Naked ambitions | Old profession, new tricks | Flesh direct | On the couch | Curtain risers | Screen grabs |Exposing themselves |Whips mart |Play to lay | The sex poll 2006

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