Blogs and Stories
What Hookers Do on Valentine's Day
Is it good to be a call girl on the most romantic night of the year? Very. Unless you’re getting engaged.
I was once a typical call girl, married to my business—wedded to my ringing phone, committed to my little black book and my regulars—which made having a boyfriend feel like infidelity.
Like other unfaithful women, I told myself the contradictions were unbearable when it was all, actually, quite delicious. My heart was constantly pulled in two directions, leading me to wonder each time I fell in love whether I could leave my career for this particular man. Deep down, many prostitutes find this idea of respectability thrilling—and a bit frightening. I loved that tension, thriving on it erotically while claiming I wanted to escape it.
I remember wistfully turning down a lucrative Valentine’s Day call in order to have dinner with a boyfriend, and feeling a flash of guilt for cheating on the business I’d been building for nearly a decade.
On any given Valentine’s Day, I took as many daytime appointments as I could because I knew I'd be stepping out in the evening. I remember wistfully turning down a lucrative call in order to have dinner with a boyfriend I'd been seeing less than a year, and feeling a flash of guilt for cheating on the business I'd been building for nearly a decade.
Is Valentine’s Day a good day for the sex industry? That all depends. If you’re a call girl, it's often a great night to be without a valentine—coworkers are being romanced by boyfriends, which means demand for professional companionship might outstrip supply. But it's hard to predict. For those clients seeking a Valentine’s experience, complete with candy, rose petals and Champagne, you need a girl who's a lot more professional than she appears to be. Business varies from year to year, so ending a romance before the big holiday just for the purpose of being on call would be foolhardy, and most hookers aren't that calculating. Because romance serves as a much-needed vacation from the marketplace, the 14th —for a madam—is a potential headache, a night when you sometimes run short of girls.
It's a day that sums up all that's “wrong and romantic” about being a call girl. Qualities that spell success in the oldest profession—symmetrical features, a sweet smile, an open personality and a fondness for male company—also attract boyfriends. A recipe for conflict.
I tried not to get involved with anyone so I could focus on business, but I was a boyfriend-magnet. My biggest problem wasn't the stigma associated with my work, it was my tendency to fall in love. A few years later, I found myself “cheating” again, with someone new.
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Jacob Bernstein is a senior reporter at The Daily Beast. Previously, he was a features writer at WWD and W Magazine. He has also written for New York magazine, Paper, and The Huffington Post.
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Tina Brown is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast. She is the author of the 2007 New York Times best seller The Diana Chronicles. Brown is the former editor of Tatler, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and Talk magazines and host of CNBC's Topic A with Tina Brown.
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Duff McDonald is a contributing editor at New York magazine and a former contributing editor at Condé Nast Portfolio. His book, Last Man Standing, about Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, was published by Simon & Schuster in October.
Mary Magdalene and Me
Tracy Quan's latest novel is Diary of a Jetsetting Call Girl, set in Provence and praised in The Nation as a "deft account of occupational rigors and anxieties before the crash." Tracy's debut, Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl, and the sequel, Diary of a Married Call Girl, are international bestsellers. A regular columnist for The Guardian, she has written for many publications including Cosmopolitan, The Financial Times, and The New York Times.
Bedding the Boss
Tracy Quan's latest novel is Diary of a Jetsetting Call Girl, set in Provence and praised in The Nation as a "deft account of occupational rigors and anxieties before the crash." Tracy's debut, Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl, and the sequel, Diary of a Married Call Girl, are international bestsellers. A regular columnist for The Guardian, she has written for many publications including Cosmopolitan, The Financial Times, and The New York Times.
Bernie Made Off With My Wife
Tracy Quan's latest novel is Diary of a Jetsetting Call Girl, set in Provence and praised in The Nation as a "deft account of occupational rigors and anxieties before the crash." Tracy's debut, Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl, and the sequel, Diary of a Married Call Girl, are international bestsellers. A regular columnist for The Guardian, she has written for many publications including Cosmopolitan, The Financial Times, and The New York Times.
catch up on laundry
Don't get me wrong i love call girls as much as the next guy, but why would anyone care what one does on Valentine's day? This must be the beast's way of being daring and sophisticated.
Also, why would one want a hooker's opinion on anything? What next? Are you going to get a porn star's opinion on the bailout?
Journalism is dead.
Wait I know: Engage in sex for money! Just like on Christmas and Presidents Day.
Is this the "Sugardaddy" chick? Lately, the beast makes me feel like I'm 10 again, getting caught reading Cosmo. How have I come to like a 'news' site that holds whores & idiots (I'm talking to you, Meghan McCain) in such high esteem?
I'm guessing that it would be incredibly difficult to combine the oldest profession with a serious relationship, and I thought this article was interesting. The author seems smart and thoughtful.
I wonder how many people really make a living in this profession? I'm pretty isolated as things go, and it's not like the government publishes accurate stats on something like this. Hmmmm...
Valentine's is the holiday we celebrate prostitution. Men are encouraged to spend obscene amounts of money on women in the form of jewelry and flowers and women have sex with them as a reward. A call girl is the most qualified person to write on the the subject.
Entertaining trip through the complexities of dual life. Tracy Quan explains the inevitable entanglements like a heterosexual Proust.
bigwurzz, what's wrong with a "hooker's" opinion? Their opinions are not any less valid than yours, and in this case actually contributed to something, unlike your useless post here. I always wonder why people like you seek validation in criticizing someone else. Get a life.Tracy happens to be a very successful writer and author - far more successful than I bet you've ever been. So that "hooker" > bigwurzz.
Jessica150, many, many more than you might suspect. One estimate I've seen suggests that as many as 10% of college women will earn at least some income selling sexual services.
Journalism isn't dead - the Daily Beast is evolution of thoughtful information available to an age of cyberphiles. Do I know Tina? Nope, but I run a popular tour company in Princeton and respect any business that acts on a great idea when they see one! GO DAILY BEAST! YOU'RE MY DAILY BREAD!
Too many details missing. It sounds as if she only had enjoyable sex with pleasant men and woman. No persistent bores?
I would imagine that there are plenty of men who would want the services of a call girl on Valentine's Day. I was hoping to hear more about THEM. I like Tracy Quan and everything, but she's been out of the game for YEARS. I was reading her on Salon.com at least six years ago.
Oh, and she should have returned the ring.
Gosh, she makes prostitution sound like every girl's dream job. Is she actively trying to get young girls interested in being whores? Is everyone here so completely desensitised and liberal that they don't see the complete abject disgust inherent in being a prostitute? Why, Tracy Quan makes it sound so appealing I think I'll sign my daughters up straight away!
Absolutely nothing in this blog leads me to believe that this woman is real. A real ex- or current hooker, that is. I could have written as much, and I've never taken a dime from anyone for sex.
I'm thinking this author is one of the Gen-fraudsters that have made a career out of titillating memoirs -- all completely concocted.
Go over the blog again. There's absolutely zero in it that has the aura of authentic experience. Zero. She just got your imaginations going, that's all. And that's so easy to do.
The only thing that struck me was the writing. It sounded like a thousand women's magazine articles, that boring, generic tone.
And I agree with joymars, I suspect this was all made up. Where is the Daily Beast getting these people?
Try reading about the author. Its a single click. You can do it.
I second that; what is Tina Brown thinking?! Once, ok. It was funny. But now it's almost everyday--another Oprah moment.
And plus her writing style could be much improved.
I have to agree with joymars. For some reason, I was thinking the exact same thing when I read it. Her tone is way to candid for her situation...although perhaps that's exactly what she is going for: pumping up the "shock" value that we Americans seemingly love.
Initially, I thought TDB wanted to be taken seriously. What's next for TDB? Live video porn?
We know why young attractive people (often women) read news and biz info to us on TV - but the context never ventures from news and biz. CNBC's formula - "hot ladies talk money with bald dudes" as Jon Stewart once said, ultimately needs to have a focus on biz (otherwise, why bother with the bald dudes or even with the biz talk? Just get Tracy Quan.).
TDB seems to want to blend the two.
I guess TDB justifies this by the size of their audience.
I hear that gladiator fights to the death in Ancient Rome got pretty good audiences? Why not publish that? Times are tough. People might be desperate enough?
For those of you who don't like the fact that The Daily Beast is including blogs by hookers, why -- after reading the headline -- are you here?
It's one thing to say, "I personally wouldn't be a prostitute." It's really quite another to condemn another person's career choice.
Nonetheless, all of the "Outraged on Amsterdam Avenue" posters took the time to read the article and to comment on it.
Love this. And would love to hear a hookers suggestion for a Stimulus Plan!
jackbutler5555, I can only speak for myself.
The reason why such I'm still here despite TDB's decision to publish content like Tracy Quan's that I believe damages its brand is because the TDB article entitled "The Race to Run the GOP Gets Even More Ridiculous" by Ana Marie Cox was the BEST political article I've seen in a long time.
GOP sites aren't honest enough to publish an article like that and Dem sites are too partisan to portray the GOP as anything other that Hitler-lite.
For an Independent who simply wants the truth, Cox's stuff is a delight.
I don't want to see TDB shoot itself in the foot and trash its potential to produce Independent political analysis.
Dear Tracy,
ok, im old fashioned. i wouldn't want a prostitute for a girlfriend or a mate.
not just about dealing with the fact that the imagery is as unsettling as it can be when you're supposedly in love.
there's also the life-and-death STDs.
but anyway, that being said, i thought the content of your article here was adolescent and really, not very revealing. So, ok, you've earned a pat on the head.
Kudos for making a living with such a limited mentality.
Kilroy, I don't see how an interest in one story precludes an interest in the other.
You know what, either it's perfectly OK to be a whore, in which case you can disclose your occupation to your boyfriends, or it's not, in which case, get a different job.
You've got some rules for other people, I see. You can only choose an occupation you can disclose to your boyfriend or else you got to get another job. Maybe you should let other people make their own choices about that? I'm just asking. I hope you don't have a rule about my asking.
Thank you.
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