Pretty Woman and The Secret Diary Of A Call Girl may have glamourised prostitution, but the reality for many women forced to sell their bodies is very different.
The website Alternetrecently shared a series of essays written by an anonymous self-described former "survival prostitute."
As the site explains it, survival prostitutes are “the most easily and frequently killed of all women.
“They lack the glamor of call girls and the ‘victimhood’ of trafficked women since their pimp is their drug habit itself.
“They have been abandoned by their families, their communities and the other people on the street. Even law enforcement and social services slighted them until recently.”
And there’s no denying that what she has to say about her experiences on the street is utterly, utterly harrowing.
Admitting she was driven to prostitution by her addiction to crystal meth, she explains that she did not plan to begin selling her body.
Instead, she was wandering the streets ‘with no job and no money’ and the ‘cars started stopping and pulling to the kerb like an X-rated runway'.
“They know your profession before you do,” she added darkly.
Speaking about her first ‘client’, the woman - who we shall from this point onwards refer to as ‘X’ - explained that a man followed her into her apartment building one night.
“[He] crouched down and began licking my boot. In less than a minute he handed me money and left. I barely saw his face.”
She added: “The only words we exchanged were the ‘thank you’ he said.
“I didn't feel repulsed, sullied or offended - I felt exhilarated. Where are more of these guys? When he drove by in a car a few days later, we both knew the drill.”
But, while she appreciated the money, she soon found that not all men wanted to sit back and lick her boots.
Speaking about just a handful of her clients, she revealed that one guy “actually created a peephole so his buddies could watch while I was working on him. He is missing digits on his fingers.
“He's the kind of person you would cross the street to avoid."
And she also explained that she “won't do men in groups because they turn into rapes. You can control a one-on-one situation but you can't stag parties and drunks.”
Explaining the horrific experience that taught her this rule, she said: “Once at a motel on the edge of town with no phone or switchboard because the office closed down, a whole group of men who knew I was in there broke in and mauled me.
“I had two choices: do it or do it and get beat up. It was terrifying and humiliating.
“When you're outside the law, you can't go to the police and say ‘I wasn't paid.’ Your lifestyle is your consent.”
The anonymous woman Alternet spoke to says she was driven by her drug habit but that now she's found recovery in a 12-step program.
To read more of her stories about real-life prostitution, visit Alternet now.