The life of a Shakaskraal sex worker

Unemployment fuelled by frustration and desperation forces many girls into the dark world of prostitution with promises of a good income and job security.

The Courier spoke to a 20-year-old woman who goes by the name of Sarah. At first glance Sarah comes across as a normal girl walking the streets of Shakaskraal but her way of making money is what sets her apart. For the past two years she has worked as a prostitute, selling her body to complete strangers for a mere R100 to buy a day’s groceries for her family.

“Both my parents are unemployed. I have a brother in school and I am the only one who can support the family. Normally the responsibility would be a man’s but my brother is young and I want him to stay in school. They do not know I sell my body.”

Well dressed and softly spoken Sarah’s youthful sense of humour has not yet been tainted by the job she describes as ‘dirty’.

Unable to find other employment, Sarah admitted that she has to work hard to keep up with the growing competition in the sex industry, that means having to keep up-to-date with the ‘trends’ brought about by clients who pay for different kinds of satisfaction.

“It isn’t only men who are interested in prostitutes. Women are too. Mostly it is the middle-aged women and they pay a lot better. People ask for weird things sometimes. A guy once hired me for half an hour to suck his toes. You have to keep an open mind,” she said.

At just 18 years old, Sarah’s first sexual encounter was with a complete stranger. Since then she has found ways to cope and that often means zoning out and keeping in mind that they are using her body but they are not tarnishing her spirit.

The woman who makes jokes to stop herself from crying, completed matric in 2014 and said she knows the importance of using protection. Sarah said that the number of prostitutes locally is growing fast and because there is more competition, sex workers sometimes agree to perform dangerous sexual acts.

After an unforgettably traumatic experience, she only agrees to “plain sex”.

“I always ask what the customer wants so that I know what to charge. Once someone asked to use candles. I agreed because he offered to pay R1000 which is a lot.
“I also did not know exactly what he meant.

When we got to the hotel room he lit the candle and dropped the wax on my private parts. It hurt so much and I was crying. He stopped when I asked him to but he still wanted sex afterwards and it was painful,” she said.

Another sad trend is the ‘pregnant fetish’. Prostitutes who are pregnant get paid a lot more.

“Men like having sex with pregnant girls. Young girls who are just starting out are getting pregnant on purpose because they can charge more if they are pregnant.”

Sarah, who one day hopes to be a nurse, said she works alone and not with a group of girls. This way she gets to keep all her profits.

“I work on Wednesdays, sometimes Thursdays and always on Fridays and Saturdays. The weekend is busy and on Fridays I get maybe three clients. On Saturdays its more, maybe five or six. There are different prices for different things and normally I work in the bush or the customer’s cars. Sometimes the customer gets a room.”

Umhlali SAPS warrant officer Vinny Pillay confirmed that the trade is increasing on the North Coast.

“We are seeing many young girls but not minors thankfully. We cannot make arrests unless we catch them in the act.

“They often sit on the side of the roads but when we ask what they are doing, they say that they are waiting for a friend or transport. When we see them flagging down cars, we arrest them.”

Three prostitutes were arrested last week.