Being on Call for a Swiss Call Girl

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When you mention prostitution to Americans, many of them think about dope-addicted, morally destitute damsels in distress under the thumb of blinged-out pimps, before Richard Gere comes to the rescue. In Switzerland, however, prostitution has been legal since 1942, with an estimated annual turnover of 3.79 billion dollars.

Due to its legalization and agreements between Switzerland and the European Union on the free movement of people, the number of prostitutes has risen sharply over the last decade. As of August 2013, Zurich local authorities even installed "sex drive-ins," as an attempt to sweep prostitution off the streets. With thriving sex clubs, erotic massage parlors, sauna clubs, escort services, and licensed brothels running out of studio apartments, prostitutes are treated the same as any other self-employed worker in the Alpine nation. They have to possess a valid work permit, a sex worker license, health insurance, and pay taxes.

Alice Sala, an ethnologist from the University of Neuchâtel, worked for six months as a receptionist for a prostitute in an erotic massage parlor in Geneva, as field research for her master’s thesis called “Alice in Prostituteland.” There, she performed the job of your everyday massage salon secretary, answering phone calls, scheduling appointments, offering clients refreshments, lighting candles, and laying out clean towels and perfume—only the clients in the waiting room weren’t your everyday lower-back pain patients and the salon, with its dimly-lit bedroom, large canopy bed, and domination dungeon, didn’t offer your everyday massage.

Erotic massage, as the name suggests, is the use of massage techniques to achieve or enhance sexual arousal, hence the nickname“happy ending massage” or “rub-and-tug.” Alice’s employer offered both sexual and non-sexual services during her 30 minute sessions—from domination, simulated rape, foot fetishes, urination, or dildo penetration to the GFE (Girlfriend Experience), where she acted out the role of a lover in an exclusive relationship.

Alice’s erotic massage parlor experience was published in 2010 in the book Cachez ce Travail que Je ne Serais Voir : Ethnographier le Travail du Sexe, which means Conceal the Work I Can’t Endure to See: Ethnography of Sex Work.The book chronicles stories of the world’s oldest profession from around the globe—from Swiss transvestitism and Brazilian street brothels to northern China’s migrant prostitution. It rejects the idea that prostitutes are criminals or victims at the disposal of men, but rather skilled, independent women in control of their own fate. I caught up with Alice to find out if being the on-call girl for a call girl is anything like Pretty Woman.

Alice Sala Portrait

VICE: What kinds of services did your employer offer on the menu?
Alice Sala: My employer offered both sexual and non-sexual services, with different degrees of pain and fantasy. Clients often desire practices that put them in a passive rather than active role, however both parties had to discuss the nature of the scenario prior to the session. For sessions requiring more elaborate staging or a higher degree of violence, they usually met before hand to define the terms of service in more detail.

People think sex is the only real job as a prostitute, but it can be a small component. What does the "GFE" (girlfriend experience) entail exactly?
Often prostitution is not simply the consumption of sexual services, but also buying the image of a “perfect woman”—thin, beautiful, shaved, made ​​up, sexually available, and completely separate from their real lives. Beyond being a dream mistress, she is also a nurse, a psychologist, a friend, a counselor and a confidant—someone with whom they can talk openly about their problems and get advice.

Prostitutes must maintain customer loyalty by making sure their regular clients feel special, like you would in any profitable business. It’s all about being a good actor—playing the role of a lover in an exclusive relationship without imposing too much on the life of the client. “It's just you and me. You’re so different from all my others clients.”

However, the maintenance of such clientele requires deep commitment, along with great acting and listening skills. A significant part of her day was dedicated to answering calls and text messages from her GFE clients where they would tell her that they are thinking of her, wish her a Merry Christmas, compliment her on her new haircut or thank her for the nice time they had spent together. GFE clients would also give her gifts on a regular basis such as anti-bacterial soaps or the clichéd bottle of champagne with two glasses.

How did she master the art of keeping her professional and personal lives separate?
Clients can become very personal with their GFE prostitute. My employer could penetrate very deeply into the client’s life, getting to know everything about him—his doubts, thoughts, fears, and dreams—but it never went both ways. Of course there were customers with whom she had wonderful relationships and enjoyed their conversations, however, she never let them become true friends and wouldn’t allow them to learn anything about her personal life—not even her real name, address, or family situation. Keeping this distance is a fundamental element of the profession.

If customers wanted to get to know her on a deeper level or ask her out for a drink over the phone, she would always graciously refuse, while maintaining her polite, flirtatious, and humorous manner. "Unfortunately I don’t have time, as I don’t even have time to see my friends and family! Why don’t you come see me here?”

Did any of her clients ever become too attached to her or want her to quit the profession for them?
Yes, the “Pretty Woman Syndrome” is actually one of the main problems the GFE practice faces. There are often clients who are very lonely and are looking for a soul mate, so they seek real intimacy and take the exclusivity of their relationship too seriously. When this occurred, she had to politely explain that she couldn’t offer them a romantic relationship. Most of the time, these customers don’t come back, because the “game” of intimacy is no longer a “game,” so the relationship is over.

There have even been wealthy “Richard Gere”-type clients who fell in love with her and wanted her to stop working, but regardless of the fact that they could guarantee her the same income that she could make as a prostitute, she chose to become a prostitute so she could be financially independent. After her husband left, she needed to be the sole breadwinner for her family and prostitution was the best way to earn enough money to support her two kids while still having enough time to spend with them.

What was her most offbeat or memorable experience on-the-job?
She was once asked to act out the role of a housewife maintaining a household, so the client could get excited when she stooped over in her bra, panties, and an apron. Also, a young man once asked her to come out to a mountain cabin to dominate him and his girlfriend, however the girlfriend was not supposed find out that she was actually a professional escort, so she had to pretend to be a friend of a friend!

Did she ever fail to satisfy someone within the 30-minute time slot?
There are some guys who find it difficult to ejaculate, but in her whole six years on the job, there was only one guy who didn’t cum. She told me “Je lui ai fait la totale,” meaning “I tried everything.” However, that was definitely an exception. It’s important to always be able to make clients ejaculate as fast as possible, so it’s in the prostitute’s best interest to maximize their time, while giving off the impression that they took all the time in the world. Clients don’t like to feel like they’re being rushed.

Did you notice any traits or characteristics that her clients all seemed to share?
Her clientele was extremely diverse—young, old, ugly, beautiful, married, and single—so it was difficult to draw a portrait of a typical customer. Some customers used erotic massage to satisfy their homosexual desires (anal penetration with a dildo) while maintaining their heterosexual identity in their real lives. Others had impotency problems and came in to get help having an erection or ejaculating. The clients who requested domination were usually a) men in positions of high responsibility who desired to take orders rather than to give them, or b) men who suffered from childhood trauma.

During your time at the salon, what was the most bizarre thing you experienced?
I once assisted my employee in a session with a client who wanted to be dominated by a woman with an expertise in martial arts. I agreed to do it because I’d practiced martial arts, and although I didn't actually participate in the sexual exchange myself, it was a unique opportunity for an anthropologist to capture the exchange dynamics in the realm of the bedroom. I was wearing a kimono and my employer was there too, and in fact, several times she told me to soften my hits and asked if the client was OK. This experience helped me understand to what extent prostitutes are in control and are the leading partner of the exchange.

How did your prostitute employer market her business?
Primarily, she paid for erotic advertisements in La Matin, but apart from that, it was  word of mouth. Several clients told her she was recommended by a friend, usually on a forum where men can hide behind pseudonyms and openly express their desires. Online forums have had a significant impact on prostitution as a form of free advertising.

What do you say to people who argue that prostitution isn’t real work?
A paradox prevails in the sex industry. Often when clients paid a high price, they were less willing to recognize her work as involving great skill and experience, and would often leave customer feedback saying, “She must enjoy what she does”—something she has no control over—therefore denying that there was any real skill involved. However, women’s skills aren’t recognized in various aspects of society. Mothers are probably the best depiction of this, as it requires great skill to be a good mother, but these learned skills are considered “female maternal instinct.” My employer told me, “every client requires a different technique. One must be a chameleon in this business. Some love it when you caress and lick their testicles, for others it tickles, and some don’t want you to touch them at all. You really learn to know men sexually in this business.”

Prostitutes often have to keep their profession a secret even from their closest family members and friends. How did your employer withstand this double life?
Most prostitutes live a double life with two names and two phone numbers. On top of that, their work and home lives are usually not in the same city, and sometimes not even in the same country or continent. They learn to keep this double life bulletproof, but the stigma attached to the profession is actually the most difficult part of the job.

How did the way you perceive prostitution change after your experience?
Spending long periods of time with her helped me grasp a better understanding of the everyday life of a real prostitute. We went shopping, ate together, and talked about everything, from the very intimate details of our lives to TV shows to love.It seems very important for people in society to always be able to distinguish themselves from the “bad woman” (the prostitute). When I realized how easy it was to open up with my employer and joke around with her, I was shocked, and then started to wonder why I was so surprised by this. It made me realize how strong the societal stigma is. That’s part of what we need to change.

@EmilieWasik