You Like Me! You Really Like Me!!



(Ok, so it turns out that’s not exactly what she says…)

Of course they liked you! Come on, who doesn’t love Sally Field?

Anyway…I had a similar experience a few days ago, thanks to someone out there who apparently believes I’m fit to be included in a group of 31 American escorts who are “uniquely sexy…who could say so in new words…who share a similar wit, whim, and joie de vivre.”

Here’s what happened: I was checkin’ the ‘ol website traffic stats (yes, I do that), and I noticed that I had gotten a relatively high number of visits from a site I didn’t recognize. Since 1) I’m nosy, and 2) I love to be flattered, I clicked on over, figuring someone must have linked to my site in a gushing blog post about what an absolutely amazing genius I am. But I instead landed on CameoLover.com.

The creator of the website, “Ana,” is evidently an escort herself, as she mentions that her clients felt frustrated by what she refers to as “flashy ads, vulgar stories, generic texts, (and) impersonal numbers” and “generic writing” found on the usual listing sites. So, she created her own. It’s essentially a collection of escort websites, and not much more. The hree links on the right sidebar make it easy to peruse the collection, bookmark websites you like, and can contact anyone you find interesting. There are no ads or listings per se; the site is more like a carefully curated virtual art museum…except with escort websites. No, I’m not a shill for this site, and no, I didn’t create it, but I do think you should check it out. I’m sure you’ll agree this is something very new and very different.

And “Ana” (I’m not sure if this is a webmaster pseudonym, or if she uses this name when seeing clients) promises that it will always be free. “Free,” as in, “No, an escort cannot pay a nominal fee to have her website included in the collection.” Each of the sites listed has been selected because it meets a higher standard–one that can’t be met by simply whipping out a credit card.

This is almost as cool as when I found this, lol.

Update: Website is now gone, boo. Pretty sure this had something to do with legal blah blah blah. Ah, well.

Any New Yorkers Interested in a Gorgeous Fetish-Friendly Sexpert / Escort from London??



So, I know I’ve mentioned my escort friend Lydia in London before.

Lydia is a self-described “bright, articulate English woman…available for personal visits from gentlemen, ladies and couples ” with “beautiful bouncy boobs (all natural!) a curvy body, lovely legs, pretty blue eyes and an enthusiasm for sex.”

Sidenote: See great pics of those beautiful, British, bouncy boobs here.

What I  find most intriguing about Lydia, though (besides her boobalicious, boobtastic boobs, lol), is her interest in a variety of fetish, fantasy, and miscellaneous kinky activities–check out her list; you may see something you like! Whether you’re a vanilla-sex-eschewing kink connoisseur or just a newbie curious to explore (omg that rhymed!), Lydia’s bound to offer something you’ll enjoy.

Anyway, as she discusses in a recent blog post, she’s thinking of visiting New York this year in November or December, and she’s looking to set up appointments with interested clients there while she’s on vacation er, “holiday,” as she would say.

Personally, I think she should come to New Orleans. But I guess New York has a certain allure, especially to those across the pond. I have more than a few British friends who, when considering a trip to the good ol’ US of A, steadfastly and without hesitation selected New York as their host city (despite my exceedingly unselfish, level-headed, unbiased contention that New Orleans is warmer, less expensive, more laid back, arguably more beautiful with a more unique cultural appeal, and just plain better, darn it!*).

So, if you think you might be in New York in November or December and you’d like to meet up with Lydia, be sure to check out her website and contact her at minxylydia@hotmail.com for more info!!

*grumble grumble grumble… ;)

Accolades, Fan Mail, and Praise

I’ve been thinking of doing this for a while. I occasionally receive gifts and/or flattering emails from readers of my blog. Some are potential or former clients; some are simply folks who either stumbled upon my site accidentally while perusing other sites or found it while searching for tell-all blogs full of racy stories written by professional companions (if you read this blog regularly, you know that’s not what they found here, haha).

Sometimes I feel like when I’m writing this blog I’m sending posts out into a void: a vast and empty space on the internet where no one actually reads anything, they simply click around in search of free photos and spammable email addresses. And because I rarely receive comments (hint, hint–I love comments, people. I even have it set so that you can leave them anonymously, jeez.), it’s easy to convince myself more and more often that that is the case. So, it’s always nice when someone drops me a line to let me know I’m wrong ;)

Anyway, these generous gifts and thoughtful emails always brighten my day (or week, as it were). And, ya know, I don’t want to brag…well, yes I do. So, I thought I’d share a few with you.

Fan Mail

November 2012

I would be ashamed to admit how many courtesan/escort websites I have
perused (and admittedly judged). You have done a magnificent job of
arranging yours. It is one of the few that I’ve seen that is FUN to
explore. From the alluring photos that make you a very desirable woman
to trying to guess where the photos taken, it rates as one of the
best. Your personality flows from page to page.

When I sent the link to my girlfriend, her reply was “She’s Funny!”.
High praise from someone who is difficult to impress.

_______

October 2012

Folks…If you are looking for a young lady who is sexy and well educated, then Annie is a must see in New Orleans.from TER

October 2012

Hi Annie! :)

My name’s ____…and no, this isn’t what you think. I am a hobbyist and have more than a few references that can vouch for what kind of gentleman I am…

in (city that’s really far away from New Orleans)!

I just started reading your blog and really enjoy it. (Insert semi-identifying info about this gentleman’s connection to New Orleans).

Hopefully I’m not wasting your time with this email. Obviously, it would be difficult for us to schedule time together because of our distance issue. I am hoping, however, that I may call you a “blog friend” and fellow New Orleanian and continue to enjoy your writings. Maybe someday in the near future, a meeting could take place.

Until then, thank you for the enjoyable blogging, and stay safe.

___

September 2012

Hi Annie,

I hope this message finds you well and in good spirits.

Up front, with 2 kids in out of state private colleges to the tune of
100K a year, I’m not a potential customer…I feel like it would be
taking something away from them if I was. I just wanted to share a few
thoughts.

Anyway, I divide the world up into two groups of people. Interesting
and not very interesting. Money, power, or social status have nothing
with my decisions, you are either interesting or not.

Well, Annie, YOU are interesting. Continue reading “Accolades, Fan Mail, and Praise”

Blue Books and Brothels: Storyville and the Legislation of Morality

A while back I met with a gentleman, and one of the topics that came up in conversation was New Orleans’s “sordid” history–namely, the period from 1897-1917 when the city set up Storyville, a red light district where prostitution was legal.

We discussed my fascination with E. J. Bellocq, a photographer working at that time who, despite earning a living photographing (among other relatively mundane things) Catholic school students’ school pictures, was drawn to the…less wholesome side of New Orleans in his art.  He is now best known for his Storyville Portraits, a collection of photographs of Storyville prostitutes taken around 1912, just five years before Storyville was shut down. These pictures weren’t found until after his death, but they’re wildly popular now–so much so that they have completely overshadowed his other work, such as his photos of the opium dens in what was then New Orleans’s Chinatown (now the CBD).

Clara Miller of Mahogany Hall, Prostitute in New Orleans's Storyville
Anyway, a couple days later, after he’d left town, I got an email from him with a link to this site.  It’s a fun little site with lots of info, but I think the most interesting thing about it is the collection of photographs of Blue Books.  Blue Books were basically guides to Storyvile–like the Eros-nola.com of paper.

It’s striking how similar the Blue Books are to the advertising methods used in the industry today.  Look at Clara Miller’s ad–her main selling points are her lovely disposition, her worldly (she’s traveled to Europe) yet relateable (she’s a local girl born near Baton Rouge) personal history, and her eagerness to please (she “can sit up all night if necessary”).  And of course, she’s a beautiful octaroon.  Sounds a lot like an elite professional companion, seeking extended dates, no?

I love the intro, in which the publishers swear that the listings contained in the book are truthful representations of the ladies and services they advertise.  “This book contains nothing but Facts,” they write.  Oh, I wonder how many men were duped by the ol’ bait-and-switch back then.  The predominant business structure in Storyville was the brothel arrangement, where several women worked in a house under a single owner/employer. It was basically the equivalent to today’s agencies. And the brothel owners (Madams) could really submit whatever information, real or false, they believed would attract customers (is this sounding familiar yet?).  I hope they made sure the girls had a chance to read the ads first!


And on that topic, what of the bait-and-switch?  Back then, since the business was legal, I guess situations like that one were much less problematic–it was just a matter of the gentleman saying, “No, thank you, that’s not what I was expecting,” and moving on to the next available lady that struck his fancy.

And what of brothels?  There weren’t really any “independent escorts” in those days; women worked for business owners, who charged them a fee for the room, the advertising, security, etc. (again, like an agency).  This is one of the reasons I’m against “legalizing” sex work–once there are strict regulations, we basically lose all control over how and where we work, and what we do with our own bodies.  Look at the situation in Nevada.  Sure, the brothels are legal, but the women working in them are dehumanized to the point that they are simply equipment, and the laws are such that the person who benefits most from their work is the employer (brothel owner).  The women are not permitted to leave the property (?!????!!!!!??), they are subjected to–and charged for–weekly medical exams*, they must pay rent, a flat grocery fee (regardless of what they eat), and several other miscellaneous fees for services and items they are forced to buy, and they are forced to directly compete with the women they must work and live with for the duration of their stay.  And before they receive their paychecks, the employer takes (from what I understand) about half of their earnings.
Continue reading “Blue Books and Brothels: Storyville and the Legislation of Morality”

New Links and Lovely Ladies I Admire

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the set of links on the right side of this page labeled “Other Companion Blogs.” These blogs are authored by ladies I admire for their intellect, sensuality, and wit, and I think they’re worth a read. If you know of any other interesting blogs (by escorts or otherwise), please feel free to suggest them here–or you can contact me privately, if you’re too shy to do so out in the open. ;)

I’ve also updated my Links page. In addition to adding a link to the SWOP-NOLA website, I also posted links to Cecilia Dahl, Minxylydia, and Nicole Kelly. If you’d like to do a link exchange (of a site OR a blog), please email me!.

Escorts at Home and Abroad

So I was talking to my friend Lydia in London…

OK, I just have to stop here and admit how worldly I feel when I actually put that in writing. It’s not like I don’t have friends in other parts of the world–I still talk to a guy I met when I did a summer abroad in grad school who is now a doctor in India, and a British girl I met waaaayyy back when I visited Spain who now lives in Italy, just to name a couple. It’s just so rare that I get to name-drop them for worldliness cred, hahahah. I love the internet for a LOT of reasons, but I think one of the biggest ones is the fact that it makes it so easy to keep in touch with–or even meet and befriend–people who live tens of thousands of miles away, and to see what life is like where they are.

Which brings me to the point of this post…sort of.

So anyway, as I was saying, my friend Lydia (an escort in London) and I were talking about some of the differences between the escort (or professional companion or provider or whatever term you prefer) biz here in the U. S. and over there in the U. K. I won’t bore you with all the details, especially since you likely have a pretty good idea, if you know anything about the U. K. And if you don’t, an observant reader can probably figure it out by looking through her her website.

…Which is what I did. And then I started to read her escort blog. And since I’m kind of new at this whole blogging thing, I decided to use one of her blog posts as inspiration for mine.

So, without further ado, I present to you, inspired by a post on Lydia’s blog

 

Continue reading “Escorts at Home and Abroad”