Sexwork, Love and Mr. Right

... but you can't get the honky tonk out of the girl. This old adage comes true in this documentary which offers unusual access to the private life of a Romanian prostitute in Amsterdam. She has moved on from doing "regular" tricks to, erm, apparently fisting her submissive male clients, for which she assures us in very broken English it's preferable to use plastic gloves for hygienic reasons. Glad she got that straight. Apart from the punters, she has two men in her life: an elderly father figure type and a prospective husband. Both are straightlaced and nice and slightly creepy, but no match for the enterprising Lina. She might have seen like a hooker with a heart to them, to me she came across more like a dip-dyed praying mantis. If you're looking for a hooker with a heart of gold, check out "Pretty Woman" instead.

Imagine being tricked and trapped and kidnapped when you were 15 having no solid family background to rest on and growing up in a culture where men abuse women and the women have no recourse. She survived for 10 years what would kill most of us in a day. I know her now in her current life and have never met a kinder and more generous person in my life. I saw her speak in public and captivate a room and have known her to drop everything in a second to help other trafficking victims. I wish I was as strong and forgiving and positive as Tsvetelina. This movie is worth a watch and try to understand what child victims of human trafficking endure and few of them survive. This tough, brave woman survived and has thrived. She now runs an anti human trafficking technology company and makes people smile everywhere she goes. I hope you get a chance to meet her.