Support And Advice For Escorts - independents supporting each other
This site is the result of collaboration between a group of experienced escorts. It could have been called, "If I knew then what I know now!" as it brings together a range of information and advice to help cut short the learning process in a business where experience really does count. It is not designed to be an authoritative guide, merely some words of wisdom mixed with a bit of humour.
If you have a question you don't find answered here, feel free to visit the SAAFE forum to register there and ask us.
Who's Behind SAAFE?
SAAFE was created by a few very 'normal' women who just happen to get paid to spend time with men, women and couples. We are independent and have entered into this profession of our own free will - not a coercive force in sight! We have our eyes wide open and are all fully aware of what we do. Some of us made a conscious decision to enter this line of work and some of us just 'fell into it'. SAAFE.info is run by women with a wealth of experience to share with others. We offer a range of helpful advice, guidance and support on every aspect of the paid sex scene. If we don't list what you're looking for then just head over to our forum and ask us!
As some of society is not yet ready to accept us, this site is dedicated to helping people who may have no-one to talk to about this, don't know where to start, who to trust or who maybe thought they were the only escort around. There are thousands of escorts currently working in the UK and you can bet that someone else out there has experienced the same issues that you have encountered or may be soon to encounter. So whatever your question, worry, anxiety or suggestion might be, then share it with us and boost your knowledge.
We offer unbiased advice from those doing the job already, all with your interests at heart and that includes guidance on how to get yourself out of escorting if you feel it's not right for you. So get yourself a coffee and make yourself comfortable as you explore our different pages.
The History of SAAFE
SAAFE was started in a ladies forum in October 2003 by myself (Brandy) and Sarah-Jane. At the time I was the moderator of a punting forum and administrator of said ladies forum on Puntingzone. I was always being asked advice on various things and so was Sarah-Jane. We said to each other, instead of writing the same advice to different would-be escorts all the time, how about we set up a website sharing the collective advice and views of not just ourselves, but of various other escorts, too?
We tried to think up a good name that would embody what we'd like the advice site to be all about. We would also have to buy the domain with the same name. I thought of the acronym SAFE for a url but unfortunately it was taken, but SAAFE wasn't, and thus Support and Advice for Escorts was born. Sarah Jane, being the most techy-minded out of the two of us set up the website and between the two of us asked other escorts for their contributions to our new site. This way, we thought it could be a collaboration of sorts: escorts sharing what they thought to be the best advice, sharing their experiences of being an internet-based escort and the advantages and disadvantages of such.
There were quite a handful of ladies to start off with: Melanie, Celine, Beth of Kettering and Sunni Tara to name but a few who contributed to SAAFE. But as time went by, people moved on and it was just myself and Sarah Jane left. For a good long while we ran it on our own and wrote quite a few of the articles ourselves. We would and will still ask for contributions from other escorts as we always thought it would be good to get different viewpoints on varying subjects, from ways of working to dealing with timewasters. We dealt with such important points in our own way. If you care to look through the main site itself you can see varying contributions from other ladies throughout the years. There is a great article on copyright theft ably written by Rhia Charles, for example.
In January 2007 - a few years ago already! - we thought it might be a good idea to have a forum. It was becoming increasingly impossible to write more and more articles on SAAFE itself as there are so many aspects to this job that it was becoming difficult to cover everything. So the forum was born. We encouraged ladies to sign up and ask whatever was on their mind. But sadly, over the last year, due to constant grief Sarah-Jane suffered at the hands of others in this industry (if you are new and reading this, I'm afraid you will find that this job is far from a bed of roses) she thought it might be a good idea to take a back seat with SAAFE, so she handed over her half of the reins to me. Seeing as she had new interests to move on to in her personal life, she thought it was the right time to leave. And she did, the bloody woman left me holding the bag. Nah, just kidding!
I'm far from on my own. To this day I'm still a technophobe, so I enlisted the help of the best webmistress in the business. She gets things done yesterday and nothing is ever too much (or too little) for her to do on SAAFE. I call her the 'Janitor', because she keeps this place ticking over. She also happens to be a working girl so she's multifaceted. When the next best thing in internet technology came along, RSS Feeds, which we could attribute to our warnings part of the forum, she was the person in the know and pulled us into the 21st century and set it up.
Then there is Penny's Buddy Scheme which she herself devised and asked us if we could set it up here as she thought it would be of the most benefit to new working girls. I myself have been a working girl for the past 7 years now and I've seen and heard a lot in this business that I can share with others if asked. So between the three of us (and with Sarah Jane lurking in the background whenever I need her) I can safely say that we have well over 20 years between us in this business.
You may notice that all who are involved in Saafe are not only all women, but all working girls. We deliberately set it up that way and it's the ethos I feel SAAEFE should carry on with. There is, and has never been any non-sex-worker involvement in this site. Our belief is that if you haven't made a living selling your body then your input is not required in the building and maintenance of this site and what it stands for. Nobody understands more than a sex worker what advice to give to other sex workers. But that's not to take away from one or two members that post on SAAFE's forum: Ian, formerly of SW5 has been a godsend to this forum with his knowledge of the industry. There is also an article written by a male driver who rents out his services to escorts, offering his perspective on his job, and several members of sex worker support organisations have forum membership, too. All non-sex-worker forum posts are clearly marked, though, so that you know who is saying what.
But all that you see SAAFE is now and has become has been built from the hands of escorts. No, I tell a lie. The male webmaster at escort agency Fun Times was kind enough to do us a couple of banners that other escorts could place on their websites to help spread the word. Sarah Jane hated building banners; me, don't ask. That has been the only male involvement in its five and a half year existence. So now you know who owns and runs SAAFE. The names I've mentioned here are it. If anybody tries to tell you that they've had a hand in any aspect of SAAFE, be it the main site, the forum or the RSS Warnings Feed, it's wishful thinking on their part I'm afraid. There is very little that I and the other ladies do not know as far as being an escort goes. And what my webmistress doesn't know about building websites isn't worth knowing.
If you're new to the business then know that the women who run this site are very capable escorts indeed.
An Update to the History of SAAFE - 2013
Since the above was written, some of the personnel have changed but the ethos remains.
Anika Mae was an active and much appreciated moderator on the message board for several years, as was Louise and Emily Jones. Some continue working, others have retired in favour of other interests.
The running of the main site and its forum are now in the amply capable hands of Amy Vergnes, Daisy, and the Janitor, all female and all working ladies. We do have one resident male, Ian, formerly of the SW5 project for male and trans sex workers. What with his background his advice is as invaluable to sex workers as any escort and we're glad (and he is very honoured) that we persuaded him to join the SAAFE forum moderation team.