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MADAM - Prostitutes, Punters & Puppets Memoirs of a very British brothel wins the Brit Writers Non-Fiction Award

12/06/2012 19:53:00

A saucy little blog about the @Brit_Writers Award evening

'Thank you Brit Writers' Awards' 2012' - Becky Adams...

http://britwriters.blogspot.com/2012/12/hank-you-brit-writers-awards-2012-becky.html?spref=tw

Earlier in 2012, inspired by winning ‘Publication of the Year ‘at the Erotic Awards for my memoirs ‘MADAM’, I uploaded my manuscript to the Brit Writers website and sat back to have nice cup of tea. I then realised I’d not up-loaded the correct document, a synopsis or covering letter, and had in fact messed up the entire process.

I’d had a good read of the Brit Writers website, seen the quality of work that they do for schools and new authors and never considered for a moment that they would be impressed by my offering, especially as it had been my first attempt as writing anything and incorrectly submitted.

Linda Dunscombe, my creative writing teacher from the lunchtime classes at the library kept telling me I’d written a jolly good book (with her help) and that I should have faith that the judges of the BWA would recognise that. I wasn’t convinced. I’d done my best, but my memoir felt to me like a comedy romp, an X-rated Bridget Jones rather than a great piece of prose worthy of the BWA.

‘MADAM’ is the tale of my 20 years running houses of ill repute with my friends. It’s a journey of friendship, loyalty and police harassment with a liberal sprinkling of transvestites and puppet fetishes. It’s my life story, but not the sort of thing I’d normally read, so why would the judges?To my utter amazement, I received a phone call to say MADAM has been short listed, and then at the beginning of December, there we were, in a taxi heading through a chilly, frost bitten London to the award ceremony.

Everybody looked wonderful and very literary! I lurked in the corners feeling a bit out of my depth and unsteady in my glittery shoes, but very soon the other finalists, photographers and the lovely organisers came to talk to me and when the dancers arrived the party really started.

So many amazing people! So much talent! As we were shown to our glamorous candlelit tables the excitement and expectation was palpable in the room.

Award ceremonies are a tricky mixture of humility and hope. To have your writing recognised is a great honour, so I sat with my fingers crossed under my napkin whilst practising my magnanimous ‘I’m not really disappointed’ face in case MADAM didn't win, and I wasn't expecting it to.

Tracey Wiggins opening poem was very moving and Holly Smith, Joel Cranefield and Mahla Andrews-Oakes, the children who won the under 16 awards were delightful and all had huge, well deserved rounds of applause.

Mykel Hawke, America’s crazy version of Bear Grylls was hilarious and nearly made me choke on a tomato, ( he says tomahto) and the smashing looking lad at the back of the room who did the free-styling was brilliant and nearly made me cry.

Bivas Ambasada was the star of the show winning two awards, but I think he should have also won a prize for being the most photogenic chap with the best chin whiskers as the pictures will validate.

The food was smashing, and I was busy enjoying the cheesy mash in the main course when the Non-fiction award was announced. I think I stopped breathing, I know I stopped chewing and deftly wiped the gravy from my chin.

Mindy Gibbins-Klien from the Book Midwife and Ecademy Press was on stage with a sealed envelope announcing the finalists, and the winner is…Becky Adams and MADAM!

Good Lord! That was me!

As winning a Brit Writers Award was unexpected I’d not really prepared a speech, but luckily as a professional speaker I rustled something up on the way to the podium, and luckily for the audience I kept it 29 minutes shorter than usual.

I would really like to say a huge ‘THANK YOU’ to Imran and everyone at the Brit Writers for the opportunity to submit my book, to Sinead for looking after us on the evening and all the wonderful people and performers who made it such a great fun.

I’m so grateful that winning the Brit Writers Award has given me the chance to work with the effervescent and amazingly efficient Mindy Gibbins-Klien who has offered me a publishing deal for my new business book, on which we are already working hard.
Good luck all you wonderful writers, keep up the good work and see you all next year!

by Becky Adams

Buy MADAM Here

Escort or Entrepreneur?

09/02/2012 09:53:00

Escort or Entrepreneur?

For those who don’t know me, I’m Becky Adams; most people just call me Madam Becky.

Now a retired madam, I’ve run brothels, escort agencies and adult shops in the UK for the past 2 decades or more.

I wandered, almost accidentally, into the sex industry in the mid 1990’s, starting an out-call escort agency as a co-operative with a group of mums from my daughters school.

It was a very amateurish affair indeed. I knew very little about sex and bugger all about industry.

Someone had to look after the kids, someone had to be the driver for bookings and someone had to do ‘the business’.

Not being overly fond of kids, and kids not being overly fond of me, by default I ended up as the phone answerer / driver / condom buyer and general goffer.

Clueless, when talking to punters, I didn’t even know what the clients were asking for. When a chap enquired if anyone enjoyed ‘doing A levels’. I was confused. I’d hated collage that’s all I knew! Frustrated, the poor man called back without the acronyms and requested anal sex, I thought he said annual, and told him to phone back next year!

For many years my little collection of ladies and I got by on sweet tea and friendship, the girls were earning well, but I made hardly any money.

A tricky childhood and my resulting dislike of physical contact made me a useless escort, but once I’d learnt what the words meant, I was the best in the business at answering the phones. Eventually when we opened the first in-call flat I did all the buttering up whilst my friends did all the bonking.

We trundled along, girls and clients came… and went, came…and went.

Becky kittens we called ourselves. We saw maybe 5 or 6 clients a day, and I still wasn’t making any money.

Sometime in 2004 after I’d done a bit too much showing off on the telly I got dragged into a small office by the tax man. Convinced I was making millions like other escort agencies he wanted his cut. I’d thought that running an escort agency was somewhat illegal. He confirmed it was, but he still wanted his cut. Hypocrisy of government, who’d have thought it?

I was confused. We were a group of daft girls having a laugh, we barely covered the costs. We were just doing some slightly nefarious things with men’s willies, a puppet and some ginger biscuits, that’s not enterprise.

I wasn’t a business person. I didn’t really have a business did I? I didn’t know what he was on about.

I WAS WRONG.

I was exactly the same as about 98 percent of women in the sex industry, and we’re all wrong.

Most of us get into the sex industry by default, by accident or from desperation. We start seeing ourselves as sex workers, slightly removed from the rest of ‘normal’ society. Not really in ‘the system’. A sub species like vampires and werewolves, creatures that the law makers don’t want walking the streets on dark nights, frightening the locals.

We keep our heads down and do our own thing, getting by, staying safe and out of trouble.

We forget how amazing we are and how well we do a difficult job with our hands tied if you’ll pardon the pun.

If I went into a formal business group or the Chamber of Commerce, and suggested they ran their businesses by the same rules massage parlours, working flats and escorts have to they’d be squealing like 6 year olds at a Dr Who premier.

Imagine running a newsagents, hairdressers or pie shop like this…

1. Unable to advertise in most newspapers, and then without website info, opening times etc. at premium rates.

2. Unable to use Google Adwords or Facebook. Very limited marketing available.

3. Unable to advertise for staff in most papers. Prison sentence for suggesting someone joins your team.

4. Prison sentence for opening up in the morning.

5. Prison sentence for answering the phones and taking a booking.

6. Prison sentence for making cups of tea and arranging shortbread on a tray.

7. Verbal / physical abuse from neighbours.

8. Police harassment.

9. Council harassment.

10. Not able to keep records and monitor business growth safely.

11. Eating all the paperwork and hiding bin bags of ‘evidence’.

12. Not being able to contact or direct market to clients in anyway.

13. Being closed down and moving premises at an hours’ notice.

14. Repeatedly losing rental deposits, investment capital and client base.

15. Having no human rights, employment rights, right of redress.

16. No networking or business mentoring.

17. Saturated markets and competition that wants to kill you.

18. Competition that will kill you.

19. All pervading odour of vanilla air-freshener, baby wipes and sex.(May not apply to pie shops)

20. STILL HAVING TO PAY TAX!

Yet, despite all this and more the UK sex industry turns over billlions of pounds a year.

How?

Because we’re all natural entrepreneurs, thinking outside the box, all day every day.

Imagine how much better you’d do if you started applying proven business techniques to your escorting work.

Imagine how much more money you’d make, out selling and outperforming the competition if you studied success strategies.

I know for a fact that applying tried and tested business solutions works wonders, because I did it. I’ll explain by getting back to the story….

I thought successful people were born knowing how to make money. I wasn’t one of them. I knew I was crap. I had some personality traits that were really unhelpful if I wanted to grow my escorting enterprise.

I hated numbers, paperwork, and statistics. I hated everything that didn’t involve laughing with clients or dancing around the brothel wearing frilly knickers on my head singing the Oky Coky, but at least I was honest with myself. I was seriously, shockingly bad at business.

After my run in with the revenue, I thought sod it. If I’m going to get into trouble I may as well make it worth it. I can’t be a wanker all my life.

Someone told me that leaders of industry like Alan Sugar, Richard Branson and a fella called Dan Kennedy wrote about the stuff I needed to know. Off I went to the library to find myself some books about getting rich.

Well bugger me pink. It looked easy.

Reading these books, I realised that building a successful business is just like baking a cake. Put in the right ingredients, mix properly, bake like they tell you and hey presto! A cake!

Didn’t matter if you’re a hooker or a plumber, the same rules applied. It may take a few goes of following the recipe to get it looking and tasting just right, but keep at it, and it will. Trust me.

After a bit of re-branding, re marketing and getting to grip with my own wankiness, I grew my business ‘Madam Becky’s’ by 800 percent in two years. I was amazed.

So now I’m on a mission. I want to help other escorts, parlours or agencies to become more successful.

I want sex workers to start seeing themselves as business people, who are already achieving more with less than most other business people out there.

I believe that the best thing about being an escort is that it gives you choices.

Done correctly, escorting can be a period of your life where you earn more money and have more freedom than most of the population. Use it wisely. Realise your potential, educate yourself and expand your horizons.

Seeing yourself as an entrepreneur and learning new business skills will increase your income and help you plan an exit strategy if you ever wish to change career. You’re half way there already!

If I can do it, you can do it! Let’s do it together!

Email me at madambecky@live.co.uk for monthly escort business updates. Or check out

www.madambeckyadams.co.uk for business mentoring for escorts and agencies in the UK.

Read more about how I built my business and my adventures during 2 decades of bawdy housekeeping in the wonderful, must read book…

MADAM-Prostitutes, Punters and Puppets.

My memoirs of a very British brothel is available in paperback or Kindle from Amazon. Winner of The Erotic Awards ‘Publication of the Year 2012’.

Students selling sex to pay debts.

08/31/2012 11:13:00

Write your post here. http://bigblogwales.org.uk/2012/08/30/students-selling-sex-to-pay-bills/

ON LINE SEX GIRLS SIGN DEATH SENTANCE

10/10/2010 09:24:00

Online sex girls ‘signing their own death sentence’

Oct 10 2010

by Sam Malone, Wales On Sunday

SORDID Welsh vice girls are brazenly selling unprotected sex online for higher prices – risking a national boom in sexually transmitted diseases.

A Wales on Sunday investigation found dozens of women offering unprotected sex, in exchange for a higher fee, through adverts on popular internet escort sites.

The news was greeted with horror last night by sexual health campaigners, and even a former brothel madam who feared the women were “signing their own death sentence”.

Becky Adams, a one-time Brecon Convent girl who spent 20 years working in the seedy world of the sex industry, said selling unsafe sex was “seriously frowned upon”. She said: “It’s something which sends the whole industry into complete shock and horror.“If it were one of my girls, then it would’ve been a sackable offence in an instant.”

According to Madam Becky, although there are often a lot of girls advertising on the internet, it is not something she considered “the norm”.“Even in the massage parlours, it’s rare to find anyone who offers such services,” she said.

“There’s often threads on sex workers’ internet forums which discuss girls offering this, and it’s never positive.“Most ladies who are working girls are absolutely obsessed with their safety. If anything, I would say most working girls are cleaner than many other women, because they have regular checks at least every three months.”She added that she did not know the reasons behind the offer, but said the women could be attempting to “exploit a gap in the market”.“I don’t think it’s a case of women in such dire straits that they’re desperate, they have to be fairly switched on and they know what they’re doing.

It’s a choice they have chosen to make.”

During her career, Madam Becky said condoms were a way of life for all her girls and, paranoid of contracting STDs, they all insisted on using them.She added her customers were also conscious of the health risks involved in having unprotected sex.

“If a girl is offering unprotected sex and she sees between 10 to 15 customers a day, then she’s clearly at risk of spreading sexually transmitted infections.“Most customers understand that if she’s offering that to you, then she’s offering it to everyone else. But it doesn’t really happen, because it’s so frowned upon.”

Madam Becky said unsafe sex was something everyone involved in the industry was keen to distance themselves from.She said: “You’d get other girls trying to get rivals into trouble by accusing them of offering it, but it was rare.

If it was a new girl offering it, then she’d be out the door straight away. You wouldn’t want your business associated with such a disgusting offer.

“There’s got to be easier ways for girls to kill themselves, if they are determined to damage themselves, then they might as well jump off a building.”

Leanne Wood, AM for South Wales Central, said she was concerned at what appeared a worrying trend.She said: “It’s disturbing to hear that people are advertising unprotected sex on the internet, when the risks should be widely known and understood.“Many sexually transmitted diseases are on the rise in Wales. For example, earlier this year figures revealed a rise of 18% in the number of diagnosed chlamydia cases.

The number treated for HIV also rose.“As money gets tighter for people, unsafe practices such as this will increase, because they will attract higher rates of payment.“I would urge those involved in this work to seriously consider the long-term consequences of contracting STDs, some of which can be life-limiting.”

Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2010/10/10/online-sex-girls-signing-their-own-death-sentence-91466-27439602/#ixzz11wi5o3q9

Calendar girl is a right madam

10/01/2010 14:25:00

Calendar girl is a right madam

Published: 18 Nov 2004Add a comment (0)By JAMIE PYATT

A HORSEY village was stunned when one of its charity calendar girls was exposed ? as a raunchy massage parlour boss.Kathy Adams ? who rides out regularly ? stripped with 11 others for Cancer Research.Locals thought she was an upper-crust businesswoman called Becky Adams.
Vice girl ... her details on website where she offers men a 'naughty boy's room'

But once the calendar went on sale she was exposed, after some RECOGNISED her.

The Miss April, 34, advertises herself as Madam Becky on a website, where she bares both breasts. In one shot a sausage is placed between her 34FF boobs. In another, she is dressed in a black PVC dominatrix suit with a “slave” at her feet.

Prices range from £60 for a half-hour “naturist” massage to £120 for an hour in the “Naughty Boy’s Room”. Miss January, Hayley Morgan, 27 ? said: “I am so, so shocked. We ride out together and she is very well spoken and very upmarket.“We keep our horses at the same farm and I just can’t believe this.”

Claire Amies, a parish councillor in Great Brickhill, Bucks, stormed: “I wasn’t happy about this calendar in the first place. This makes it even worse.”Becky, who lives in nearby Bletchley, admitted: “I posed with all my horsey friends who have no idea what I do.“It is terribly embarrassing and I hope I haven’t embarrassed anyone. They asked if I’d take my clothes off for charity, and I just laughed.”

Bartercard businesses spending 'pounds' on Mk madam's services

10/01/2010 13:01:00

Bartercard businesses spending 'pounds' on Mk madam's services

Massage parlour and adult shop racks up £12,000 of 'favours' in first eight months

By Alicia Babaee

A massage parlour is offering its services on a high profile city business trading network.

Bletchley based Becky's Kittens has signed up to Bartercard, a scheme which allows companies to exchange goods and services without using cash.

It means Madam Becky is able to swap her company's services, as well as the sex toys and adult clothing she sells in her Fenny Stratford-based shop FooFoos, in exchange for services offered by other companies on the network.

Bartercard already attracts more than 350 local businesses - and the parlour run by Becky Adams has proved to be extremely popular.

Bartercard uses 'trade pounds' to monitor the value of transactions. One trade pound is equal to one pound Sterling for all accounting purposes.

So far Madam Becky, whose parlour advertises itself as a massage and pampering service, has racked up 12,000 trade pounds in the eight months since joining.

She said: "We barter our sex toys as well as our services, and we provide escorts.

"We find people spend more and stay longer when bartering because it is like pretend money.

"The network contacted me because people in sensible businesses were having problems with what to spend their trade pounds on. We do group bookings where companies bring their clients over in a limo, or we do individual bookings.

"If you have got clients to spoil, you can do it like this. It is proving very popular indeed." There are currently 367 local businesses signed up to the network. Categories in the network's Yellow Pages-style UK directory of 5,000 businesses range from accommodation, car repairs and computer software through to legal services, flying schools marketing companies, and even zoos.

Gillian Short, a trade consultant with Bartercard in Milton Keynes said: "Becky's Kittens is the only business of its kind on the scheme in Milton Keynes." Businesses pay a one-off membership fee to join.

James Brewer, who has managed Bartercard's Milton Keynes office for five years, added: "We do major checks to make sure the businesses are legitimate.

They are representing the Bartercard network.

"Bartercard helps it members gain an extra competitive edge. Members are able to gain extra new business that they would not have received if they were not a member of Bartercard." Madam Becky added: "They know we run a really professional service, they did their research on me first. They want to provide a good service for their customers, and I provide a really excellent one for mine."

Wales On Sunday Madam Becky Article. Sept 26th 2010

09/30/2010 22:27:00

Former convent girl lifts lid on 20-year vice career

Sep 26 2010 by Sam Malone, Wales On Sunday

A FORMER Brecon convent girl has lifted the lid on the sordid world of escorting after more than 20 years as a Madam – and revealed how for many young women it’s now an ambition to become a prostitute.

Following a number of high-profile celebrity sex-scandals, Becky Adams also spoke openly to the Wales on Sunday about how her vice girls were regularly approached by tabloids offering thousands of pounds to kiss and tell – and how such stories give the profession a bad name, even if they’re untrue.

And the 42-year-old, who has now distanced herself from the industry, even told how middle-class girls were lured into the sex industry by the temptation of earning more than £500 a day.

Speaking as David Beckham launched legal action against magazine claims he slept with Bosnian vice girl Irma Nici and had a three-in-a-bed romp, Becky said the accusations “give a bad name to prostitution”.“I think it’s quite naughty [of the madam] and I was rolling my eyes and tutting when I saw it,” she said of the claims in US magazine Touch.

Beckham has strenuously denied the accusations and launched action on the grounds it “knowingly published false claims about his private life”.Becky added: “Beckham has got to o much to lose, he’s quite a sensible person usually and has been very careful about controlling his image over the years.”

Meanwhile, following separate claims Wayne Rooney had slept with £1,200-a-night privately-educated hooker Jennifer Thompson, 21, the mother of two – who went to Brecon Convent School during the 1970s – offered an insight into how the 24-year-old England footballer may have been outed.

“It may or may not have been what happened with Rooney, but on a couple of occasions tabloid reporters asked me if one of my girls would help them set up some of their famous customers, secretly filming them taking cocaine or sleeping with prostitutes, all that sort of stuff.“They offered me about £70,000 to persuade them, but there was absolutely no chance of me doing anything of the sort. “

Becky, whose memoirs of her time as a Madam are due to be published later this year, said celebrities were always at risk of having their secret sex lives laid bare but that it rarely happened.“A big part of being an escort is the ability to be discrete,” she said. “Most of the customers who used to come to us were married men whose wives knew nothing about their habits. The Rooney girl will never work again now, though – people won’t trust her, she’s kissed and told once and what’s to say she won’t do it again?”She added: “We used to see all varieties of celebrities from pop stars to politicians to pro-golfers and racing drivers. And across the country there are 42,000 meetings with escorts every night, so it’s amazing really that so few big names get exposed.“

''Apart from the fact she obviously did quite well out of it, I would say [Rooney’s girl] overcharged him – £1,200 was quite a bit, especially as she was nothing really special.”

Now a topless model, Becky grew up between Brecon and Hay-on-Wye after her family moved from London to be closer to her mum’s parents in Pontypool.And from an early age she said she knew she was destined to work in the sex industry, much to the horror of her parents.“I think that there are some people who are born completely ethically comfortable to work in the sex industry. They are far more open-minded and sexually aware and they consider the business to be nothing out of the ordinary.“When I was younger, growing up in the Brecon convent, I didn’t play with Barbie dolls like the rest of the girls, I used to make all my toy animals have it off with each other which I guess goes a long way to explaining how I turned out!“ There were always undertones of sex in my play – I was a bit of a strange child. I left Brecon convent at 13 and went to a comprehensive and then it was downhill from there – I’m 42 now and I’ve been ‘at it’ ever since.”

The buxom blonde claims she started running a brothel by accident after moving to Milton Keynes. She said one of her friends had broken up with her partner and was so desperate for money she started to escort.“In those days it was all very different. I thought she was going to get murdered every time she went out so I said to her, hang on let’s just do it from here, and it grew from there.“It was never about the sex at first. We just used to offer hand massages or, what we used to call them, ‘massages with a happy ending’.“We used to get quite a lot of transvestites back then too, loads of blokes from all walks of life, postmen, truck drivers, teachers, they all used to come in and get dressed up in women’s clothes and then they would just sit around and sip tea out of bone china cups and have a ginger nut. It would make them feel sexy.“Then we had the bum smackers, those who wanted to role play and get spanked. We had it all.”Becky never did the “dirty work” as she puts it – instead as a Madam she was taking bookings, washing the towels and bedding and providing tea and biscuits.

But despite not working from the bedroom she still accepts her parents never fully acknowledged her profession.“My mother never talks about it, she’s really really ashamed of what I did, she used to tell people I trained horses for a living. But every girl’s got a mother and I’m sure it’s the same for them.”Since retiring as a Madam, Becky said she feels more at ease about revealing the saucy secrets of her industry.Although, having spent more than 20 years looking after hundreds of girls, she admits times have changed considerably since she first started.

“It used to be just about the money but in the last few years I started to see young girls aged 18 and 19 coming to me saying it was their ambition to become a sex worker.“I think it’s all down to the fact Britain has become much more of a promiscuous society than the rest of the Western world by a long way.“We have now accepted the attitude of recreational sex which just never existed 20 years ago. If a customer came in back then and asked to see two girls for a threesome we would have been horrified.“We would have charged so much more but now these young girls are coming to me with a CV full of stuff, most of them have been [sexually active] since they were 13. They’ve seen it all on programmes like Hollyoaks.“There’s no mystery or taboo about sex anymore.”

Becky, who now is campaigning for a more balanced view of the sex industry through public speaking, said many of the teenage girls who approached her for work were only after one thing – money.“These girls are young and are used to getting what they want so when they have an opportunity to make hundreds of pounds in one go they know they can get their Jimmy Choo shoes whenever they like. There’s no other job which you can earn £500 a day is there?”But she said such earnings usually come at the expense of a relationship.“The temptation of earning £500 a day versus a traditional emotionally-based relationship is difficult to comprehend. People tend to think sex workers fall victim to a circle of violence but that’s just not the case, it’s all about a circle of money, £500 a day is a hell of a lot of money and some girls just can’t go without it.“I used to tell them to be frugal with it and save, see it as an opportunity to earn quick bucks for a couple of years and then start up their own business – but none of them ever listened.”

Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2010/09/26/former-convent-girl-lifts-lid-on-20-year-vice-career-91466-27342381/#ixzz113Oph8CH

Mums Who Sell Sex

09/06/2010 14:03:00

Mums who sell sex.

My knowledge of the ups and downs of British mums who decide to support their families by providing sexual services comes first hand. I’m Madam Becky Adams, a veteran of many years owning escort agencies, massage parlours and brothels in the market towns of the Home Counties. With the reality TV series ‘Personal Services’, books, chat show appearances’ and newspaper coverage I have sought to show the British public the normality, community and even empowerment that ladies can find when they cross over to what many judge as ‘the dark side’ and become for want of a better term a ‘sex worker’.

If we accept at a rough estimate that there are approximately 100,00 ladies in the UK currently working as escorts, prostitutes or masseuses. Stats show that around 30,000 of them are working on the streets and have found themselves in that situation from possibly coercion, poverty and or drug dependency. Where do the other 70.000 come from?

The 70,000 plus ladies who are not working on the streets of the UK will be based in massage parlours, ‘working’ flats or for escort agencies. Some good, some bad, most illegal.

Some ladies will have decided that they prefer to work as ‘Independent’ escorts, and manage their own clients, marketing, and accommodation. In the UK it’s legal to see clients as an ‘Indie’ in your own home, although dangerous and unadvisable. You are legally allowed to rent a flat in which to entertain your gentlemen, alone, with no third party assistance, receptionist or security. Foolish and dangerous laws that we constantly campaign against.

The majority of ladies who join the sex industry will be relying on third party agencies or management to keep them safe and provide punters. Un-licensed flats and parlours are illegal in the UK, so working from these carries with it the constant threat of a police raid.

As it is not illegal to be a prostitute and you are allowed to be selling sex, ladies found working during raids are rarely arrested or charged. The Police raids are focused on those running the parlours, the Madams (like me), drugs, under aged or trafficked girls.

These 70,000 ladies will have decided, as with any other job, to work either full or part time. Massage parlours and flats will normally have set shifts, so a lady can decide which day she wishes to work and may chose to work in several different locations thus creating a wider client base. Escort agencies who provide ladies for ‘out-calls’, (a girl taken to a client’s home or hotel by a driver) will generally have most of their bookings throughout the night. A popular way of working for those with young families who wish to be at home during the day.

You may be surprised that I’m making it sound so normal, well, to thousands of us it is.

Not the excitement and glamour of Belle de Jour, but ordinary mums that you’ll chat to at the school gates or swimming lessons. Who’ll drop the kids off at 8.45, go home and collect their condoms and stockings before making their way to an ordinary flat in an ordinary street for their first client at 11am.

Nearly everyone who becomes an escort does so for the fast money.

It may be a decision that has taken months or even years to make. Separation or divorce often means dramatic financial hardship for women left alone with children. A large, unpayable bill falls onto the mat. In panic and desperation a woman will often make her initial call to an escort agency. Receptionists at agencies will rarely speak candidly and openly when asked for information, always wary of police and media. Therefore the lady will be invited to come for an interview.

Many ladies go no further than the interview, deciding that having sex with a stranger for money is not the job for them. Those who do will enter a whole new world with unique experiences and terminology. .. Those who take the plunge will often find themselves in a self imposed trap that is hard to escape. Not a trap of abuse or violence, but one of money. Quick, plentiful money on a daily basis.

A good escort can earn up to £500 a day in a busy establishment. But at what cost?

Being an escort can be an isolating existence, forcing you to lie to your family and friends. The judgement of others is often harsh and cruel, making it impossible to share your experiences with those outside the industry. Personal relationships can be disrupted or destroyed, and the perpetual living a lie can take its toll on a ladies emotional well being. Many of those who have worked as escorts say they now find it impossible to trust men, and embarking on an intimate personal relationship becomes difficult to say the least.

With the wide use of the internet by businesses selling sex it can also be difficult for sex workers to remain incognito. Often agencies will insist a new ladies photo (may be with face covered) appears on the company website, but people are easily recognisable by past lovers and family. Many an accusation has been made to social services by jilted partners’ who have access to an ex’s escort profile on-line. It’s a problem that needs serious consideration, especially for those who have escaped abusive relationships or have custody issues.

Strangely enough, justifying new found wealth can be taxing, especially as it’s difficult to talk openly about how and where you’ve earned it. Once you become accustomed to earning well on a daily basis it takes a strong resolve to leave escorting and resume regular work. I have known many ladies desperate to retire from prostitution, but who have created luxurious lifestyles that are impossible to maintain on a regular salary. Keeping them stuck in the sex for sale rut year after year.

It is obvious to many that working flats will have an abundance of cash on the premises. Sometimes a lady is attacked, robbed or beaten up. This is less likely in well run establishments where adequate security systems are in place, but it may happen. It is also possible, although unusual that you’d be arrested during a police raid and charged with various offences.

STI’s are surprisingly not a common problem in the industry. The majority of escorts find the idea of any form of unprotected sex abhorrent. Steps are taken to stay safe, but occasionally a condom will split or a foolish or unscrupulous client will try to remove a condom and engage in unprotected sex. It is an anxious and distressing wait for test results for those girls who have unfortunately suffered these problems.

Many working girls who wish to retire will open their own agencies or parlours. I always think it is safer to work for these establishments run by women. Men involved in the escort business often have unhealthy ulterior motives, and it is not unheard of for owners or drivers to pester their staff for sex, or help themselves if favours are not given freely. Blackmail and threatening behaviour can be used to control girls wishing to leave, and often girls do not feel safe contacting the police for help. Leaving them stranded, trapped and in danger of rape and violence.

As the recession deepens and unemployment grows, more and more women will consider sex work as an option for feeding their families. In the battle for jobs throughout the UK, which is by far the most promiscuous society in the western world, the unemployed are abandoning their sexual reservations’ and joining the ‘Sexession’ as the tabloids have re-named it.

Below is an article from The Sun. August 6 2010

‘’We joined sex trade to beat resession’’

www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/woman/real_life/3084053/People-who-joined-sex-trade-to-beat-recession.html

It was estimated that in 2009 that £4.2 billion was spent by British lads on porn, lap-dancer and prostitutes. If you are thinking of joining in, remember to be careful, think twice and never do anything that feels wrong or uncomfortable. Not all that glitters is gold... Not even for an extra 50.

Madam Becky's Book Blog

09/06/2010 13:55:00

When you’ve had a strange or interesting life, many people say ‘’Ooh! How funny, you must write a book!’’ After a few years of this, you start thinking , maybe I should write a book.

After I’d retired from my saucy lifestyle of 20 years brothel keeping, I had an identity crisis. I was really surprised how lost I felt without my Madam Becky persona, and getting involved in a book seemed like a good way to keep in touch with that side of my life.

Many years, and many adventures in the sex for sale business has resulted in squillions of funny stories, half of them are being forgotten as time slides by. I decided a book would be a smashing idea for sharing my memories, but I had no intention of writing it myself.

Although I’m an avid reader, I’ve not written anything since my years at school, and it’s always the police that write the content for my statements when I’ve been arrested for whatever transgression it may be, so I’m very out of practice, and not really up for the task.

It was easy to find a ghost writer; in fact several were keen to take on the Madam Becky project, the ups and downs of brothel keeping in Britain. I’m not a crude person, more maiden aunt than sex chats with sailors, so I was looking for an Ealing Comedy approach rather than saucy steaminess. Agents and writers formed a queue for the job, as the main stream profitable market was obvious to all. My various TV projects, resulting media coverage, and an avid interest in the sex industry means that a book of my memoirs, carefully written should be exceptable for the large outlets such as the big supermarkets, who now sell the majority of books in the UK.

I’d had a woeful, and failed attempt at having a book written previously. The ghost for that offering struggled to find ‘my voice’ and the whole thing was a wash out. This time I chose my ghost carefully, and we got to work.

6 months of work passed and it was time to sell to the publishers. At this point, my agent whom I was sharing with the ghost decided she’s rather not be involved in the prostitution genre. Fair enough, but a bit late notice.

A few more weeks of drama, bored with all the silliness, I signed with a new international literary and TV agency. They read my meagre blogs and my shopping list, and over a nice cup of tea they told me that they considered me perfectly capable of writing my own book. By now, I had wasted so much time and energy on 3 parties that I was open to the idea. Motivated by a smart office, and images of book signings and applause I headed off home from my meeting in London full of literary zestiness.

It was when I turned on my lap-top and sat staring at the screen I realised I had no idea what I was doing. I’m not a person who lives to write. I have no story burning inside me fighting to be told. I admire those people, like I admire those who find the strength to work with children, but that’s not me. I could stand up in front of a room of 1000’s and tell my story and funny jokes, but sitting alone typing it seems not only confusing but painfully dull.

My first instructions were to write an outline of the chapters. Ok. What does that look like then? I had no idea, but my helpful agent explained they wanted about 20,000 words, which would include 2 sample chapters, and a chapter outline of the entire book. You’re kidding? No, she wasn’t.

Ok. The book would be about 80,000 words, and they want it for the same deadline as the professional writers were panicking about. Outline and sample chapters by early September, completed manuscript by Jan. Edits until Feb then off to be printed, or whatever you call it. I have no idea, as I’m not yet at that stage! You’re kidding? No, they’re not.

How many words on a page? How many words in a chapter? How many chapters in a book? I had no idea. I’ve got a rough idea now, but I’m learning fast.

Chapter 1.... Where to start? I have no idea. This is not my idea of fun. I get a headache and go out.

Chapter 1.... No, still no idea, I’ll go to the gym for a bit.

Chapter 1... I’ll do the dishes and make a coffee and think about it.

Now, not only am I not a writer, but I’m fighting my personality. I’m consistently in-consistent. I’m a starter, an ideas person, even though I have no idea, not a day by day, bit by bit get it done kinda gal. When I’ve started something, if someone else can’t finish it then I walk away and do something else. It sounds fun, but you do end up wasting half of your life. Tortoise and the hare. You know.

I realised that I do most of my thinking in the bath, or walking my dogs. My dogs have short legs, and less motivation than me, so dog exercise is a leisurely business, conducive to thinking.

I started to write slowly. ‘’don’t re-read’’ friends would tell me. ‘’Just let it flow.

‘’Write in the past tense’’ the agent said. How do I do that? I know what the past tense is in theory, but I mix my tenses with my metaphors. Keeping it all past tense is impossible. I don’t get it at all.

I seem to write best in the mornings. I suffer hideously from migraines, and although still fairly young, and optimistically frisky have had several strokes, which make it difficult to sit at a desk as it sets my headaches off, so I have to lie down to type.

So, I lay in bed until lunch time with my laptop on my knees at a jaunty angle. Day after day. I feel like I should be ill or recovering from the plague. I never even lie in normally, so this is most peculiar. It’s not nice. I feel stale and stodgy, and guilty for lounging about doing nothing.

On one dog walk the penny drops that writers write. Yeah, I know, but up until then it felt wrong writing for hours. If I was going to write a book, I would need to sit still and write a book. Like doing a proper job. Blimey! What a revelation.

I then decide that if I work on the book for the morning, then get off my bed and go out for a bit. Walk the dogs etc I’d feel ok to do a bit more from 4 -6 pm. I feel like I’m getting somewhere. Hurrah!

I get grumpy if I’m interrupted by visiting family, and wave them away. I work frantically for 3 days and make myself ill. I then grind to a halt and doubt sets in. I sent my first few chapter outlines to the agent to review. If its rubbish I’d rather know now than in 2 months and hundreds of hours time. I hear nothing and do nothing. A week passes. I’m getting pissed off. No emails, no calls nothing.

My daughter checks the post box and brings in a huge rain soaked envelope from the literary agent. She has done it the old fashioned way, and written the corrections by hand and posted them. There are very few corrections. Just ‘please write in the past tense’. So I go back through and put ‘ed’ on the end of everything and get going again.

Today I have emailed 24,000 words of chapter outline to the agent. I’m stuck now with the sample chapters, and my bum has gone numb from sitting still. I’m looking into new ways of progressing. Maybe by dictating my stories into a machine. Typing makes me want to kill myself.

A dear friend who has a career coaching business has stepped forward to help keep me on the straight and narrow. I’ve decided to blog my journey for 2 reasons, firstly my blog is being neglected as I’ve only got a small brain, and no room in it for both book writing and blogging on other subjects, and secondly, I know lots of other people want to write books and don’t do it. Well, I’m useless, so if I can get it done anyone can! Let’s see what happens now!