A real life call girl calls bull

I first encountered Jenny DeMilo, an opinionated high-class GFE (girlfriend experience) escort, through a feisty comment she had posted on the widely read, hotly debated Confessions of a Hipster Hooker, a feature story on Radar Online that has since been removed from the site.

The article, authored by Jessica Pilot, was supposedly a non-fiction, first-person account of Pilot’s interaction with four upper-class, professional, twenty-something Manhattan women who spent their days as white collar society bachelorettes and their nights as the sex kitten companions of the city’s powerful men.

The article, in style and subject matter, was hugely entertaining. It had rich detail and outlandish anecdotes, and I was impressed with the edgy, controversial and yes, glamorous life these colorful, conflicted women led.

Scrolling through the dozens of reader comments, it was evident that the article had cast a spell over many readers, inciting them to debate and vacillate on the verge of a paradigm shift.

DeMilo, however, was not at all amused.

DeMilo called bullshit, stating that the article was fake and fabricated. She would know, she wrote, because she was a real high-class escort, and what the article described was not how her business operates.

So I called DeMilo, who maintains a regular blog, to get what she said is the real story. DeMilo currently lives in L.A. but visits Vegas on business at least once a month. She is friends with two other local escorts who also maintain blogs: Miss Summer Woods and Vegas Courtesan.

Here's what she had to say:

What is a GFE escort?

When they come to me they are looking for more intimacy than the ‘wham bam thank you ma’am.’ It’s more connective, personal, intimate. It’s not just because they like the way you look, they like your personality. They take you on dinner dates, take you gambling and to shows. You are a couple together and are intimate together.

What is the difference between an independent escort, like yourself, and an agency escort?

If you go through an agency, you don’t know what kind of girl you’re going to get. She just shows up and you negotiate the price. You can run the real risk of getting ripped off.

They do what’s called an “up sell” – this happens a lot with the Vegas streetwalkers and carpetwalkers. You get a girl into your room, and then she does an up sell and charges $200 just for her to have shown up. The $200 goes to the agency and might get you a massage or a dance, but it won’t get you the real entertainment. The night can end up costing you a lot of money. It can turn into a volatile situation because the man expects everything to be included in the $200.

Vegas agencies can take all the money. The escorts also have to tip the phone girls who book the call, their personal driver or the cab driver. That’s a very Vegas type of thing.

Are all agency escorts as beautiful as their advertisements make them appear?

That’s the bait-and-switch part. They bait you with a beautiful girl that’s too good to be true and then some other girl shows up. Sometimes she’s close; sometimes she’s not. Sometimes you order a blonde with big boobs and you get a black girl.

You mentioned you are about to go on “tour”—what does that mean?

I go visit a couple cities [for work] and then go home. I’ve been working [as an escort] for five years, so I’m pretty saturated in the local market and not a new fresh face. So, you go to a new market to put yourself in front of a new client base and you’re the new girl, and everyone wants to see the new girls. I’m going to DC and NYC next.

I also go about once a month to Vegas, but it’s been tapering off a little bit, since Vegas has been tapering off a little bit.

How much for the pleasure of your company?

You can see all my prices listed on my blog. It’s wise to have your rates listed so your clients don’t ask you about it. I never discuss money with clients, ever, or romance, and especially not in the same conversation – regardless of the means of communication, whether it’s phone or email or in person.

Describe your typical client.

It’s every type of man—it’s your brother, your father. I didn’t really realize this until I started doing this, but it’s every income bracket, nationality. … You’re not going to point to someone and say, that type of guy doesn’t see girls. It does run the gamut, but tips the scales towards white, older, wealthy and married.

Do you ever get super rich, high-powered men?

Oh yeah, [laughs]. I tend to see more rock stars than actors, because that’s kind of my vibe. They’re more notable than famous. You can Google them, but they aren’t a household name, like the CEOs of certain companies.

Why do you think so many married men seek out escorts and prostitutes?

You hear a lot of different complaints about certain things their wife won’t do, or that their sexual chemistry died, or that they are living separate lives. I personally think men like variety. ... Even the patrons, they may be your regulars, but they are seeing a couple of different girls as well. … They are like kids in candy stores. You can order a girl like pizza. It’s not hard to do.

Do you find that your occupation makes it hard for you to maintain a committed relationship?

I’m in one. Half or more of these girls have boyfriends or husbands; it’s very common. We’re really very normal people for the most part.

Don’t you feel nervous about going to a stranger’s house?

I actually feel comfortable in people’s houses and here is why: They live there. Their neighbors know them, and they have to continue to live there, whereas with a hotel room, anyone can check in and check out. By visiting their house, you really get to see how people live in a way you wouldn’t normally. It’s really kind of interesting.

Don’t you ever get scared in general—especially with incidents like the recent “Craigslist killer” slaying of a Boston escort?

There are bad guys out there, but if you’re making sure you know you who you’re seeing, the risks of [bad incidents occurring] are greatly diminished. It’s called screening. We want to make sure people are who they say they are. We kind of become junior private detectives. There are lots of methods to figure that out. And it’s a lot easier with the Internet – the information is at your fingertips, if you know how to look for it.

Do you ever get bizarre, kinky requests?

Most guys aren’t looking for weird, freaky shit in bed. They’re looking for more of a connection. They don’t want to be swinging from a chandelier, that’s way to much work. A blowjob is exciting enough. But if someone wants me to break out the riding crop, I’ll break it out. (DeMilo used to be a profession dominatrix.)

Are you for the legalization of prostitution?

A lot of people do think prostitution is legal in Vegas. There is a lot of misinformation. There are the people handing out the cards on the street. They think it’s tolerated, and to some extent it is.

I’m definitely for decriminalization; I go back and forth on legalization. I kind of think it should be legalized, as it’s the only thing that I can give away that I can’t sell. But I don’t think that it’s going to happen in my lifetime, because there’s such a heavy stigma attached. But I think that they may decriminalize it.

How has the recession impacted your business?

I haven’t experienced a huge problem. Guys who have that kind of money to spend, thousands for one night with a girl, they’re not really feeling it. … It’s an expensive game; you have to be able to have the means. But even those who don’t, they find a way to scrape it together.

Do you enjoy your job?

Just like in any job, you have your good days and your bad days. Some days you’re like. ‘I’m gonna quit!’ and then you’re like, ‘I just made my rent in one day!’ The good outweighs the bad.

Do you ever get really handsome, charming clients?

Yea, sure. There are definitely clients where you’re like, ‘Ooh, I can’t wait to see that one again!’ I have one of those coming up.

Recently I did a double overnight with a girlfriend. The client was really easy to book, really easy to screen, and he wanted two of us for the evening. He booked a suite in a hotel room and wanted to go to dinner. We we’re making jokes, like, ‘Is he going to be missing a limb? What’s the catch with this guy?’ We got there and he was tall, attractive and charming – a little shy but we got a couple drinks in him and he opened up.

He took us to a beautiful restaurant in the city with the chef’s menu and ordered a bottle of wine. We went back to the suite, hung out in the Japanese deep soak hot tub. We had a great time, I was there with my best girlfriend, and we walked out with a big fat stack of cash.

How did you get into this?

I had a high-powered advertising job, and I literally walked away from it. I cashed in my 401k, and lived off that for a while, but then I needed a job.

I answered an ad that read, “Girls with good voices get paid cash.” I thought it was a phone sex job. … it was answering phones at an escort agency. So I learned about the agency and the subculture, and how it isn’t anything like my notion of it, what you see in TV and in the movies, all the girls standing on Hollywood Boulevard. I graduated from being a phone girl to a call girl. I thought, why make 10 percent if I could make a 100 percent? I used to be great at pitching ideas in advertising meetings, now I’m good at pitching myself.

What do you hope to do after this?

You can’t be a ho forever! You get tired of it and want to move on to other things. Photography is my real passion, but it’s a hard field to break into and make a living at. My job as an escort allows me the ability to develop my career as a photographer and not have to do things like headshots and wedding photos. I’m hoping that eventually the photography will take over and I can stop being an escort. But escorts never really retire. I’m sure I wouldn’t delete my email account.

Why did you decide to blog about your lifestyle as an escort?

There is a big debate in the community about whether to publicize or not. Many girls don’t want the negative publicity. I say, the genie is out of the bottle. … There is the Soderbergh movie coming out [The Girlfriend Experience, staring Sasha Grey], Showtime’s Secret Diary of a Call Girl is in its second season. There’s always something about sex workers. It’s the new black. It’s becoming more accepted and less secret. I can put my head in the sand or I can find a way to capitalize on it.

Do you enjoy the sex?

You find a way to connect to with your client, so even if you aren’t physically attracted to them, you have a physical response. There is something attractive about everybody; you just have to find it. They might not be the person you pick up at the bar, but maybe they have a wonderful voice, or they have great skills. You have to focus on whatever it is about them that is their strength, and that makes the encounter good. Then I can relax and be myself and it’s more like a real life encounter than a mechanical experience.