[View the story "Leading A Double Life - The Blog of a Sex Worker" on Storify ]Leading A Double Life - The Blog of a Sex Worker Kenyan Blogger "Sue" takes the oldest profession to the internet airwaves, discussing life as a sex worker and how she has kept those close to her in the dark. Storified by The Stream · Wed, Oct 26 2011 22:00:04
We spoke with Sue of Nairobi Nights on The Stream. We couldn't reveal her identity, but we could hear her voice.
SUE from NAIROBI NIGHTS BLOG talks to the StreamAJstream
My name is Sue. I practice along Koinange Street, Nairobi. These are thoughts, observations and experiences from my prostitution world. Nothing of the soft, sympathy seeking topsy turvy kind. But straight talk, hard facts and real anecdotes. They are worth something.nairobinights.co.cc
I have written about what society expects a prostitute to be. To some extent it is true. But interaction with prostitutes is so business like and at times in not sober circumstances. This does not provide room for men to gauge the prostitute intellectually. Even the 'not read' prostitutes have their experiences and views, but don't necessarily get to talk about to them to clients or friends.siku-moja.blogspot.com
Other than for the girls I work with, and my clients, only one or two other people know what I actually do. My parents, who luckily moved to the village, have no idea and so does any of our family members. I use some alibis. I even have some business cards, with my name, from the company at the airport where I work . I have been lucky none of my relatives have ever picked me from the streets, like it has happened to some.nairobinights.co.cc
In her blog
Nairobi Nights , Sue discusses how she became a sex worker.
So what led me to prostitution? The easiest thing for me to say is that after college I couldn't get a job and with bills to pay I had no option but to sell my body. But that, to a large extent, is a lie. True, after college I didn't immediately get a job, but so did many of my classmates, yet they did not jump to prostitution instead opting to survive and persevere until they got 'proper' employment.nairobinights.co.cc
I also know I didn't look for decent work hard enough. I only made some few applications and didn't wait for all the responses from the employers before I hobnobbed to the SJ where I got hooked, literally. Courtesy of my ego and the reality of the work, I would be hesitant to say I was destined to be a prostitute or worse still admit that I choose prostitution because I was lazy, wanted freedom and having it easy.nairobinights.co.cc
The same way I woulnt say, as some readers have suggested, I am in it because of a sex addiction; As interesting as it is, sex does not stimulate my mind enough to an extent of getting addicted.nairobinights.co.cc
Many men are attracted to picking girls from the streets because of the freedom to choose where to have sex with them. For unlike girls in downtown bars and brothels who insist on having sex in-house; in stuffy rooms and tattered mattress, the girls on the streets are more risk inclined as to go where a man wishes. Not that we have much choice. When I get inside a car I usually have no idea where a man will take me. It may sound stupid, but it’s a foolishness I charge a premium price for.nairobinights.co.cc
Sue also alludes to her time on the streets by explaining how long it takes before a sex worker appears "stale."
For how long does a prostitute remain fresh on the street? What's the optimal duration before she starts losing her appeal? From my own experience I started feeling stale after a year. A spark was gone. Perhaps because within a year I felt the street had validated me. I had gotten the t-shirt.nairobinights.co.cc
The Nairobi sex worker market is diverse and growing. Other blogs tie recent droughts in Kenya to the upsurge of people turning to prostitution.
The competition has been driven by an oversupply of the services we offer. This is not necessarily because more girls are joining the trade but more as a result of having a few of the trade's stabilizing dynamics disrupted. A key variable in our industry is time. The fact that there are girls who only operate during the day, and others during the night makes sure there are only enough of us at any particular moment.nairobinights.co.cc
Distribution has also been upset. This has to do with spread of the girls in different parts of the city. When a den is permanently closed it affects distribution because girls move to other open venues, which might be in a different side of town.nairobinights.co.cc
Scores of teenage girls in Machakos and Makueni have flocked town centers in the two counties to engage in commercial sex as drought and famine bites in Ukambani. Girls as young as 12 are roaming the towns at night seeking men to have sex with in exchange for money as the famine situation worsens in the drought stricken region. In Machakos, girls wait outside bars from 11pm and wait for patrons.allafrica.com
Two obstacles Sue has faced as a result of her profession include the search for business between 0300-0500 and the implications of having a child with a customer.
If a man hasn’t picked you by the time, then some despair sets in. That does not mean a girl cannot be picked within those hours, she can, but the quality of men who visit the street at that hour is not the best. Most have been partying all night long, are drunk, demanding and hard to negotiate with. The sober ones are likely to be with emotional problems and rather unpredictable. If there be a serial killer hour, then that is.nairobinights.co.cc
In cases where the father is a client then it one of those they have built a special relationship with. While at the SJ I believed a condom could protect me more from disease than from pregnancy. No wonder I got pregnant despite my being extra careful. I have never understood how it happened. But luckily or unluckily something came up in the early days of the pregnancy and I didn’t carry it to full term. And no, I didn’t abort.nairobinights.co.cc
She also shares her views on the legalisation of her profession.
Some of them talk rehabilitation, legalization and rights. It all sounds fine, but legalization disturbs me. Legalization means us joining the system. It means structure and monitoring. It means returns and tax.nairobinights.co.cc
I am not against paying tax or a license fee, but the monitoring that comes with it. My privacy would be gone, what with me joining the government records as a tax payer whose source of income is prostitution. With the push towards open governance you never know who may smoke me out. Anonymity is key to me and many of us here. If it’s gone then we may be forced to go too.nairobinights.co.cc
In Kenya, prostitution is outlawed in three ways: The Penal Code which criminalises solicitation (asking for money in exchange for sex) and running of brothels (those earning a living off the earnings of prostitution).standardmedia.co.ke
Sue has opened herself up to criticism and provided a deeper look into her life by addressing user-generated questions and comments.
Chat with me about anything via SMS during selected hours everyday. Email maishanairobi@gmail.com for details. Supported by Words & Soundssuenairobi
Q.Please answer I'm trying to help.1. Did u grow up with both parents esp a father? A. Yes 2. Did any of them sexually harass you? A. Nosuenairobi
Nairobi Nights has also made its way into the audio world.
The CD starts with a girl reading Episode 1: I Can't Feel Your Thing. She has a very high voice, lacking the huskiness of shouting at night in the cold and puffing cigarettes. She reads very fast, as if she is in a hurry, making nonsense of fullstops. Not to brag, but I can read better . Its something I learned from a very strict catholic priest in the boarding primary school I attended, where I used to read the bible in church.nairobinights.co.cc
Nowadays, like I mentioned before, I feel like a fading beauty. For a moment listening to the girl, I thought that's how I will sound when I fade completely. Somehow I pitied her and hoped I won't fade as she certainly has and end up pitying myself too. As to the entrepreneurs pretending to be me and making money from it , I am not sure what to do. I am yet to decide whether they are doing right or wrong. My experiences and thoughts are not unique to me, but perhaps the telling is.nairobinights.co.cc
Wow! Just finished recording my podcast. Now holding the CD & wondering whether to dish it free or use to fund raise for a new computer...suenairobi
