In our previous article, 24-year-old university student Ashley Chan shared her experience of being a social escort in Singapore. You’re probably here because you’re into scalding, hot ✨T E A✨ about the sex industry in Singapore. And, we’re here to deliver. In this follow-up piece, uncover the ugly truths and behind-the-scenes scandals of the local sex trade.
Before she was an escort, Ashley was a sugar baby for 6 months. To her, sugar babies are a type of sex worker. However, Ashley gives this analogy: if escorting was a full-time job, then being a sugar baby is like having a part-time job.
From her experience, Ashley realised sugar daddies view their sugar babies as more of a friend than a lover. That means that there is more emotional work invested in sugar relationships. She explains that when you are a sugar baby, you have to commit exclusively to a select few men without being guaranteed the stability of a relationship.
Another drawback of being a sugar baby is that it pays less than escorting. Currently, Ashley’s basic rate through her agent is $500 to $700 for 2 hours. As Ashley puts it, you “have to decide what [you] want to get out of a life of sugar-babying.” As a sugar baby, your sugar parent will take you out in exchange for gifts, meals, jewellery and/or holidays. As an escort, Ashley was able to “track [her] finances better and make more money in the long run.”
Ashley describes herself as a ‘mid-tier escort’. Her reasoning for categorising herself this way is because she comes across as the approachable, girl-next-door type.
Top-tier girls are akin to socialites: in her words, “there’s a certain layer of pretentiousness”. To be a top-tier girl, “you need to be more hypocritical, a bit more greedy, and pursue more materialistic stuff”.
As the clients they serve live in a “different world”, top-tier girls also need a specialised set of skills. On top of being fluent in the carnal arts, these girls need to be able to appreciate wine, talk about fine dining, play piano and/or golf.
The ‘low-tier’ girls are those who are just starting out. They’re figuring out how to set emotional boundaries with clients and read their moods. Developing these skills are necessary to properly seduce those they sleep with.
Also read:
According to Ashley, it’s not uncommon for clients to objectify women and make them feel horrible about themselves. But the girls accept it because they’re already thinking about what designer bag to get with the money.
Most of Ashley’s clients treat her well, but there is the occasional rotten apple. One experience with an Indonesian-Chinese private client left a particularly sour taste.
The client was privately arranged for her through another sex worker, rather than through her agent. The client indicated that his sexual kink was to be degraded. So, Ashley instructed him to eat cake off the toilet floor.
But the client didn’t trust that Ashley knew what she was doing. He threw a tantrum and they almost got into a fight. As Ashley felt unsafe, she reduced the booking to an hour. In turn, he threatened to call the police. At that point, Ashley left.
Afterwards, the client texted Ashley in explicit detail what he liked and didn’t like about the session. “I was so traumatised that I took a screenshot as evidence, but he never texted me again.”
The list of nasty client behaviour doesn’t stop there. Some clients have spy cameras concealed in their bags and they film the girls without permission.
Thankfully, this has never happened to Ashley as she is always cautious. When she enters any room for work, she always makes sure to check for hidden cameras.
In her book, Ashley refers to a mainland Chinese social escort she met named Stephanie (not her real name). Stephanie told her, “In this scene, you can find rich men to marry”. Stephanie had been married before and had a child. However, she divorced her husband because she wanted Singapore citizenship. Her plan succeeded and she managed to snag a local man. Her soon-to-be husband is a lawyer.
Ashley also adds that this was Stephanie’s second attempt at marrying a Singaporean. Previously, she was seriously dating another client and they were going to get married. But they broke up because she got greedy and two-timed him.
“You meet all types in this industry. You’re competing with girls like that, who are dishonest and will do anything for money.”
While being a social escort is still largely perceived as an unconventional choice for work, we recognise there are many ways to earn a living. Through this article, we hope to use Ashley’s experiences to shed light on what goes on behind-the-scenes of an industry that is often hidden behind a veil of secrecy. You can read more about her experiences in Scarlet Harlot: My Double Life, a book that Ashley co-wrote with Gerrie Lim.
Cover: Source
Also read:
Brow Threading & Shaping In Singapore Although eyebrows make up a small part of your…
An anal sex guide of what to do before, during and after anal penetration, including…
After travelling to over 25 countries across the world, most of them alone, I’ve made…
From sexual peaks to female masturbation, get educated on these 10 common sex myths so…
Teri Tan openly shares with us what it's like being trans in Singapore without transitioning…
Hear firsthand from Amanda all about plastic surgery in Korea - from types of procedures…