After 20 years working in the sex industry, there is little that surprises *Emily.
From 15-hour bookings with some of Sydney‘s most feared underworld figures to entertaining some of the country’s most popular national heroes and sporting icons, she has seen it all.
Now the sex worker, aged in her late 30s, is sharing her story in a bid to demystify the profession and change some of the popular misconceptions about life as a working girl.
‘I’ll never forget my first encounter with a sports star,’ she said.
‘I was in the parlour after this big, front-page news sporting event and this man at the centre of the winning team came in.
‘It was the first time that someone tried to get me to do cocaine.’
Emily said many sporting icons assumed the women did not know who they were.
‘Another sporting star tried to tell me that he worked in real estate, not knowing that I watch Friday night footy,’ she said.
Emily has serviced hardened criminals, TV star and sporting gods during her career as a sex worker in Sydney
‘I said, “oh yeah, did you break your nose selling houses? I know who you are, mate”.’
She said it was common for many of the men to have young families or pregnant partners back at home.
Emily admitted to being surprised by the behaviour of one footy player who frequently appeared in the media for all the wrong reasons.
‘He was portrayed like a total grub in the media but was actually a total gentleman,’ she said.
‘He would only book blondes and he used to regularly book a friend of mine. He would always say “hello darling, how are you?”
‘A lovely, courteous person. The complete opposite of how he was portrayed in the press.
‘No one had a bad word to say about him as a client, either. He never pushed boundaries, he was never difficult.’
However, it wasn’t just sports stars who frequented the eastern suburbs brothels where Emily spent much of her career.
‘When I was working in Bondi, a big name walked in,’ she said.
‘Let’s just say they were on television, very prominent.
‘He looked me dead in the eyes and I think he knew that I knew.’
Emily said it was common for many of the men to have young families or pregnant partners back at home
Emily said sex workers were not forced to sign non-disclosure agreements but didn’t discuss clients out of ‘basic human decency’.
‘We would further sabotage the integrity of our industry if we were seen as women who cannot be trusted with the sanctity of the men who come there and contribute to our business,’ she said.
There have been many occasions in which she has felt unsafe, though.
‘I have done 15 hour bookings with some of Sydney’s biggest underworld crime figures and it is traumatic,’ Emily said.
‘You can’t predict what’s going to happen.
‘One man, let’s call him T, booked me and we had a 15-hour bender.
‘The next morning his mother, who lived nearby, walked in unannounced. I was horrified.
‘But he said “Do you know how many sluts my mum has met?”
‘I went, “oh my God, I would rather, you know lady that I’m getting paid to be here”.’
Later, when ‘T’ was out on bail for weapons-related offences, he booked Emily to a mansion where he was holed up.
‘He was terrified the cops were going to come and all the time he was standing at a window looking through a pair of binoculars,’ she said.
‘Suddenly, he said “oh, my god they’re coming” and he rolled up a rock of cocaine in a bag and shoved it up my vagina.’
The paranoia was, on that occasion, misplaced.
But it was perhaps understandable given he had narrowly survived an assassination attempt.
‘To see these people shift, you literally see the devil come out of them,’ Emily said.
‘You have to be very smart how you play it.’
Emily insists the average person would be surprised by the types of people who now enter the industry.
‘Nursing is one profession with extreme crossover,’ she said.
‘They actually make very good sex workers. They have a high level of empathy, they’re not disgusted by bodily fluids.
‘Teachers as well. It’s often people who just don’t get paid enough.
‘Office workers who work a nine-to-five through the week and then they’ll go into the parlour on a Saturday night and make a grand.’
Teenage girls are also flocking to the industry, Emily said.
‘They’re literally rocking up on their 18th birthday.
‘I think with the rise of social media and the consumption industry, these quick little dopamine hits, the McDonald’s generation want everything now and some girls aspire to a lifestyle that they know can be attained quickly through sex work.’
Emily often works with the parents of these girls to break down the stigma and allay their fears.
‘As I always tell these girls and their parents, “take it from an old jaded whore like me, it is possible to come out of it”,’ she said.
She added: ‘I’ve overdosed on cocaine. I’ve had seizures. I’ve nearly died so many times that I think if I can pull myself out of this and show other people there is hope, then I’ll do it.
‘I feel like sharing a struggle creates solidarity and I have nothing to fear after all that I’ve been through.’
*Name has been changed for privacy