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P.H.: I was told that barber shops here in New Haven are popular places to find prostitutes in New Haven. Is this true?
LeeAnn: I had been told that too, but I don't know too much about that.
P.H.: How often did your clients wear a condom during intercourse?
LeeAnn: Never. A lot of times they wouldn't. It is still like that today.
P.H.: How effective do you think are the efforts to empower women to demand that the client uses a condom?
LeeAnn: Only as effective as the people who are trying to do it. There is one woman who works for an HIV/AIDS organization and she has gotten very involved with the prostitute community. She has helped a lot of girls and she will bring condoms out to them and so she's done a lot.
P.H.: What would have been the best way for you to learn about HIV/AIDS before it was too late and you had already contracted the virus?
LeeAnn: If they had brought it into the education at high school then I would've probably known much more about it. It is not a guarantee, but maybe I would've been more consistent about refusing sex without a condom. It would be good to get more specific HIV education in the schools, but the Board of Education won?t allow it. Maybe if they would've come out sooner in the news nationally about it then I would've known.
P.H.: What would happen to a girl if she did ask that her client wear a condom?
LeeAnn: She would probably lose her client. Girls working with the services like I was pull in about $150.00 an hour. We ended up getting about three-quarters of that. When they are paying $150.00 an hour and they don't want to wear a condom, well, they don't wear a condom.