By GEORGIA WESTGARTH
More often than not, Dandenong prostitute ‘Kati’ offers her clients companionship, not sex.
The 23-year-old mother of one has been a working girl since she was 18 and told The Journal “people get lonely”.
When asked what her job entails Kati said “just having a chat is more common than not”.
“A lot of the time its more companionship. Probably 50 to 75 per cent of my job involves no sex at all,” she said.
“It’s a brothel, you think it’s the sex industry you must have sex, but not at all.
“I sit around talking, helping people through their own little dramas, just being able to talk through any issues they have with someone who’s completely objective.”
But the companionship Kati describes also involves massage and “relaxation” she calls it – a type of relaxation which pulled her off the streets.
An unstable childhood and close to a year of homelessness forced Kati to advertise herself on Gumtree, an online buy and sell platform.
Kati advertised herself with a written resume looking for any line of work.
“I was 18, in between school and trying to find a job and really struggling to work it all out,” Kati said.
“I got an email from a lovely woman who laid everything out on the table for me, links to all the laws and regulations so I could see that everything (the paid sex industry) was above board.”
At that point Kati had been out of an unsafe home environment since she was 15 years old and in time the brothel would provide a safe haven for her in between homes.
“I had all the media stereotypes in my head and it scared me,” Kati recalled of her first shift at a Moorabbin brothel.
“I stood on the steps of my very first place for about half an hour before walking inside but after three weeks of work I said ‘this is nothing like what the media perceives it to be, nothing’.”
Kati calls her current work place, Garden of Eden (GOE), a family.
“Girls come and go but the owner here has seen me at my best and most darkest points and she’s definitely like another mum. At times I just call her mum and annoy her with it,” Kati said, laughing.
“If I can, I come into work on Christmas Day. Everyone in here is family whether it be clients or girls – it’s very humbling to know that no matter what job you do you are still human and loved and respected.”
Kati met her partner on an online escort chatroom and reviews forum called Punter Planet and said one of the best things about their relationship is the understanding.
“He is an escort himself, we’ve been together almost three years and if I’ve had a bad day at work I know I can turn to him and he’ll understand what I’ve gone through so that’s really great,” Kati said.
With a three-year-old autistic son in childcare during the day, Kati said the money she earns through prostitution means the right kind of education for her his future.
“I rent and the money I make is very, very sufficient,” she said.
“There are a lot of high costs associated with my son, for example he needs a weighted blanket to sleep that’s $200 alone, that without this job I would have been scraping at straws to get.”
Kati’s job is also paying for her course in naturopathy and she said the GOE managers are very helpful in educating the girls on ways to maximise their finances.
“I’ve had periods where I haven’t worked, once for seven months and I could sustain myself with money I’d saved, it’s about being smart with it but for some people the money can be a trap,” she said.
Kati said she has learnt not to get too close to her clients.
“In some ways, yes they are friends but over the years there has been times where I’ve spent four years getting to know somebody and all of a sudden they’ve hit me with really hard news to take.
“And that hurts, when you really care about someone and they tell you they’ve had suicidal thoughts so you have to filter it so it doesn’t end up affecting your own daily life,” she said.
It’s the job that keeps Kati out of debt but one she said she won’t do forever and one not many people know she does.
“My house mates know what I do, my family don’t just because they have in the past and it caused issues so they think I do something different now,” she said.
Kati’s regulars range from all ages but she’s not fond of the Gen Y clients.
“I’m not fussy, but I try and avoid 18 and 19-year-olds. For me they seem really cocky,” she said.
On the profession she calls “awesome”, Kati said it’s not what most people think it is.
“I love this job, every working girl has each other’s back.”
