How a Visit to a Hair Salon Changed a Prostitute's Life in Mexico City Anne Sewell - Inquisitr
go to original March 20, 2016

Prostitutes, Calle Cuauhtemoctzin, Mexico City, 1934 (Henri Cartier-Bresson)

Esperanza Escobar, 53, had been a sex worker in Mexico City for over two decades and finally found help, by visiting a hair salon.

Escobar was known to regularly visit a certain hair salon situated in La Merced, in the red light district of Mexico City. It was reportedly her respite from grueling days where she might have to face as many as 60 clients, all demanding sex from her.

Reportedly, La Merced is located to the east of the main Zócalo plaza in Mexico City and hosts a commercial stretch of busy roadway where hundreds of sex workers are regularly seen plying their trade.

Escobar had been visiting the hair salon in Mexico City for around three months, as the staff there treated sex workers kindly and offered them cheap prices to make them feel good about themselves.

However, it turned out the hair salon was really a front, run by a charitable group called the Well of Life Foundation, currently working to rescue sex workers and the victims of sex trafficking in Mexico City, offering them a chance of a brand new life.

Escobar told the Thomson Reuters Foundation she thought she was going to the beauty salon for a cut and dry. Instead, she got herself a new life. Escobar said she ended up escaping a life where everyone treated her like a dog thanks to the help of the undercover activists at the hair salon in Mexico City.

The Well of Life Foundation went on to give Escobar shelter in a safehouse. Escobar said, “I escaped that same day and haven’t looked back.”

Read the rest at Inquisitr

Related: American Reporter's Assault Reveals How Common Sexual Violence Is in Mexico City (Global Voices)

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