The Sex for Sale Continuum

One Girl's Story

There is a wide continuum of ladies in the sex for sale industry including street prostitution, escorts, exotic dancers, and more. We serve women in every aspect of this industry. Each woman is involved for her own reasons, based on her own story. Although each woman is unique, there tend to be similarities in the stories of the women involved in each aspect of the sex for sale industry.

Carla's story is an amalgamation of the stories of those involved in street prostitution. Please allow your imagination to fill in the details of the picture painted below. Imagine the sights, the sounds, the smells, any visceral responses you may have as you read this story.

Carla's Story

Imagine a young girl named Carla. As a little girl Carla had dreams of growing up and being a mommy. She loved to play with dolls and wear pretty dresses. As Carla grew, she loved going to school. She loved to see her friends and her teacher each day. School was hard for her, but she worked hard and was cooperative in class. Her teachers would compliment her on her effort and her ability to get along with others.

When she was 7, Carla’s mom invited her boyfriend to come and live with them. At first Carla liked him. He said she was pretty, and he bought her things. He made her feel special. He soon became her step dad. Then one day Carla’s step dad starting touching her in ways that made her feel funny inside. He said this was their special relationship, and she shouldn’t tell her mom. Carla didn’t like the way the touching made her feel, but she was special. She liked being special. It was very confusing.

As she got a little older, Carla’s step dad would come home drunk. Carla was afraid of him. He would slap her if she didn’t do exactly what he wanted. He told her he would leave her mom and then Carla would be put in a foster home if she didn’t do what he said. Carla was scared all the time. She didn’t know what to do. She felt trapped.

Even school wasn’t fun anymore. Carla couldn’t concentrate. When she tried to do her homework, she would hear her step dad yelling and hitting her mom. She couldn’t concentrate. Her teachers started saying things about her lack of effort. Other kids laughed at her because she didn’t know the answers. She felt trapped.

After years and years of abuse, Carla started smoking marijuana with kids after school. Eventually she started trying other drugs to help her forget what was happening and how badly she felt. What Carla didn’t know was that she was jumping from the frying pan into the fire. What she thought was helping her escape the horror she felt at home was actually setting her up for more horror later on. Her use of drugs had created an addiction. Soon, all she thought about was her next high. All thoughts of school were gone. Carla was so far behind she just knew she would never catch up and graduate, so why try?

Carla’s boyfriend asked her to move in with him. This got Carla away from her step dad. No more listening to his rageful violence against her mom. No more special touching. Besides, her boyfriend really loved her, and he would take care of her. So Carla dropped out of school and moved in with her boyfriend.

After a few months Carla realized what a mistake this was. Her boyfriend was addicted to drugs and alcohol too. When he got drunk he got mean. He started hitting her the way her step dad hit her mom. He started demanding sex, and it felt just like what her step dad did. Now what?

Carla eventually left her boyfriend. She had been selling drugs on the side to make money so she could buy drugs. Her drug dealer said he could get her more drugs to sell so she moved into a motel room and started selling more drugs. Soon her drug dealer started demanding more and more payment. Carla had no money to pay for a hotel room so she was now homeless, addicted to drugs, and completely alone. The only people she knew were drug addicts and drug dealers. When she didn’t get her drugs, she felt so bad inside. Her body hurt. She was sure she would go crazy. She wanted to die.

One day as she walked downtown, a man offered to pay for a hotel room for her, buy her some food, and give her some money if she would do some things for him. Thus began Carla’s career as a prostitute. Her life became a cycle of turning tricks to get money to buy drugs and have a place to sleep. Some of the men were violent. One man knocked her teeth out. She had no place to go. She only knew drug addicts, drug dealers, and prostitutes. There was no hope only years of addiction, abuse, and survival.

The little girl in the abusive home that you would have done anything to help is now a 28 year old drug addicted, prostitute with her teeth knocked out walking the streets of Denver. Rather than wanting to help her, people are afraid of her. People say things like, “You made your bed, now lie in it.” That is Carla’s story.