The hardest moment I have ever had escorting was when my ex boyfriend (at the time we both were openly still in love with each other and even though we broke up it felt like I was cheating on him every time I worked) told me he found out. Apparently someone forwarded him my AW profile, he will never tell me who. We were having an argument on the phone (we lived in separate cities) over something trivial and he said something along the lines of 'oh and you are always right aren't you Angel (then working name)'. I dropped the phone and broke down crying, then numb with shock just said 'how do you know'.

Later on he told me the main reason he was so angry was that he was scared I would end up badly hurt or killed.

Even now years later, and happily with someone who knows and accepts what I do, its making me tear up writing this. Gosh I'm a sappy idiot some times.

Er, well some women really do love the job just as others hate it and I daresay most of us are somewhere in the middle. Whether or not somebody chooses to 'fake it' (and it's not clear whether you mean during sex or just generally being nice to your customers) is up to them - I would be amazed to hear that anybody had never, ever had to take a deep breath and stick a smile on their face when they didn't really feel like it irrespective of the job they were doing. I spent my entire career as a barmaid doing precisely that, and I didn't earn ?130 an hour for it, either; equally whether or not people people tout on punting boards is neither here nor there - if some choose to market themselves in this way that's up to them to get away with whatever they can. Most people can see straight through it and I doubt it has a particularly positive affect.

The purpose of this thread is to help newbies consider all aspects of the job and potential repercussions so they can think about whether or not they're cut out for it, not to slag off either prostitution or punters - we provide a place here where people can moan about bad experiences if they want to, but this would not really include clients being older or 'unattractive' say, because having sex with people you don't fancy is part of the job. If all somebody wants to do is see people they do fancy, then prostitution probably isn't for them and that's fine, but that isn't the same thing as 'some people don't enjoy working as prostitutes, therefore prostitution is bad'. I never find clients attractive in a 'potential partner' sense because I'm not interested and just don't think that way when I'm working, but that doesn't mean I don't like, value and respect my clients as people and the genuinely unpleasant ones I've met in ten and a half years I can count on one hand. If you go back and read the thread starter here, the main focus is on aspects which are nothing to do with punters (stigma, danger and so on) for precisely this reason.

This is a help and advice forum, and people don't generally need help and advice unless something is wrong which may well present something of a skewed picture (in that nobody is likely to pitch up and start a thread about how they've had a day of perfectly fine and unremarkable, run of the mill bookings today) but whilst what happens on other forums is not a matter for discussion here, just because somebody else's view doesn't concur with your own, it doesn't make them wrong and nor does it automatically mean they must be making it up. It's clear from your posts that you have a fairly low opinion of your clients, but whilst that's a real shame (and if you really are constantly having such a dreadful time it's maybe an idea to either change the way you work or get out altogether) it is not carte blanche to talk about either punters as a group or men generally as if they were little better than farm animals, and we won't have this kind of sexist rubbish on the forum.

I would add "Having Sex with Ugly People" to the list.  While hygeine is an absolute minimum and should be expected, the fact is that many clients are unnattractive.  You will get the occasional hottie, but you do have to ask yourself if having sex with someone you aren't attracted to is going to be a problem.

"Awkwardness" is another issue.  Your client may behave perfectly acceptably but there is no real click between you.  This can leave you feeling horrible.  Additionally, many polite and clean clients are shy and inexperienced and may be poor communicators.  This can feel embarrassing and awkward, and you will walk away from the booking wondering whether you can do this job.  If you can ignore or accept these feeling, then you'll be fine, but if not, reconsider entering the profession.