JOBURG – The sex worker lays bare the abuse she has been through at the hands of her clients, and how she keeps her wits about her to survive on the tough streets of Hillbrow.
A basin in 'Candy's' small brothel that she uses for urinating and washing her underwear.
City Buzz spoke to a 25-year-old sex worker who rents a room in a brothel at the corner of Fife Avenue and Prospect Road in Hillbrow.
Like many young women in her position, Candy [real name withheld] said she was a victim of circumstances.
During the interview in her dingy, smelly room, the scantily-clad woman gave numbing accounts of her new-found life as a sex worker. She had been in the sex trade for nearly two months, she said, and although it had been an arduous experience, it helps her forget about her previous life. “After I had a fight with the father of my child, I started looking for a place where I could feel safe,” she said.
When she first started frequenting the brothel, she spoke to the manager and pleaded with him to give her a place to stay. “He made it clear that whatever I did and whatever happened to me was none of his business, and that all he wanted was money. This happened on December 18 or 19,” said the diminutive woman.
Candy, who pays rental in weekly intervals with the money she makes from sex work, laid bare the horrors of sex work. “It is demanding, but here it depends on how much money you want to make.”
She charges specific amounts for different ‘styles’ or sex positions, depending on the clients’ preferences. For a short-time or quickie, she charges R50, and up to R100 for a sex position other than the missionary. She added that doing some sex positions ‘was a compromise because I’m not comfortable when it comes to doing certain styles’.
“Also, the hygiene, or lack of hygiene, of some of the clients is an issue because some of them stink. Some men touch you in ways that make you feel uncomfortable, others threaten you, some refuse to pay you, and others swear at you,” she said.
A condom wrapper and lubricant that ‘Candy’ uses.
Looking a bit flustered, she paused mid-sentence, and after regaining composure, she added, “You kind of lose the respect that people should have for you.” She said once she reported to the brothel’s bouncers that a client had spanked her in a way that made her feel uncomfortable, but nothing was done about this. Instead, the bouncers had simply said to the man, ‘My friend, do not do that again.’
That experience, as she was to later learn, was nothing compared to the disgusting and disparaging sex acts she has been forced to perform. She learnt that she did not have to take such treatment and using her fighting spirit, she soldiered on.
“You should not be a pushover because people will take advantage of you. I’ve never really been the fighting type. I’m not like the other girls here who have learnt how to defend themselves. Unlike them, I’m not sure I can actually stab someone.”
To survive, she soon realised she had to befriend the bouncers. “It was the only option,” she said. “Whenever the security guys asked for a cold drink or a smoke, I would buy it for them, and before I knew it I was friends with them. This helps because they help you when you’re in trouble.”
The most difficult aspect of sex work is when a condom bursts. “You don’t know if the person is sick or what. That’s why it’s important to have sexual education. I remember when a client’s condom burst and I caught gonorrhea.”
She infected another client because this was not the last time she had unprotected sex, but ‘that client had the good heart to approach me and tell me I had infected him’.
“He was calm and advised me to get treatment because he understood that in women the signs and symptoms take a while before they appear. He was a Good Samaritan,” she said with a weak smile.
To be on the safe side, she promised, she would make sure she attended sex education classes that the local clinic offered.
She added that talking to someone helped her to put on a brave face. “I was nearly recruited by a human trafficking syndicate. But because I had received a talk on human trafficking, I was able to avoid falling into the trap. I want to get out of here – this is not life, man.”
