Dimitra Ekmektsis

I call author Dimitra Ekmektsis (Hustler Call Girl) Oct. 31, 2006.

Dimitra: "It looks like you're going mainstream. Your website is very clean looking. Like Popular Mechanics."

"I've wanted to be a call girl since I was 12 years old. [She grew up in Stuttgart, Germany.] I read Xaviera Hollander's book The Happy Hooker. I was blown away by it. It transformed me. The power she had over men and the places she went... I had never heard of anything like it before. It was the opposite of my mother. My mother was very submissive to my dad [an engineer]. She always said yes, yes, yes. She never spoke up against him. I was always a rebel inside. I did speak up more than my mother. Xaviera Hollander would never let a man tell her what to do.

"I wasn't a good student after 16. My parents were going through a divorce. I tried to move out of the house. I had to wait until I was 18. My parents wouldn't let me go to art school. They wanted me to become an engineer. I tried hard not to get good grades so I wouldn't become an engineer."

Dimitra worked in the sex industry from 1990-2002 (from 1992-1996 she had a sugar daddy and did not need to work).

Luke: "How did the reality of working as a call girl compare to what you expected?"

Dimitra: "It was exactly what I expected. I wanted a sugar daddy -- I got a sugar daddy. I wanted to go on the Concord -- I went on the Concord. I wanted to go on a private jet -- I went on a private jet. I wanted to meet princes from Saudi Arabia...and the Wall Street tycoons, and I got 'em. It's New York City. If it's not there, it's not anywhere. It was all there.

"I had to maintain a second identity for my private life. I was a photographer. For that reason, I didn't work as much as I could've. Maybe I didn't want to get too addicted to that money and glamor. My sugar daddy was a high profile person who had lots of money. He put a schedule on my life, hour by hour. It was stressful for me to not feel like a normal person, but completely in a golden cage. I couldn't act the way I wanted to act. I was young. Most people were old. He was a conservative Republican. I'm free spirited. A pisces."

:Luke: "What were the highlights and lowlights of working as a call girl?"

Dimitra: "The highlights were that I got to meet people in New York who had amazing apartments. They just gave me all this money. Sometimes I didn't even have to have sex with them. I just hung out with them and got drunk. You could go in, get your money, and have these great unusual experiences that normal people don't have and not even worry about that person [john] any more."

Luke: "How did your time in the sex industry affect you?"

Dimitra: "I learned so much about people and it changed my views about finances. If you have a lot of money, it is harder to have relationships and friends. I learned things that I would never give up knowing."

Luke: "How did working as a call girl affect your love life?"

Dimitra: "Not in a good way. I had men who were mean. I'm skeptical of anyone who's nice to me, that they want more from me than I want to give. Better in that if I want to have sex, I know how to have good sex. I'm not uptight. I don't have any hangups."

Luke: "How did it affect your relationship with your family?"

Dimitra: "Great question. I'm trying to figure out how to tell them. My book is out in Europe now. They know I have a book out but they don't know what it is about.

"I pulled off my double life as a photographer. I could show them pictures of rock stars and actors. They totally believed it.

"Publishing my book was a great learning experience. I can tell you everything about the publishing business.

"The story editor at Hustler magazine (Hans Feuersinger) offered to write a screenplay free of charge."

Luke: "How did you feel about your profession and how do you feel about it now?"

Dimitra: "I felt guilty. I felt there was something wrong with it. Some women still think they're going to hell, if they're religious. Then I did some research recently about religion and prostitution and found it was an acceptable thing even in Islam and in the Bible. Only in modern times was it twisted to put a negative spin on it.

"I feel like it is my mission to make it more acceptable in society. It was an entirely respectable occupation for thousands of years. It was promoted by churches. It was used by churches."

Luke: "Add up for me the things you gained and the things you lost by being a call girl?"

Dimitra: "I don't think I lost anything. Knowledge is always better. Everything you know is power. I would never want to give this up and be a woman who's totally clueless and is just ruled by what society tells her to do, to have a husband and two kids and not be free. I want to be a swinger for the rest of my life. If I was getting married, I would need to be married to a swinger."

Luke: "How does your past affect you today?"

Dimitra: "It limits the people I can date. It limits the people I can socialize with. I don't hide anymore. People can't handle it. They try to insult me, to hurt me. I have to get rid of them."

Luke: "Yet you do not list that as a loss."

Dimitra: "Oh no."

Luke: "You've socially isolated yourself."

Dimitra: "I need strong people in my life, not weaklings who are motivated by envy."

Luke: "Did you violate client confidentiality with this book?"

Dimitra: "No. I would've gotten a cease and desist letter from Aaron Sorkin. He's the only one I'm naming. Everything I've said about Aaron Sorkin is all backed up. I have emails from him. I've said nothing that is not true. My lawyer says the truth is my best defense. If he does take me to court, there are thousand times worse things that I could've used."

Luke: "I'm not asking you a legal question. I'm asking a moral question. Isn't there an implicit understanding between a call girl and her client that they won't expose each other?"

Dimitra: "Hollywood is fascinated in call girls. They've used them for years to get inspiration and for sexual purposes. These Hollywood people have the power to change public perception and make us more acceptable and they choose not to because they are hypocritical. They are using call girls and exploiting them in their movies but act in public like they're holier than thou.

"I felt betrayed by Aaron Sorkin. He emailed me thousands of emails about how he would help me...but he never came through. He's a shady character."

Luke: "How has your work as a professional affected your personal sex life?"

Dimitra: "I'm much more picky. I'm over sex. I'm not into it that much. If I am going to have sex, it has to be great. I have to go to a sex club and get a new outfit. It's a big deal. I've gotten a little bit like these clients. I'd much rather have a lot of money and this young guy that I can pay and he'll do whatever I say. I compete with men now in the publishing industry. I'd love to live like that. I don't think there's anything wrong with paying a woman or man for sex. This government wants to take our power away from us.

"It's [prostitution] so empowering. An athlete sells her body. A painter sells her body. Or a dancer or model, so how dare they tell us we can't sell our bodies?"

Luke: "How much sex do you have?"

Dimitra: "Every month or two. I like good looking guys. Smart. Secure. Young. Not attached to me. Have you heard about Heidi Fleiss operating a brothel of men? I'd be a great client."

She laughs guiltily.

Luke: "What do you love and hate about growing older?"

Dimitra: "I don't like facing death (what if there is no music or art there?!) but on the other hand, I look forward to death, because there is a chance that I will get to meet my biggest inspirations, such as Warhol, Lincoln, Twain..and lots of others."

Luke: "Did you ever fall in love with any of your clients?"

Dimitra: "Yeah. Aaron Sorkin."