I am an author writing a series of novels entitled Soul Destruction, which expose the dark world and the harsh reality of life as a call girl. The inspiration for my novels was a woman I knew from my research on prostitution in the late 1990s. I refer to her as Q, as although she is no longer alive, I wish to respect and protect her anonymity. Q was a wonderful person who had a sad and painful life, with childhood sexual abuse and then being pimped on the streets from the age of fifteen. After escaping from her pimp, she moved to London and worked as a call girl. She was a very good friend of mine years ago; I loved her dearly, and have to say she was one of the most beautiful women I have ever known, inside and out.
In her memory, to raise funds for a charity that helps women exit prostitution, and to raise awareness of the reality of prostitution, I decided to publish on Amazon the transcript from the video interview I undertook with Q, which I have entitled In Her Own Words... Interview with a London Call Girl. Within days of being published, the short book received a number of 5* reviews across the UK and US Amazon websites, including a 5* review from Stephen Leather, one of the UK's most successful authors and the writer of over 30 bestsellers.
I have published the transcript completely unedited, including every broken sentence and pause, so that her words are presented as honestly and boldly as she spoke them. I have thought about cutting out words so it makes for a tighter read, but the words are Q’s and to respect her, her memory, and the fearlessness and braveness she showed in disclosing her innermost self, at the moment I feel it would be wrong of me to edit her words. And after all, the title is “In Her Own Words” - Would it be dishonest to edit them?
Because of our close friendship, I think that is what enabled Q to be so open in her interview with me. She was brutally honest about how she felt and thought about herself, working as a prostitute, sex, men, relationships, society and much more. Her words dispel the 'happy hooker' myth. On the outside, being a 'happy hooker' was the image she presented. From her contradictory statements, it can be ascertained that she tried to make herself believe certain facts, whilst knowing another truth. She shows the reality of life for women working in prostitution, the effects it has on them psychologically, emotionally, with relationships with men, how they are viewed and how they feel they are viewed by society, as outsiders and outcasts, often judged and looked down on.
From making this publication available, I hope to change the stigma some of society has against prostitutes and prostitution, which I believe is mainly through lack of knowledge. 75% of women who work as prostitutes have been sexually and physically abused as children, 70% have experienced multiple rapes, and 67% meet the criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder, which is a major cause of suicide. 9 out of 10 women working as prostitutes would like to exit. However, there is not enough support available. Because Q is no longer alive, I felt it essential to donate all the royalties received from this publication to a charity that helps women exit prostitution. The charity I have chosen is Beyond the Streets http://www.beyondthestreets.org.uk. They do great work, and work with similar projects and charities across the UK.
There will be more coverage of In Her Own Words... Interview with a London Call Girl in the media, from bloggers and from feminist organisations. As with the novels I write, I hope to dispel the ‘happy hooker’ myth, which is exactly what it is, a myth. Moreover, not only is it an erroneous message that has been sent to society, but it is a dangerous message to young and particularly vulnerable women who are being led to believe that being a call girl is glamorous. On the outside it is: Q had apartments on the most sought after streets in London, wore the most expensive designer clothes, had a valuable jewellery collection, took the most luxurious holidays, was given expensive gifts from clients, and frequented the best nightclubs in London, being ushered straight into the VIP sections. However, when you read what was in her heart, her mind and her soul, you will see that none of that compensates for the abuse she suffered as a child and continued to suffer as an adult working in prostitution.
I should also mention that I have firsthand experience of a great deal of the topics I write about, and share similar traumatic experiences to women working in prostitution. I was sexually assaulted as a child, raped in my twenties and kidnapped. I have posttraumatic stress disorder and I also have bipolar disorder. Until 1999, I was a drug addict and an alcoholic.
My debut novel, Soul Destruction, is yet to be published, but hopefully will find a home with an agent or publishing house soon. A spin-off from the Soul Destruction series is the Soul Destruction Diary series. The first diary can be read on my blog http://www.soul-destruction.com. I post the diary entries as I write them, though with my PTSD symptoms having worsened recently, I am unable to write at the moment. However, this will give new readers a chance to catch up on the ten and a half chapters already published. There is also further research into prostitution published on the blog, a video trailer to the Soul Destruction series, links to articles about In Her Own Words... Interview with a London Call Girl and Soul Destruction, and links to interviews with me.
I am an author writing a series of novels entitled Soul Destruction, which expose the dark world and the harsh reality of life as a call girl. The inspiration for my novels was a woman I knew from my research on prostitution in the late 1990s. I refer to her as Q, as although she is no longer alive, I wish to respect and protect her anonymity. Q was a wonderful person who had a sad and painful life, with childhood sexual abuse and then being pimped on the streets from the age of fifteen. After escaping from her pimp, she moved to London and worked as a call girl. She was a very good friend of mine years ago; I loved her dearly, and have to say she was one of the most beautiful women I have ever known, inside and out.
In her memory, to raise funds for a charity that helps women exit prostitution, and to raise awareness of the reality of prostitution, I decided to publish on Amazon the transcript from the video interview I undertook with Q, which I have entitled In Her Own Words... Interview with a London Call Girl. Within days of being published, the short book received a number of 5* reviews across the UK and US Amazon websites, including a 5* review from Stephen Leather, one of the UK's most successful authors and the writer of over 30 bestsellers.
I have published the transcript completely unedited, including every broken sentence and pause, so that her words are presented as honestly and boldly as she spoke them. I have thought about cutting out words so it makes for a tighter read, but the words are Q’s and to respect her, her memory, and the fearlessness and braveness she showed in disclosing her innermost self, at the moment I feel it would be wrong of me to edit her words. And after all, the title is “In Her Own Words” - Would it be dishonest to edit them?
Because of our close friendship, I think that is what enabled Q to be so open in her interview with me. She was brutally honest about how she felt and thought about herself, working as a prostitute, sex, men, relationships, society and much more. Her words dispel the 'happy hooker' myth. On the outside, being a 'happy hooker' was the image she presented. From her contradictory statements, it can be ascertained that she tried to make herself believe certain facts, whilst knowing another truth. She shows the reality of life for women working in prostitution, the effects it has on them psychologically, emotionally, with relationships with men, how they are viewed and how they feel they are viewed by society, as outsiders and outcasts, often judged and looked down on.
From making this publication available, I hope to change the stigma some of society has against prostitutes and prostitution, which I believe is mainly through lack of knowledge. 75% of women who work as prostitutes have been sexually and physically abused as children, 70% have experienced multiple rapes, and 67% meet the criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder, which is a major cause of suicide. 9 out of 10 women working as prostitutes would like to exit. However, there is not enough support available. Because Q is no longer alive, I felt it essential to donate all the royalties received from this publication to a charity that helps women exit prostitution. The charity I have chosen is Beyond the Streets http://www.beyondthestreets.org.uk. They do great work, and work with similar projects and charities across the UK.
There will be more coverage of In Her Own Words... Interview with a London Call Girl in the media, from bloggers and from feminist organisations. As with the novels I write, I hope to dispel the ‘happy hooker’ myth, which is exactly what it is, a myth. Moreover, not only is it an erroneous message that has been sent to society, but it is a dangerous message to young and particularly vulnerable women who are being led to believe that being a call girl is glamorous. On the outside it is: Q had apartments on the most sought after streets in London, wore the most expensive designer clothes, had a valuable jewellery collection, took the most luxurious holidays, was given expensive gifts from clients, and frequented the best nightclubs in London, being ushered straight into the VIP sections. However, when you read what was in her heart, her mind and her soul, you will see that none of that compensates for the abuse she suffered as a child and continued to suffer as an adult working in prostitution.
I should also mention that I have firsthand experience of a great deal of the topics I write about, and share similar traumatic experiences to women working in prostitution. I was sexually assaulted as a child, raped in my twenties and kidnapped. I have posttraumatic stress disorder and I also have bipolar disorder. Until 1999, I was a drug addict and an alcoholic.
My debut novel, Soul Destruction, is yet to be published, but hopefully will find a home with an agent or publishing house soon. A spin-off from the Soul Destruction series is the Soul Destruction Diary series. The first diary can be read on my blog http://www.soul-destruction.com. I post the diary entries as I write them, though with my PTSD symptoms having worsened recently, I am unable to write at the moment. However, this will give new readers a chance to catch up on the ten and a half chapters already published. There is also further research into prostitution published on the blog, a video trailer to the Soul Destruction series, links to articles about In Her Own Words... Interview with a London Call Girl and Soul Destruction, and links to interviews with me.
There is a Soul Destruction Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/SoulDestructi...
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I can be found on Twitter at http://twitter.com/RuthFJacobs