Pubdate: Sun, 11 Nov 2001
Source: Messenger-Inquirer (KY)
Copyright: 2001 Messenger-Inquirer
Contact:  http://www.messenger-inquirer.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1285
Author: Lydia Carrico

TURNING TRICKS WAY FOR PROSTITUTES TO GET TO NEXT DRUG FIX

Prostitution isn't something many people would like to acknowledge exists 
in Owensboro. It's much easier to fix blinders on the way to ball practice, 
the grocery store or the mall and pretend that women and men don't sell 
their bodies to support a drug addiction that grips them so tightly they 
don't care about disease or prosecution.

It's more convenient to sit down to a full course meal without thinking 
that there are parents in Owensboro who turn tricks to feed their children 
or pay their bills.

But there are.

"People need to realize that this kind of stuff is happening here," said 
Jackie, a former prostitute who did not want to be identified. "Jackie" is 
an alias she used on the street. "You'd be real surprised at who will pick 
you up. You'd be real surprised. A lot of times they was married men."

Jackie, 39, started prostituting herself when she was 20, after a childhood 
of sexual and verbal abuse. By the time she became an adult, the only way 
she knew to experience what she thought was love from a man was to sell her 
body.

But what started out as a search for affection turned into a way to support 
her addiction to crack cocaine, which she started using when she was 16. 
One fix and she was hooked.

"That's how I always dealt with pain," Jackie said. "I didn't know any 
other way."

That led her to walking the streets, from sunup to sundown, watching for 
men who circled the block several times, a cue for her to approach the 
vehicle. Often she would approach them at a stop sign and ask them if they 
wanted to "have fun," she said.

"I would go for days and weeks without eating," said Jackie, whose weight 
at one point dropped to 98 pounds. "I didn't care about eating. Just 
walking the streets. I knew there was always somebody out there who would 
stop somewhere.

"That was my work. Every day, all day long. I didn't take good care of 
myself at all, hygiene wise and everything else."

Needs overtake health concerns

Hollywood depicts prostitutes as shapely women baring flesh who stand on 
the street corner hawking their services. But in Owensboro, the behavior 
often is much more clandestine, and the prostitutes come in all shapes, 
sizes, colors and ages, health and law enforcement officials say.

It occurs in alleys and homes, with prostitutes knocking door-to-door in 
neighborhoods where children scamper from school buses, residents who live 
in those areas say. Or it can occur when prostitutes visit drug dealers and 
trade the only thing they have that's valuable -- their bodies -- to 
support their habit.

Jackie's habit cost her from $300 to $400 a day. During one two-day period, 
she smoked away $1,000. Sometimes she got as much as $50 or $100 for her 
services to finance her addiction.

The only common theme prostitutes share is an immediate need, a need for 
drugs or alcohol or even for food or shelter, said Nick Sauer, program 
administrator for the Owensboro Area HIV-AIDS Task Force.

Representatives from the task force visit what Sauer calls public sex 
environments to pass out condoms and educate prostitutes and others about 
the dangers of having unprotected sex. Many are receptive to the 
information. Some aren't, he said.

"Most people think prostitution is performing sex for money," said Sauer, 
who has seen prostitutes ranging in age from 12 to 60. "But prostitution is 
performing sex for anything. If our community would be more considerate as 
to why we may have prostitution and take care of the needs that those 
people may have, then we would eliminate some of the prostitution."

For those who will listen, Sauer urges them to be tested for HIV infection 
and other sexually transmitted diseases. In 1998, the state performed a 
total 617 HIV tests on prostitutes, of which 15 tested positive. In 2000, 
out of 456 prostitutes tested, seven tested positive, he said.

But those numbers represent only those people requesting tests, so the 
actual numbers could be skewed. Anyone with multiple sex partners should be 
tested every six months for HIV, Sauer said. Prostitutes should be tested 
monthly.

Other sexually transmitted diseases, including chlamydia, gonorrhea, herpes 
and human papilloma virus, or HPV, are a concern as well, said Linda Dant, 
coordinator at the McAuley Clinic, a free health clinic at the Daniel 
Pitino Shelter on Walnut Street. Some prostitutes visit the clinic after 
kicking their drug or alcohol addiction. They start to think about their 
health then. But until they are sober, they don't worry about risky 
behavior. They will perform sexual favors without protection, sometimes 
thinking oral or anal sex is less risky, Dant said.

"Most of the time, no, they don't have the man use a condom, because when 
they are looking for that fix, that's all they care about," she said.

HPV, a precursor to cervical cancer, can be transmitted even with 
protection, Dant said.

Most of the time, Jackie didn't use protection while performing any type of 
sex act that her client requested. The drug drove her to dismiss any 
thought about her health. She just didn't care, she said.

"We aren't bad people," she said. "We just got an addiction."

Chlamydia is the most common sexually transmitted disease in the Owensboro 
area, accounting for 75 percent of all cases, said Linda Foley, 
epidemiologist at the Green River District Health Department. Last year, 
there were 556 cases of chlamydia diagnosed at the health departments in 
the seven-county Green River district, which consists of Daviess, Hancock, 
Ohio, McLean, Henderson, Webster and Union counties.

That includes 225 in Daviess; 22 in Ohio; fewer than five in Hancock; and 
14 in McLean. But that's not an accurate reflection of a how many people 
are actually infected, she said, because many cases go unreported.

Turning point

"Most of the women are real ashamed of the activity," Dant said. "It's not 
something they are proud of at all. It's something they feel is a necessity 
because of the need for the drug. It's not a behavior that they are really 
willing to talk about. They certainly don't want their family to know about 
it. Some of these women have children."

Jackie has five children, ranging in age from 3 to 20. Her turning point 
came at the first of this year when she begged God to take her life. She 
was tired of trading her body for drugs, often with her children in tow. 
And she knew that children will mimic the same behavior they see in their 
parents.

She went into rehabilitation and now attends counseling and has a full-time 
job. She's been clean for four months.

"I got tired of living that lifestyle," she said. "I knew my body was worth 
more than that. I knew if I didn't stop, my body would be found in a ditch. 
It's nothing but misery."
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart