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- About the Story
- In this web-only video, Anne Bissell, a member of Sex Industry Survivors Anonymous, discusses human trafficking, her past and how she became involved in prostitution. (TRT: 4:23)
- Listen to the Related L&T Segment
- View the Segment Transcript
- Laurelin in the Rain’s Here’s My Freedom of Speech, Now I’ve Heard Yours Blog
- Los Angeles Commission on the Status of Women
- SexIndustrySurvivors.com
- The Silver Braid Survivors of Sexual Exploitation Network
- Whole Wheat Blogger’s Former Male Prostitutes Are On The Rise Blog
Former Prostitutes
Last updated: May 2, 2009
Reporter's NOTES
Hena Cuevas
I was making calls on a story about international sex trafficking when I came across the name of a Ventura County woman who used to be a prostitute. She now works to help other women get out of that life. What she has found is there isn’t a lot of sympathy or support for these women. Her book Memoirs of a Sex Industry Survivor showed us what two prostitutes have to go through to leave their pasts behind.
Insider Viewpoints
Every time I turned a trick, I sold a piece of my soul. Although my heart wept, I didn’t shed a tear, as they paid me to fulfill their fantasies.
They never looked in my eyes to see the pain or sorrow. I didn’t know that I was priceless.
With Sex Industry Survivors, I hope to find others like me and, together, we can learn how to move beyond the pain of our past and learn how to laugh and live. Sex Industry Survivors and Anne Bissell are here to educate the public and police on the truths of sexual exploitation.
I believe that once people understand the truth, they will then have the compassion to effectively help others. Imagine, for a moment, what the world could be if we looked past the labels we all possess and embraced the humanism in each other. Imagine what the world could be if each of us cared just a little bit more.
Wendy Barnes
Former Prostitute
My name is Anne Bissell, and I am the founder of Sex Industry Survivors, part of the Los Angeles Rescue and Restore Campaign to fight human trafficking. We are the only nationwide program that helps all types of survivors of the sex industry get out and stay out.
We do not believe in a harm-reduction model. We believe that one transaction is too many, and a thousand never enough.
We also believe that any job that leaves you with post-traumatic stress disorder is not a job worth ever having. Our program works by throwing battery acid on the glamour of the sex industry. We empower survivors by giving them a place to feel safe and re-vision their lives.
Anne Bissell
Founder
Sex Industry Survivors
COMMUNITY VIEWPOINTS
I came accross this blog while searching for something that is prostitute-related. For anyone who is interested, I’ve written a book that’s available on Amazon. It’s called Priceless: My Journey Through a Life of Vice.
charlie daniels - UK,
Hello. I am writing a story about prostitution.
Is there anyone here who can connect me with a prostitute or a former one? I will not disclose their identity.
Rosemary Olivares - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
I’ve been a prostitute. I’m only 15.
The life sucks, but as someone said in a comment above, “It’s how they grew up.” But that’s not true.
I live a perfect life, I was always happy and I was just, like, whatever. I did it and hated it, but I just kept on doing it.
I went to jail and everything just for my pimp. They tell you that all you learned in life was wrong and tell you something that is totally wrong.
They want you to fall in love with them so that they can control you. The life is rough, but I’m glad that I was smart and stopped it as soon as I did.
Everything happens for a reason, and this experience taught me so much of myself. That’s not me.
tylyn - Seattle, Washington
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! (1 Corinthians 6:15)
Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with the spirit. (1 Corinthians 6:16-17)
Do not degrade your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will turn to prostitution and be filled with wickedness. (Leviticus 19:29)
Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes, for the prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread and the adulteress preys upon your very life. (Proverbs 6:25-26)
Do not let your heart turn to her ways or stray into her paths. Many are the victims she has brought down; her slain are a mighty throng. (Proverbs 7:25-26)
Her house is a highway to the grave, leading down to the chambers of death. (Proverbs 7:27)
With persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk. (Proverbs 7:21)
All at once, he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life. (Proverbs 7:22-23)
For a prostitute is a deep pit and a wayward wife is a narrow well. (Proverbs 23:27)
A man who loves wisdom brings joy to his father, but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth. (Proverbs 29:3)
Has no one condemned you? “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:10-11)
GOD'S SERVANT - *******, Alaska
I’m a former prostitute. I haven’t been on a call in, like, a year, but I don’t think that I form healthy relaltionships or opportunities for casual sex. When I think of the prospect of casual sex, I feel like I’m being raped.
Ginnie Mae - New York, New York
To Katye: You’re an unfeeling unsympathetic ignorant bitch! Does your job place your life in danger?
GM - New York, New York
I would like to say that Memoirs of a Sex Industry Survivor is a misleading title. This book is not a memoir (based on facts).
It is something new called: Fusion Fiction. Being a suvivor of 24 years of violence and sexual exploitation, I don’t understand why one would need or want to put fiction into their “memoirs.”
This book should have had a different title so that people CLEARLY understand that it was not a true account. One should not (or need to) mix facts with fiction when it comes to their memoirs or life history.
Kristy Childs - Kansas City, Missouri
I’m not sure what Katye’s comment is about this topic, but every sex slave I’ve come in contact with has been sexually abused and exploited, and most of them came from a childhood of such abuse. Give them a break!!!
When you’ve been taught as a child that you are nothing but an object, something to be kicked around and not worth anything, what good does it do putting these hurt individuals down. They need our help! And as far as legalizing prostitution…that makes me sick….
Cristal Firestone - Ventura, California
Dear Katye,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and opinion. My heart truly goes out to you.
Your post made me think that maybe we all sell a piece of our soul every time we do something that our soul is not okay with. Maybe…we are all put here on earth for a reason…a purpose.
When we are not acting on that purpose or when we are on the wrong path to that reason…our soul feels the pain to give us a warning, to let us know. I don’t know. Just my thoughts. Take care of yourself. Thanks.
Wendy Barnes - Lake Forest, California
Each time I perform my job, I also feel like I’m selling a piece of my soul — pretending to respect my two bosses when I actually despise them; smiling at clients on whose faces I’d like to spit; socializing and hugging people who I wish were in another galaxy. I’m not a sex worker, I’m a travel agent.
If anyone wants to discuss work-related post-traumatic stress disorder, come talk to me. Although I understand that some — many? — prostitutes and assorted sex workers feel like they’re debasing themselves, there are many others, both men and women, who are perfectly content with their sexually charged jobs.
I’ve known quite a few in my lifetime. Perhaps, if prostitution were legalized and if sex workers were treated by their governments and their societies with the respect they deserve — they’re certainly helping to sate an innate human need, something most other professionals can’t claim to be doing – could it be that the people who hire sex workers would value them more and that the sex workers themselves would have a different view of both their job and their personhood?
Also, I’ve heard the “I sold a piece of my soul” line before, but within a very different context. A friend, then supposedly a happily married father of one cute little boy, felt he sold a piece of his soul each time he had sex with his wife, each time he kissed her good night, each time he pretended to be someone he wasn’t to his little son, each time he went to church to pray to a god he knew didn’t exist, each time he went into his law office (talk about soul-selling prostitutes. . .) .
Even without joining a Social Hypocrisy Survivor group, he’s much happier now, being himself to the best of his abilities – he has been divorced for some time, has stopped going to church and has left his law practice. By the way, is there such a thing as a Travel Industry Survivor Group?
If so, please let me know. (Although before I join it, I’ll probably have to quit my job. I’ve tried — hard — but all I’ve been able to find were other — and even worse — jobs, also within the travel industry. I feel stuck. It’s utterly degrading.)
Katye Ullmann - Willenkoor,