Interview with a prostitute

How did you get into this prostitution thing? From high school. My friends would give me money to see me. Depending; sometimes they would also touch me and that was for more money. Sometimes I would make good money and invite my girlfriends from everywhere; I was very popular in school. And how does it become a job? Well, one thing leads to another... Once an old guy told me that someone had told him what I did and he asked me how much I charged the kids for seeing or grabbing and I said and he says: I'll give you 800 pesos but you know what's in return... then I said: well, I think it's worth it and so on, like that. And then another one and another one came along... of course, they didn't pay me 800 pesos anymore, but they gave me 300, 400, even 600. Once a guy gave me half a million pesos. Imagine: I was young and, well, not to brag but I have a nice face and a regular body and I earned what I wanted. For daily service, let's say from 400 pesos a week, I would make 2,000 pesos: more than a worker or maid when... How long are you going to keep doing this? Well, everything comes to an end and ends because it doesn't serve anymore, don't you think?; right now because the body allows me, when it's no longer... as long as I can make a profit from it But what are your goals, where do you want to get to? Look, I have them: I'm building my house and my two daughters are in school... they lack nothing and I buy them the best. Time will give me my retirement but by then I'll have solved my life: I'll have a house, my daughters will have a profession and I'll put something aside for my future Why not pursue those objectives with other methods, another way of life? Look, men are like dogs. If I had gone to ask them for work they would have asked me for those things. If I had borrowed from them they would have asked me to pay back with my body... for you men everything revolves around sex, Then if they're going to have sex anyway, at least let them pay for it, and make it cost them.

What is prostitution to you?

It's a job like any other, with the difference that you don't have a boss, no one yells at you, you don't have to come or go at the hour they tell you, and then you don't even have the right to express an opinion. In this job, you're free to decide who you sleep with and who not; I give myself that luxury: if someone doesn't please me, I just say no and it's over.

What does your family think of your work?

Well, I live alone because my dad kicked me out of the house and since he found out what I do for a living, he asked me to pretend he was dead. So I'm an orphan when it comes to him... my mom comes to visit me and every time she visits, she just scolds me for what I do... my brothers also stopped talking to me and I haven't seen them again; only one of my sisters still talks to me but that's just to borrow money.

What is your opinion about society not looking at this profession with good eyes?

Society is hypocritical. Society criticizes everything but doesn't solve anything. Society is the scum, the black waters of humanity. We all have something to be ashamed of, but people hide their nature behind a mask or a surname or a religion, and their sin; unlike us prostitutes who show ourselves as we are; at least in that sense, we're better.

What's up with the pimp, the handler?

I wasn't born to support any guy... I sell my body for what I want, when I want, and to whom I want, and what I get out of it is for me... never, listen, never have I given a single peso to anyone because they threatened or forced me to work... that is, not in the sense of pimping or as a consequence of them intimidating or obliging me to work.

But do you know there are pimps and women who are forced into prostitution?

Look, if there aren't any pimps, there are police, but always someone takes advantage of this. I give my money to the states; other As I do, free ones pass through state courts. And there are those who give their wool to the three: state courts, judicial courts, and pimps. This is a mess. It's everyone against everyone

There's a lot of lies in that. Pimps or lenones don't necessarily kidnap, beat, and threaten girls. Sometimes they go to those guys because they have connections to work, meaning they're well-connected with state authorities, municipalities, and police; so I'll say to the pimp: what's up, is there a chance to work or not? And then he says: yes, but it's like that and you'll end up in X place, if you like it or not

What do the cops tell you to let you work?

No, because they say prostitution is prohibited in Tlaxcala, so they tell you: either you get purified or we give you a handout. And one says: no worries, how's that going to be and then they take away 500, 800 pesos

How often?

Whenever they want... it could be every week, whenever they pass by, or even daily; no, if those guys don't have mothers

What do you like about your work and what do you dislike?

I like it because I do what I want, because it's a way to exercise my freedom. I'm a prostitute by choice and will, not because someone forces me to be one. I'm a prostitute and I like it because I earn what I want, because I work on the days I feel like it... What do I dislike? Well, that there are miserable people who take advantage of someone like me or simply that there are those who take advantage of people based on lies, tricks, or force

However, your job is very risky, it's, let's say, very difficult or different...

Well, it's the same as any other. If I were a firefighter, I could get burned in an accident, if I were a police officer, I could get killed, if I were a worker, a machine could swallow me up... if I took care of kids, one of them could die! No way, better this way, I'm fine! I wouldn't recommend this job to the girls or let your daughters do it... “Those were different times... I got into this because I wanted to, because I had no other alternative... my daughters will have a profession, that's why I'm killing myself. My daughters will have another horizon, other possibilities and another future; they're the ones who interest me... what those girls not related to mine do or don't do is of no concern to me” But if one of your daughters told you she did the same thing as you would you support her? Not at all... they shouldn't have to do this... that's why I'm giving them an education, that's why they have a mother who's also a father Many thanks and if you want to say anything else... You're welcome... and I don't know why people get so upset... if there weren't men who needed prostitutes we wouldn't exist. But well-off married women don't take care of their husbands and that's why they look for us; here, everything falls: young and old, poor and rich, politicians, government officials and even priests... but the damn people get upset about everything.