I am a male to female transsexual. I first got into the sex trade in 2005. It all started around the time I began my transition. I remember working in a beauty salon in and thinking “how am I going to pay my rent?” Around the same time, I began attending the club-scene. This is when I got the idea to start selling sex. I began by placing an ad in the local paper and from there things blew up immediately. I went from being broke on welfare to earning twelve thousand dollars in my first month. However being a recovering addict, I relapsed. I found myself going from $200 or $250 for a date to $20 or $25 for a date, and doing so on a street corner (which made it illegal). All of a sudden I was dealing with police almost on a daily basis. Last year I lived in [a city in Saskatchewan] and was charged with communication for the purpose of solicitation and running a common bawdy house. Today my relationship with local police is like night and day. During the day, the police hassle me. But at night, different police approach me and ask if there are any creeps out and about. They ask if the girls are safe, and they let me know if there is a vehicle that I should look out for.
