Photo: Christopher Anderson/Magnum Photos/New York Magazine

At 21, I got breast implants and also did silicone treatments to give my body a more feminine shape. At 22, I was ­castrated—I had my testicles removed to stop the production of testosterone. Around 23 or 24, I had a “tracheal shave” to reduce my Adam’s apple. I’m an extremely passable transsexual.

Most of my clients consider themselves straight. I consider them … bisexual. I don’t consider them gay. They’re attracted to the beauty of a woman, but with something extra down there that doesn’t necessarily make them gay, yet it doesn’t make them straight, either. That’s the taboo of it all. You see a beautiful woman, a perfect body, but then, surprise, there’s something different. I’ve had men ask me to put on weird heels, like “This is my wife’s.” Probably 80 percent of them are married. I’m not a big fan of marriage.

Most of the time I do the penetrating, it’s maybe a 60-40 ratio. Most of my clients want to get penetrated or give oral sex, but there are some who want to penetrate. If that’s what they like, I ask for more money, since it’s something I usually don’t provide as a service.

When I first started, I would have to do four or five clients a day. This was before 9/11, and money was flowing. Now I’m more about quality. My rates are really high, I work less, but I get more of the clientele that I like and they stick around. When you’re young, your sexual appetite is at its peak. Everything is new, you’re like, “Give me sixteen, give me seventeen,” but now I can’t even handle three or four. The most I’ve ever made was with a guy in Anaheim—he just parties with the girls. There’s a lot of blow, and he invites like five or six girls over, and he gives you tips of $500 or $1,000 a pop. I got there at ten o’clock at night and left at six in the morning, and I think I walked out of there with six or seven grand. And I really didn’t have to do anything—just party, a little bit of foreplay, not even any penetration. Just to be there all those hours.

Usually, if it’s a longtime client, I don’t get the money up front because I never know if they might want to give me more. If I trust them, I try to provide them a better service each time so I get extra cash at the end. But if I don’t know them, I get the money at the beginning, always, before anything goes on. If they leave a normal fee, they get a normal service. If they leave a tip, I act a little extra nice. Business.

I’ll take their money, but I won’t really take it out of the room, I’ll just put it somewhere or leave it in plain sight. I’ve had people try to pass me fake money. I’ve had a guy almost rape me. It’s pretty difficult. I usually work with a girlfriend for safety reasons. I rent apartments that have an extra bedroom, or I have a hotel room and I have the girlfriend wait in the bathroom while I do the service. The client never knows.

Thank God for peepholes. You can see craziness at the door. That’s one reason I decided to train in martial arts heavily. I train in Krav Maga, do or die, so that way I’m prepared for any situation. Cops are very, very blatant. They’re always in a hurry, talking right away about the sexual acts and the money. If it’s a cop, they want to come now, they want to come fast, they want to get the bust. So I draw them out a little bit: “Listen, honey, have a coffee,” or “Wait for twenty minutes, I just came from eating,” and if they wait around, pretty much it’s not a cop.

Nobody lasts an hour. The worst clients are the clock-watchers. They finish quickly, and they wanna go another time in the hour, and they try to haggle the price, and after haggling the price they want extra service. And then afterward, they’re upset that you didn’t do the backward-flip crossover for, like, half of the price.

I’ve had guys last 30 seconds. I’ve had other clients who get really nervous and can’t get it up. That happens a lot. It can be a little bit overwhelming at times for them, which I understand. Sometimes there’s a client who has to inject his penis with something to get it up. There are some who are in wheelchairs. Money is money; sometimes you gotta grin and bear it, but it’s not really the most enjoyable experience. It takes a lot out of you, actually, to make believe you are having a good time.

As told to Christine Whitney