Posted on 2018.11.05
I’ve been asked why I continue to be a Companion if I can’t be paid for sex.
The simple answer is this: being a Companion has never just been about sex.
A Cupid’s Escort is a woman who is the embodiment of life’s pleasures. She represents luxury, romance, and a world filled with fantasy. My work as a Companion is to be someone who can provide you with an escape from the routines of your daily life or enhance the life you’ve built for yourself.
I started out as a webcam girl. One of my friends had been doing it for six months and kept talking about how much fun she was having. I thought that I’d give it a shot and it worked out really well. I was working every night for a few hours and making more money than I would at a 9 to 5. After awhile, I started working at a massage parlour and was doing both webcam work and seeing clients. That work was definitely about sex.
I wanted to make a change and do something more with my lifestyle. It was time to step things up. That’s when I made the move to Cupid’s. After meeting with Jillian and Bridgitte, I knew that they saw this world with the same eyes I did. Minus breaks for travel and school, I’ve been with them exclusively ever since.
When the laws changed it had me think long and hard about what my work meant to me, and more importantly, to the Clients.
For those who haven’t read bill C-36, here are some things that are now forbidden:
- Obtaining sexual services for consideration, or communicating in any place for that purpose
- Knowingly advertising an offer to provide sexual services for consideration
- Receiving a financial or other material benefit obtained by or derived from the commission of the purchasing offence
- Procuring a person to offer or provide sexual services for consideration
- Recruiting, transporting, transferring, receiving, holding, concealing or harbouring a person, or exercising control direction or influence over the movements of a person, for the purpose of exploiting them or facilitating their exploitation
It shocked and disappointed me when I realized the people who wrote this bill assumed that every encounter between a Client and a Companion was based strictly on sex and nothing else. Any person who has worked in this industry will tell you that sex is not at the core of what we do. When it’s honest, there’s so much more to a Companion / Client relationship. Why should we deny someone an opportunity to spend time with a beautiful woman who is smart, witty, funny, and kind? Why should we say no to someone who just doesn’t want to be alone in that moment because other people have assumptions? If your favourite restaurant stopped offering a certain item on their menu, should the restaurant just up and close their doors?
A Cupid’s Escort is a multifaceted woman who enjoys the company she keeps. I have the freedom of choice, I can be selective how I spend my time with and who I spend it with. I’m not pressured or coerced and frankly, many of us felt like we were being exploited and disrespected in our lives before we made the decision to become Companions.
We understand that our Companionship can range from a glamorous night out on the town, to a spending an afternoon with someone who just needs someone to be there for them, or fun date at a favourite restaurant. We don’t judge, we don’t assume, and we don’t impose our beliefs on others. We aren’t asking to be saved from this life, because we created these lives for ourselves.
When the laws were passed, each Companion at Cupid’s was given a revised employment contract that outlined the terms of their employment and the requirements of the law. Every Cupid was given the option to stay or leave.
We all stayed.
Because we all knew that our time with our Clients was more than what other people thought, and we don’t really worry about what other people think. Even though we don’t agree with the law as it stands now, we will abide by it and I will continue advocating for the respect and rights of sex workers in this country.
Fantasies shouldn’t have to end because some people have limited imaginations.
Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash
